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I did say maybe!!

Fired one and wasn't impressed, stock flexed, and heard tales of woe, and some that rave about them.
This is a one shot deal for me pardon the pun.

I've seen footage on YouTube of the Tikka consistently outperform the Howa.

So based on all that - I'll give Howas a pass.

Spencer54 wrote:Fired one and wasn't impressed, stock flexed, and heard tales of woe, and some that rave about them.
This is a one shot deal for me pardon the pun.

I've seen footage on YouTube of the Tikka consistently outperform the Howa.

So based on all that - I'll give Howas a pass.

Ive got a Nordic Wolf Howa 308 (grs stock) and it shoots well out to 1000 yards

Spencer54 wrote:Fired one and wasn't impressed, stock flexed, and heard tales of woe, and some that rave about them.
This is a one shot deal for me pardon the pun.

I've seen footage on YouTube of the Tikka consistently outperform the Howa.

So based on all that - I'll give Howas a pass.

surprised of "tales of woe" the standard Hogue stock is flexible and not the best for range use, there are many alternatives that don't flex including the GRS stocks, as to Youtube probably just as many people saying the Howas are great as those saying the Tikka are, however it is your money and if you wish to buy Tikka then all well and good, they make great rifles, however in my opinion so do Howa, I have 2 one of which I've put through a lot of shooting over the last 6 years with never a flicker of a problem, the other is only a year old but so far no problems, I have also shot a lot of other brands and to be honest can't think of any of them I would have a bad word for, except maybe price.

The point about Howas is that they don't come out of the factory as complete rifles, but as barrelled actions and exported / sold as such by the Howa Machinery Company to the importers of Mossberg, Smith & Wesson, Weatherby, and Legacy Sports International in Nevada the big US Howa importer / distributor. (Or maybe they all go to LSI which sells them to the others?)

LSI decides which stocks to offer ranging from basic hollow plastic and the cheapest of the rubber covered Hogue plastic stocks up to some very nice laminated wood and walnut versions, Bell & Carlssons, Knox Axioms, tactical jobs that take AI Mags etc. That way, the basic range of blued / stainless and Sporter v Varmint profile, long v short actions expands dramatically to a large product range covering a fair price range. It also allows LSI to continuously 'refresh' its product offerings on an annual basis simply by varying the stocks used, also recently keeping right up with market changes through specifying a detachable magazine folding chassis stock to get into the 'Blacktical' market.

Howa Machinery's arms division has been making armaments for a long time starting with Arisaka rifles in WW2 and has supplied all of the Japanese ground Defence Force's various assault rifles. The 1500 series rifles (aka Weatherby Vanguards and others) are generally reckoned to be amongst the best made of today's mass produced rifles. Nothing flashy and they don't make a lot of changes - the action is a copy of an old Sako L series underneath and contoured as per the Remington 700 on top to accept its scope rails and mountings.

One can like or dislike the Howa, but to condemn it on the basis of the cheapest stocked variant out of a large range .... ? Well, I think (in fact know) that the basic Remington 700SPS has a really horrible cheap plastic stock, and the much more expensive SPS Varmint is still frankly horrible. That doesn't mean that the 700 VS or Police are crap rifles too.

One snag with Howas for years was that the factory trigger wasn't regarded as good as the equivalent Remy 700's (But a lot better than today 700 X-Pro) and there weren't any aftermarket alternatives, but that's long since been rectified with Rifle Basix and Timney jobs at pretty affordable prices.

The Howa is an excellent potential secondhand buy if the calibre and spec fits the bill. Despite all logic, they command much lower prices than equivalent Remy 700s which people are willing to pay to buy with their rubbish SPS stocks then spend a grand putting them in AICS or chassis stocks and with AI magazine bottom metal kits.

Laurie, good write-up. Informative and well put together. A good read.

Thanks Laurie,

That makes a ton of sense, I know two guys with them and they love them - swear by them in fact.
Others at the club wrinkled up their faces, and told me to look at Tikka.

The one I shot was the cheapo version - I know that.

Remington SPS Varmint was a good heads up I was looking at one of those.
Stock is ugly if nothing else, but I was planning on a slow drip upgrade.

How good are the GRS stocks?

Spencer54 wrote:Thanks Laurie,

That makes a ton of sense, I know two guys with them and they love them - swear by them in fact.
Others at the club wrinkled up their faces, and told me to look at Tikka.

The one I shot was the cheapo version - I know that.

Remington SPS Varmint was a good heads up I was looking at one of those.
Stock is ugly if nothing else, but I was planning on a slow drip upgrade.

How good are the GRS stocks?

Brilliant ...

I have had a few Howa rifles in my hands including a 6BR and they all shot well and they are very sensibly priced.

I don't think the Howa has had any recalls...unlike the Rem700.....the latest Howa range have "Tactical" stocks but well over £700. My 308 with laminated thumbhole stock has been faultless. Some nice Sako's about. I have a 75 with varmint barrel...bought s/h....very good quality. Within your budget.
You will need to spend more on the scope if you intend long range shooting...

Mike95