Hunting Washington Forum
Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: mossback91 on April 10, 2008, 05:49:23 PM
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Never heard much about them. Have seen a few around. What do you guys think of them?
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i was just looking at them...the one i was looking at have a hogue over molded stock and it felt really good in my hands. but aside from that i really dont know much about thier performance.
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i might be wrong here, and it sure won't be the first time, but i think the weatehrby vanguard isbuilt on a howa action? maybe? i think it's known to be a good action. the howa axiom is a badazzzz predator rifle, thats for sure.
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i think howa, a japanese action, is a pretty dang good action. little more accurate than most mauser style actions from what i have read...
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They're pretty well accepted by the predator hunting crowd. My brother-in-law brought out a Howa Varmint model in 22-250 for a week long coyote hunt. It was vary accurate even with factory loads and for looks it was on par with the Rem 700 and better than my Savage. In the past there haven't been alot of afermarket stuff availible but that seems to be changing.
AWS
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Jackalope your right. the vanguard is a howa action, with a few tweaks ala Weatherby. The bolt shroud is just a bit different, and of course the stock. I have a 308 and 22/250 varmint supreme, the ones with the Boyd thumbhole stocks,and boy are they an low cost highly accurate gun. The triggers werent to bad from the factory but I swapped them out for the Rifle basix and made a huge differance. The houge overmolded stock are pretty nice but they really seem to hold the dust and grit. I2nd the Axiom is one bad mofo, wouldnt mind adding one of those to the safe. They are well made,extremely accurate and reasonably priced. Check the pawn shops around your town, thet usally go pretty cheap.
Sage
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I have one. It's a Weatherby Vanguard 30-06 but as Jackelope said, it's a Howa. I've only had it a couple years and haven't shot it a lot yet, mostly use my 270 and the 30-06 is kind of my back up gun. I did kill a bear 3 years ago with it. But anyway, if you talk to people that know guns, they will tell you the Howa's are a great action and are similar to the Remington 700. I really like mine and plan on doing some more shooting with it at the range this spring/summer and hopefully I will finally find out what it's capable of. I think it's got a lot of potential. It does need either a trigger job or a new trigger and I'm considering glass bedding it. So mossback, which Howa is it that you're looking at and what caliber?
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I own a HOWA in .243. I like the rifle alot. It has a soft feel to it, the stock is rubberized and the recoil pad is very comfy. It shoots as good as I can and it is moderately priced. I like mine.
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those hogue overmolded stocks have a love/hate following. i am considering one for my upcoming 10/22 project, and think it is probably what i will go with.
from what i've heard people either like them or hate them.
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I put a Bell & Carlson synthetic stock on my Vanguard. It's much better than what it came with.
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I bought a howa in 300 wsm in 2003 and I love that gun, so far ive killed 3 deer with it and a buddy of mine used it to kill his buck also, and one elk, lotsa coyotes. they are very accurate right out of the box but i didnt like the heavy trigger pull so i had mine adjusted and it shoots like a dream. if you are thinking about picking one up i would highly suggest it
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Google, Legacy Sports and you can look at their online catalog. You can even buy just the barreled actions and stock them as you want to. If I ever learn how to post a link Id do it but so far I dont.
Sage
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I own a Howa in 7mm wsm and it shoots very well. I did have some work done by my gunsmith (bedding, trigger work, muzzle break, etc..) With factory 150 Federal Fushion ammo it shoots sub 1" MOA at 100 yards. So there you have it, IMHO they are well worth the money. I also own several remington rifles, a Tikka T3, and I like the Howa just as well.
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A long time ago the Howa rifles were actualy Smith and Wesson . I have one. I'm not sure how to look this info up to make sure it is correct though. I got this gun about 20 years ago. I can get some pics if need be. I dont know if Howa bought them out or what.
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A long time ago the Howa rifles were actualy Smith and Wesson . I have one. I'm not sure how to look this info up to make sure it is correct though. I got this gun about 20 years ago. I can get some pics if need be. I dont know if Howa bought them out or what.
I wouldn't say Howa was Smith & Wesson. It was the other way around. A Smith & Wesson rifle was a Howa, just with Smith & Wesson's name stamped on it. Just like the Weatherby Vanguard I have is a Howa with the Weatherby name on it. Howa's been around a long time.
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Makles sence! I think the smith @ wesson stamp looks cooler anyway! ;)
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bringin up an old topic.
I noticed that Wholesale Sports had a flyer in the paper today that they have Howa 1500/Hogue stock for $399. I have been looking for a 22-250, and thought this would be a cost effective way to make that happen.
Any thoughts?
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The Howa rifles are great. But the action was started life in 1970 and howa started making there rifles in 2000 if I remember right.
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i have a howa 1500 in 300 win mag.... great gun...
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The Howa 1500 is a great value! My dad has a Howa varmint 1500 in 22-250 its a tack driver, Howa makes the Weatherby Vanguard series of rifles for Weatherby. The 1500 action is also very popular with gunsmiths for making high quality custom rifles.
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the people i know who have them like them and they seen to shoot good from what i have seen
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I owned one in .223 that was a very accurate rifle... sub moa with blackhills reloads.
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Howa rifles are great rifles. I have a custom .257 AI built on one, and it is a great rifle. For the money, you can not beat it.
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there great rifles have experiance with three all weatherby vanguards a .30-06 thats seen close to a thousand round and is scary accurate. had a .223 that was also really accurate. my dads got a .243 carbine with a 20 inch barrel thats awesome loud but awesome its his coyote rifle
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Well, I went to Wholesale sports and picked up a Howa 1500 with the Hogue stock in 22-250. for $399 as the advertisement proclaimed. I wil be shooting it tomorrow.
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You just bought you a great firearm that will kill many critters! Congrats.
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Yep, Howa make the weatherby vangaurd action. My Pard had a 7mm Rem Mag in a 1500 Howa. It shot very good and was a great rifle! Butter smooth action. i wish it was mine. i know you can buy the Barreled action only from Howa and put a aftermarket stock from several different companys on it.
