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> Howa 1500 stock
Howa 1500 stock
@ 05:32 am (GMT) |
Dale WilhelmHiI have read a bunch of information both on here and other websites about Howa stocks and am looking at options. The rifle is a Howa 1500 .223 with a lightweight stainless barrel with the original howa synthetic stock. Out of the box it would shoot ok for the first two shoots then throw the third on each group. I installed an aluminium plate under the action to lift it clear of the stock by 1mm and suddenly the groups tightened up. Have had the trigger tidied up and it is now one of the most crisp triggers I have. I think with further load development I can get this to sub 1/2" groups at 100m but the issue is the stock and its soft fore-end. I can easily push the stock against the barrel with light thumb pressure so shooting off a bipod is out of the question. The rifle is to be used as a rough mountain rifle for trips when I don't want to risk carrying the Mannlicher. So my questions are will stabilising and bedding the original stock produce something tough enough to stop the flexing? Should I pillar bed the action before epoxy bedding or is the epoxy enough? Or do I need to just bight the bullet and buy a new stock and if so what one? Have heard mixed reviews on the Hogue and don't want to spend the earth on the rifle. Cheers Dale |
Replies
@ 06:53 am (GMT) |
chris murphyRe: Howa 1500 stockI stabilised, bedded and shaved the top edge of barrel channel to give 3mm gap on a howa houge stock and it shot real good. |
@ 07:51 am (GMT) |
Thomas KitchenRe: Howa 1500 stockhi dalei'm no help on the bedding side of things as i'm only just giving bedding a rifle ago now. its worth trying to bed the original stock first as the price of compound is very reasonable. if it fails then you can always get a new stock. you would have learnt a few tricks to use when you bed it in new stock to worse case scenario |
@ 08:34 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: Howa 1500 stockHi Dale, your rifle already has pillars within the stock, If you stabilize and bed it following the site instructions, it will perform in an optimal fashion.Just depends on whether you like the Hogue stock- only you can answer that. Its actual shape is ideal, straight recoiling and with good grip. If you purchase another stock, it will still need bedding for best accuracy and long term maintenance of a consistent POI. It takes some patience to bed the Hogue and newbies will sometimes experience failure on the first attempt and have to re-bed. So patience is required when bedding (actually that applies to any bedding job). The Accurizing book has a full step by step for your rifle. |
@ 12:40 am (GMT) |
Jon ShortRe: Howa 1500 stockHi Dale,I stiffened the fore end & bedded my Hogue Howa 1500 6.5x55 Swed. Personally I love the Hogue stock shape & feel & often shoot off a bipod for fallow where one can get into position for a controlled head or neck shot off a bipod or rest. Stiffening the fore end is a relatively easy process with this stock. Bedding is a more difficult & yes I was one who stuffed up my first attempt through one simple error with the release agent. It was no problem... just took some time(& much cursing myself) to grind back the bedding & re prep everything ready for the second attempt. (much faster the second time as plastic is harder to grind out than resin plus you know what you are doing by this stage!) The second attempt came out spot on so nothing was lost. My advise is this; Take your time Read re read & read again Nathans instruction as you do each step & watch & re watch the videos so you have no doubt. Do things EXACTLY as Nathans does. Prep everything meticulously & do a really good job of the release agent.(I didn't do the release agent right first time!) Since bedding this rifle I have done another Howa but in a Boyd stock & a Remmington 700 full length job. Now it all seems easy. |
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@ 05:26 am (GMT) |
Dale WilhelmRe: Howa 1500 stockThanks for the info. I have just placed an order for the stabiliser and bedding compound. Looking forward to the project.Cheers Dale |
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@ 06:31 am (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: Howa 1500 stockThanks so much Dale, really appreciate it. Thank you. |
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@ 05:52 am (GMT) |
Dale WilhelmRe: Howa 1500 stockThe book is making excellent reading so far. Well worth the buy for anyone who hasn't already got it.I guess one question I had which the book hasn't answered so far (only half way through) on the Howa with standard stock should I go with front and rear bedding or full length? I know that the book says it doesn't really matter either way. My thought is that with the flex in the stock I should go with full length but then I don't want to cut too much out of the already thin sides. Already I have carved a lot out of the fore-end of the stock to get the barrel free floating and will need to do the same along the edge of the barrel. Cheers Dale |
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@ 08:04 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: Howa 1500 stockHi Dale, if the stock is the old plastic Howa stock, you can FL bed it. If it is a rubberized Hogue, the job may prove somewhat tricky (more potential errors- mostly rubber in the upper mid section) and it can be best to bed front and rear.Even with FL bedding, a stock can be put under stress and flexed during the actual bedding. The key factor is bungee tension and stress loading during the bedding job itself. The less tension you have to apply to the bedding job the better. A long dam in the barrel channel can help sit the action in place, without need of heavy bungee tension. If bedding a varmint weight rifle, plasticine at the forend tip also helps (as per the tips and tricks vid). Have to be careful with the forend tip though- has to be properly aligned with the barrel channel dam- again to prevent stress. Your rifle should be quite OK to work with if it has a light weight .223 barrel. This should help the weight sit back towards the action if the barrel channel dam is properly formed. Hope that all makes sense. You should be able to find full length bedding stock prep photos on the site or in the accurizing book. Full length bedding: 
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@ 05:06 am (GMT) |
Dale WilhelmRe: Howa 1500 stockThat photo is good as it shows exactly what I was hoping to achieve with full length bedding. If my result looks even vaguely similar to the picture I will be happy.Yes it is the lightweight barrel and has a good parallel knox section so planning on bedding about an inch in to the barrel. It is the original plastic Howa stock as luckily I missed out on the Hogue on trademe before reading how awkward they are to bed. In the book you mention using carbon fibre to reinforce along the side where is the best place to get hold of this? Also where should I look for graphite powder? Thanks Dale PS the replacement hardener arrived safely today and looking at it next to the original it is clear that over half had leaked out. Still think the box had been dropped looking at the dent in the side of it. Thanks for the great customer service. |
@ 05:39 am (GMT) |
Martin TaylorRe: Howa 1500 stockDale fibreglass matting will work just as well in this application and should be easier to get.The graphite powder that is easy to get is used for lock lubrication. So any half decent hardware store should have them both. |
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@ 06:47 am (GMT) |
Dale WilhelmRe: Howa 1500 stockThanks will try the local Mitre 10 this weekend. |
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