22 ARC Rifles

[Fred@Exterra]

I had bought one in 6 ARC, was disappointed in how hard the bolt lift was. Have you experienced that with any of the Howa mini actions?

I have never been around one with excessively heavy bolt lift. It’s heavier than some rifles due to the shorter bolt lift, but not unmanageable.

I wonder if the one you had with the heavy bolt lift had a machining issue with the cocking cam or a tolerance issue on the firing pin or fp spring.


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[Fred@Exterra]

My concern with the Howa is that my wife will struggle with the bolt lift.

I haven’t had any problems with the bolt lift… but I do have a new bolt knob coming out in a month that will increase the length (radius) of the bolt and give more to hold on to… without looking like Tactical Timmy


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[JFK]

The bolt lift on my Howa 22 arc is noticeably stiffer than any of my other rifles. But my 7 year old can rack the thing…so it’s not unmanageable by any means.

For an off the shelf rifle the proof 22arc is likely the “best.” The Howa mini bedded into a VG has proven to be a good shooter for me so far and is such a light, compact rifle to carry. I know guys love their Tikkas around here but building an ARC on a long action is kinda dumb.

 

[TennesseeJohn]

I agree that the Proof is probably the best pre-built option out there and regret not grabbing one. They are pretty hard to find right now.

 

[bnsafe]

my howa mini shoots lights out. but the bolt lift is horrendous. im not sure my grandson could rack it. just ruins the experience

 

[Macchina]

Well for a start the stock is the worst piece of shit ever, Ruger had the design right 50 years ago and even into the first generation American and someone decided to step backwards a century.
Trigger is an abomination, they had a great one 50 years ago too.
There is so much potential there , what happened?

That was the point I was trying to make. They're cheap and the parts that matter (action, barrel) are good, but they lack quite a few refinements. We love to swap in a chassis and trigger on $2000 guns, but the thought of doing that on a $600 gun is for some reason an abomination. Like I said, I'm in this crowd too. I don't want to drop $800 on a $600 gun just to get a good stock and trigger...

 

[Macchina]

The bolt lift on my Howa 22 arc is noticeably stiffer than any of my other rifles. But my 7 year old can rack the thing…so it’s not unmanageable by any means.

For an off the shelf rifle the proof 22arc is likely the “best.” The Howa mini bedded into a VG has proven to be a good shooter for me so far and is such a light, compact rifle to carry. I know guys love their Tikkas around here but building an ARC on a long action is kinda dumb.

I said this in another thread and got laughed at. Every Tikka being built on a long action is a feature to many . You can turn that ultralight 22 Arc into a 30-06 for the price of another rifle and this is worth carrying an extra 2" around in the woods all the time for some reason.

No, Howa has it right and I hope we see a lot more new actions shorter than a Short Action soon!