Howa M1500 300 PRC Troubles

[MarkMT]

Good afternoon, this is my first post. I recently won a How 1500 in 300 PRC with the Hogue stock. I purchased an Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2 4.5-27x50. Took it out to sight in with Hornady Precision Hunter 212 grain and at 200 yards there were no groupings at all and all over the paper. Did some research and some people recommended placing a washer or two inside the stock where the front action screw goes through the stock and attaches to the action. They said the Hogue stock is flimsy and you get a lot of barrel contact and it will throw off your shots. I did this with 2 washers stacked on top of each other. Shot again with same ammo and was getting 8-10 inch groups, so all over the place basically. Switched to Hornady Outfitter 190 grain and groupings improved to about 4-5 inch groups at 200 yards. Locally I can only find hornady ammo for 300 PRC. Before I go looking into spending money on a new stock for this rifle has anyone else ran into this problem? I will be using this rifle for hunting in Montana so I would prefer to keep it on the light side. Any info is appreciated!

 

[Article 4]

I have had a few Howa 1500 action built rifles come through - the Howa 1500 is basically the Weatherby Vanguard rifle which is fine - especially given you won it. Congrats!!!

Trouble shooting recommendations - Overall, its a good rifle however

1. Make sure all bolts are torqued to specs
2. I would replace the stock no matter what. The Hogue stock they put on the rifle is sub standard to say the least and in 300 PRC, that recoil is a lot for that OTC stock. You don't have to spend 1k to get a better one, you can do that with 500-600 that will be pillar bedded and you can glass bed for another 30 bucks at home
3. Did you clean and break in barrel? (this will raise some opinions LOL) I would although sounds like you already shot enough. Clean the barrel 100% completely.
4. Don't trust the 2 washers - run them if you want to but I wouldn't
5. There will be more ammo out this summer, after you do all that, get some match grade ammo and retry

 

[turbobrick]

I’d also check the mounts and rings and also a different scope if possible. I had a bad Athlon out of the box myself.

 

[MarkMT]

I have had a few Howa 1500 action built rifles come through - the Howa 1500 is basically the Weatherby Vanguard rifle which is fine - especially given you won it. Congrats!!!

Trouble shooting recommendations - Overall, its a good rifle however

1. Make sure all bolts are torqued to specs
2. I would replace the stock no matter what. The Hogue stock they put on the rifle is sub standard to say the least and in 300 PRC, that recoil is a lot for that OTC stock. You don't have to spend 1k to get a better one, you can do that with 500-600 that will be pillar bedded and you can glass bed for another 30 bucks at home
3. Did you clean and break in barrel? (this will raise some opinions LOL) I would although sounds like you already shot enough. Clean the barrel 100% completely.
4. Don't trust the 2 washers - run them if you want to but I wouldn't
5. There will be more ammo out this summer, after you do all that, get some match grade ammo and retry

Thanks for the response!

1. Yes torque has been checked through duration of shooting just as a precaution
2. I will look into stocks. Ive seen some that are in that $500 range that have some good reviews so I will go that route soon-ish.
3. I followed Howa's break in instructions from their website
4. I agree lol. It seems like too jimmy-rigged of a system to trust the washers so I think new stock is a must.
5. Awesome, looking forward to seeing more ammo selection on the shelves and finding what my rifle likes (If I can get it to shoot properly, this has definitely been a disappointment so far but im keeping my hopes up)

Thanks again!

 

[sebastian.cassell]

I had similar issues with a howa 1500 chambered in 6.5 creed. Even put a hogue stock with an aluminum chassis built in. No luck so it lost its place in the safe. All ammo types including handloads, torqued everything, scope checked out, new rings and bases, perfect muzzle crown (unthreaded also). Sometimes a lemon has to be called a lemon