Justabirdwatcher
Well-known member
Well there you go! Wait, how is it thinner at 20 than 22?
Howa Superlite - my experience
- Thread starter Justabirdwatcher
- Start date
TheJason
Well-known member
Typo, it’s now corrected.
Justabirdwatcher
Well-known member
So, a little more meat but not much. My 20" Savage barrels are .580" and I can shoot long strings from them that don't send fliers. Wonder if it has to do with straightening or stress relieved? Just guessing now because I really don't know.
TheJason
Well-known member
Could be the barrel, could be the barrel didn’t like the load.
Justabirdwatcher
Well-known member
Stocky's Factory 2nd carbon fiber stock arrived today. After my experience with the $549 finished stock from Brownells, I was pretty leery and wasn't expecting much. I am happy to report that this factory 2nd stock is much, much better (and $249 cheaper!). Inletting is better than the finished stock (but the bottom metal is still a bit proud of the stock). At least the rear tang screw had another thread to grab on to. I cranked down both action screws nice and firm, and was very happy when the barrel didn't get pulled down into the channel and contact the stock like it had with my first two stocks. 40 in. lbs. of torque and the barrel is still free floated and centered.
Off to the range soon (as soon as it gets above 20 degrees here) and hopefully it shoots well in this stock. If it does, then I'll sponge paint this one with textured paint to give it some grip, and call it done. Finished weight with a VX-2 3-9x40 Leupy and Talley rings is 5 lbs. 9 oz. Not quite "toy like" but definitely light. The balance with the CF stock is much better than the wood stock, so that helps with how it handles and feels in the hand. It "points" better in this stock than the wood one, even though it's a full pound lighter. Looking forward to working up loads now!
Off to the range soon (as soon as it gets above 20 degrees here) and hopefully it shoots well in this stock. If it does, then I'll sponge paint this one with textured paint to give it some grip, and call it done. Finished weight with a VX-2 3-9x40 Leupy and Talley rings is 5 lbs. 9 oz. Not quite "toy like" but definitely light. The balance with the CF stock is much better than the wood stock, so that helps with how it handles and feels in the hand. It "points" better in this stock than the wood one, even though it's a full pound lighter. Looking forward to working up loads now!
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Justabirdwatcher
Well-known member
Well, here is where I have arrived. I do like this CF stock for its balance and weight reduction. Just makes the little rifle "point" better. Not a fan of the fat grip area and having the flutes of the comb so close to the action (why do they still do this?), but I can live with it. Length of pull is 13 1/4" which is a hair short for me but will probably work for most folks, especially with hunting clothes. I've put the walnut stock in a box for now. Maybe it will get it's own barreled action someday. Time will tell.
Overall I'm happy with this combination, but it did take some effort to get there. Went through three stocks (first got returned, second took a LOT of labor and a bedding job to get right) and had to add aftermarket bottom metal. Textured sponge paint job is going to work well, I think, and doesn't look half bad. Accuracy shows promise, with "real" load workup to come.
Room for improvement:
The action and bottom metal are still standing proud in this, my 2nd Stocky's CF stock although this one is better than the first. The inletting job needs to be reconfigured. They have the stock dimensions wrong (too short) between the action and bottom plastic/metal, and the inletting should be deeper. The rear tang screw only grabs a couple threads on the CF stock. Overall, the inletting was better on the wood stock.
Lasting concern:
A rough/fast work of the bolt still results in tripping the 1st stage of the trigger, and giving you a 6-ish pound single stage trigger. Howa really needs to fix this. This is Bush league stuff. I can't think of another factory action/trigger that does this. I mean, if I set the trigger adjustment too low on some models, I'd get a slam-fire, but this isn't a slam-fire. It's almost a malfunction. And you don't even have to work it that hard. I get this result even when I'm just trying to be fast, and not slamming the bolt all that hard. I can only guess it's a HACT issue, because I saw it (but not to this degree) on the Mini's as well. If anyone has put a Timney or other trigger in one of these, I'd love to know if you have any issues when you work the bolt hard. This rifle may get a replacement trigger for this reason alone, which is a shame because I like the two stage trigger it came with.
Anyway, signing off on this thread for now. That's about all I have to offer to anyone considering this rifle. At least you know what you're getting into.
Oh yea, 5 lbs. 9 oz. on my scale as shown, which is still damn impressive. Looking forward to some range and field time with this one now.
Overall I'm happy with this combination, but it did take some effort to get there. Went through three stocks (first got returned, second took a LOT of labor and a bedding job to get right) and had to add aftermarket bottom metal. Textured sponge paint job is going to work well, I think, and doesn't look half bad. Accuracy shows promise, with "real" load workup to come.
Room for improvement:
The action and bottom metal are still standing proud in this, my 2nd Stocky's CF stock although this one is better than the first. The inletting job needs to be reconfigured. They have the stock dimensions wrong (too short) between the action and bottom plastic/metal, and the inletting should be deeper. The rear tang screw only grabs a couple threads on the CF stock. Overall, the inletting was better on the wood stock.
Lasting concern:
A rough/fast work of the bolt still results in tripping the 1st stage of the trigger, and giving you a 6-ish pound single stage trigger. Howa really needs to fix this. This is Bush league stuff. I can't think of another factory action/trigger that does this. I mean, if I set the trigger adjustment too low on some models, I'd get a slam-fire, but this isn't a slam-fire. It's almost a malfunction. And you don't even have to work it that hard. I get this result even when I'm just trying to be fast, and not slamming the bolt all that hard. I can only guess it's a HACT issue, because I saw it (but not to this degree) on the Mini's as well. If anyone has put a Timney or other trigger in one of these, I'd love to know if you have any issues when you work the bolt hard. This rifle may get a replacement trigger for this reason alone, which is a shame because I like the two stage trigger it came with.
Anyway, signing off on this thread for now. That's about all I have to offer to anyone considering this rifle. At least you know what you're getting into.
Oh yea, 5 lbs. 9 oz. on my scale as shown, which is still damn impressive. Looking forward to some range and field time with this one now.
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