I'm told the S&W 1500 is the same as a Howa 1500 or Weatherby Vanguard. I recently got a Smith in .243. Are they EXACTLY the same as the Howa and Vanguard, or are there minor differences?

S&W 1500 was made by Howa. Had a clip (detachable magazine usually). Haven't been made for 15-20 years. Not sure if the specs/features have changed.

Had one for many years. Great guns. Have 2 Howa's now. I think they are the same.

My 1500 didn't have a detachable magazine. It was a 7mm Mag and had a hinged floorplate. Shot very nicely BTW...

I built and sold 4-5 S&W 1500 based rifles in the early to mid-1980's. I still have the final build (in .270). All of these rifles were with a hinged floorplate (NOT a detatchable magazine).

These barreled actions could be had for a VERY good price in the 80's as S&W was discontinuing the line and were easy to build into a lightweight, accurate hunting rifle. At the time I wasn't too impressed with the action (except for price and ease of rifle build) as I was heavily into building Mauser action rifles. As the years have gone by I've come to appreciate the simple, accurate 1500 actions and would rate them on equal footing with the Remington 700 in most areas.

The S&W is identical to the current Howa (or Weatherby Vangard) actions.

There was a detachable magazine version of the S&W 1500, but IIRC it was called the 1550.

The Howa action and the S&W are virtually identical. At least I have a Howa barreled action that dropped right into an S&W stock. This gun was also sold as the Mossberg 1500. The Weatherby Vanguard is the same gun with a few minor cosmetic changes, mostly to the bolt to give it that "Weatherby look" and of course a Weatherby style stock.

Same gun... I know someone that has it chambered in 25-06 and it would be the last gun he would part with.

That's what I thought. Now I'll have to keep my eyes open for a youth stock for it.

For a few years, somewhere around '88 - '90 Mossberg used the Howa action for a line of rifles also. You could buy the barreled actions for about $175. I built one up in a 308 Win. Bought a Brown Precision stock blank for a Vanguard and finished it myself. I had Brown Precision turn down the barrel profile and shorten it to 20". Made a nice light rifle.

Even the Model stamp on the receiver looks the same.

I also have an old Dickson-Howa "Golden Bear" in .30-06 that I thought was the same as the current Howa. It ain't...from what I've seen, it's a copy ( and a pretty good one, they say) of the old Sako Finnbear. My Dad picked it up used around 1980, and I shot my first few deer with it. Didn't know anything about groups or ballistics at that time; we just adjusted the scope til the hole was in the black dot at 200 yards and went hunting. I just loaded up some 165s for it... Got a feeling it'll prolly shoot pretty good!

How about that, I think I just hijacked my own thread!

Howa got sued by Sako for that one, thats why they didn't make it long

My 7Mag started as a barreled action and was bedded into a Brown Precision stock as well. Never shoulda sold that rifle. It was lightand shot great.

Had a S&W 1500 .22-250 that shot itty bitty groups

got one in a .222 it is a soild rifle pillard and bedded and floated