Justabirdwatcher
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Well there you go! Wait, how is it thinner at 20 than 22?
Howa Superlite - my experience
- Thread starter Justabirdwatcher
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TheJason
Well-known member
Typo, it’s now corrected.
Justabirdwatcher
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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
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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
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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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Justabirdwatcher
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Braved the cold and snow (21 with wind chill of 7 at the range) and tried out one of my most reliable loads today, 139 LRX's over 44 grains of CFE 223. This load has shot well out of a number of 7mm-08's for me over the years and it did again today. .08" @ 100 (and I knew I pulled the one on the left when I shot it) and a near-cloverleaf on the steel at 200 yards. Looks like it's settling into the carbon fiber stock pretty well. I have the front action screw torqued to 40 in. lbs. and the rear action screw torqued to 35. I started at 20 with both and worked up in 5 in. lb. increments and it seemed to do the trick. Didn't set up the chrono today, but in other rifles with 20" barrels it averages 2880 fps. Pretty satisfied with this combination now. I feel like it was worth all the trouble to get a 5 1/2 lb. rifle that shoots this well.
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Forkyfinder
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Thread makes me want a howa superlite 16.5" ....In 6.5 manbun, to honor @Justabirdwatcher !
Glad to see it worked out.
Glad to see it worked out.
Justabirdwatcher
Well-known member
I have a spare, epoxy bedded, hand trimmed and finished walnut stock searching for a barreled action!
That’s how mine is shooting! Happy to see it work well.
Iv got two boxes of LRX as well that I hope shoots well for hunting deer and elk. I don’t mind the match for shooting at the range or predators
Mallardsx2
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Mallardsx2
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Keep in mind the wood model has the short barrel.
Mallardsx2
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Oh my
Justabirdwatcher
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Oddly enough, I got 14 oz. difference (33 oz. vs. 19 oz.) between CF and wood (same barrel) and that's after taking almost six ounces off the wood stock when I worked it down and drilled holes in the butt. Not sure why the difference. Hard to believe one wood stock to another would be that much heavier. Finished weight on mine with wood stock, after taking weight off, was 6 lbs. 7 oz. scoped and with the CF stock is 5 lbs. 9 oz. scoped.
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