Howa Mini Rifles, Builds, and Upgrades

[Gstew1930]

Its a cheap ass howa.......they gonna make a junker prob one of every 7-10 rifles. I bought a howa 65prc 4 years ago then they first came out, barrel was so rough and tight it blew primers on every type of factory ammo I tried. Sent the POS back for a refund.

very true

 

[Stocky]

Well, to take my rifle build further down the rabbit hole, later this week I'm getting a barrel in 223AI
Apparently the round feeds fine in the factory magazines in my gunsmiths Mini.
Velocity wise, he was just over 2900fps with 73s in a 17.5" length.

You brought Chris' barrel? I was looking hahaha

 

[Te Hopo]

You brought Chris' barrel? I was looking hahaha

Yeah bro, he made me a great offer and seing as I'm local.... it just made sense

 

[Stocky]

I

Yeah bro, he made me a great offer and seing as I'm local.... it just made sense

Saw it and was going to wait a week. Good stuff. Be cool to see how it goes

 

[IDVortex]

Never owned a custome/fancy stock until this stocky. Only one blemish on it.
Ill have to take a dremel to the stock to get clearance, left side of the barrel touches. Figured as much. Guess I'll be busy with a dremel this weekend.

its sexy, so glad i got it.

 

[waspocrew]

My Jard trigger arrived today. Installed and feels very nice. Only gripe is they have very small specific hex keys needed to adjust over-travel, etc and they don't include one. Looked all over my bench and couldn't find it, so have to head to ACE to fine tune it.

Overall, very nice trigger though.

 

[khuber84]

Never owned a custome/fancy stock until this stocky. Only one blemish on it.
Ill have to take a dremel to the stock to get clearance, left side of the barrel touches. Figured as much. Guess I'll be busy with a dremel this weekend.

its sexy, so glad i got it.
View attachment 858006View attachment 858007View attachment 858005

Suggestion: use sand paper wrapped around a deep wall socket to open the barrel channel. Dremel sounds like a good idea but it can remove too much material very quickly. Don't ask how I know......

 

[J_Jacobson196]

I normally purchase a piece of dowel in the diameter needed for the required clearance, then just wrap sandpaper around that.

 

[KyleR1985]

I’ve got the 16” 6Dasher mini home and ready for load development. Cleaned chamber and barrel, next up is getting action cleaned and degreased and an optic mounted properly.

I’ll go shoot and fire form enough virgin brass to start load development, and see what things look like before I bed the action.

Was hoping I’d have another few thousand 95TMK by now to kill this barrel with. Will probably save what I have for now and pick another bullet.

Gun looks to be around 7.5lbs all in with aluminum bottom metal, optic, suppressor, and an extra thick limb saver recoil pad I used to get some LOP. I was shooting to land between 7-7.5lbs.

I’m waiting on a hinged metal to get made up - this should save a couple ounces and make it a lot cleaner for the hunting I’ll do with it. Only 4 fit in the magazine anyway.




Has anyone broken down mini bolt completely and polished the cocking piece, cocking ramp, etc to improve heavy bolt lift after (dry) firing?

Anyone replaced the firing pin spring with a lighter one?

I lightly sanded the two surfaces without complete disassembly, brake cleaner several times to clean as well as possible and then greased everything. Cycled it a couple hundred times, cleaned and added a little valve compound to the cocking piece/ramp, then cycled another hundred. Cleaned everything up then a little more grease. Doesn’t seem to be much different.

I’ll keep cycling it and hope for improvement. That spring sure seems like it’s way oversprung.



I’ll start a separate thread on the Dasher setup, but a little taste:

Varget, brass fire formed in another gun chambered by same reamer, 16” barrel:

87Vmax, 35gr - 2965 fps
95TMK, 34gr - 2815 fps
105 HPBT, 32.5gr - 2700 fps

I haven’t found a single post about anyone using Lever in a dasher, if I can’t get Varget to do what I want I may go chase a little more speed. Goal was 2800 with the 95’s, so may not need to press on the gas.

 

[Randy11]

Does anyone have an recommendation for a factory .223 load that their heavy 20" barrel likes?

I've tried a half dozen or so cheaper match loads, and im consistently getting 1.5" with all of them. I'm trying to decide if it needs bedded.

 

[The Guide]

Does anyone have an recommendation for a factory .223 load that their heavy 20" barrel likes?

I've tried a half dozen or so cheaper match loads, and im consistently getting 1.5" with all of them. I'm trying to decide if it needs bedded.

Black Hills 5.56 77tmk shoots great in mine. The AAC 5.56 77tmk and 5.56 75gr Sabre Blade Black Tips also shot well.

Jay

 

[Qholum37]

Does anyone have an recommendation for a factory .223 load that their heavy 20" barrel likes?

I've tried a half dozen or so cheaper match loads, and im consistently getting 1.5" with all of them. I'm trying to decide if it needs bedded.

My Grendel was shooting the same and bedding it tightened groups way up!

 

[Randy11]

Black Hills 5.56 77tmk shoots great in mine. The AAC 5.56 77tmk and 5.56 75gr Sabre Blade Black Tips also shot well.

Jay

You're shooting 5.56 in a .223? I thought it was only okay the other way around? Does that not apply to bolt actions?

 

[The Guide]

You're shooting 5.56 in a .223? I thought it was only okay the other way around? Does that not apply to bolt actions?

Correct. In an AR-15 I run a Wylde chamber to be able to run any 5.56 or 223 ammo. Bolt action rifles seem to be able to run either as there is no chance for over gassing. I know Howa Mini Actions and Tikka actions with 8 twist barrels have had little to no issues with using 223 or 5.56 ammo.

Jay

 

[KyleR1985]

I didn’t take pictures after fully finishing all the edges around the bedding to make smooth transitions. So it looks a little messy in the last picture.

First bedding job came out pretty good though, I think.

I opted to tape the bottom and sides of the recoil lug for relief. And to bed under chamber and action flat behind the recoil lug.

I ended up having to relieve the front of the recoil lug recess as well after the fact - it was just too hard to get the action in and out of the stock.

Wiped everything down and got it all clean, and torqued up action screws with blue loctite with Jefferson bottom metal for mags.

Gun feeds, chambers, and extracts 6dasher rounds with no modification to the 6ARC mag.

Waiting on scope hardware to arrive and I’ll get that mounted. Hoping to fire form some virgin brass this weekend!

 

[Kaleb]

I put tape on the bottom of my recoil lug too out of habit. Then remembered it’s a Howa and went back and bedded under. It needs to bottom out since the action screw goes into it.

 

[KyleR1985]

I put tape on the bottom of my recoil lug too out of habit. Then remembered it’s a Howa and went back and bedded under. It needs to bottom out since the action screw goes into it.

That’s why I bedded underneath the chamber as well. Based on my admittedly ignorant gunsmithing, it feels like I’ve accomplished the same thing.

That said, if this doesn’t do what I want I’ll gouge it out and pillar bed.

Feels rock solid though.

 

[hereinaz]

Is it worth even mounting the action to the stocky stock just to see if it shoots, or just bed it as soon as I get it and be done with it? Almost going to the later, almost seems like everyone has to bed a stocky to get it to shoot correctly?

I avoid the problem with most Howa by tightening the rear screw so the action is flat, then bring the front tight, and work them up together.

It is definitely a problem if you torque the front first to pull it down and lever the rear up.

Doing this takes a Howa from 2 moa to half moa. Maybe I will do a video to show how to make your Howa suck eggs, lol.

Bedding can help with the problem too.

 

[hereinaz]

I’ve got the 16” 6Dasher mini home and ready for load development. Cleaned chamber and barrel, next up is getting action cleaned and degreased and an optic mounted properly.

I’ll go shoot and fire form enough virgin brass to start load development, and see what things look like before I bed the action.

Was hoping I’d have another few thousand 95TMK by now to kill this barrel with. Will probably save what I have for now and pick another bullet.

Gun looks to be around 7.5lbs all in with aluminum bottom metal, optic, suppressor, and an extra thick limb saver recoil pad I used to get some LOP. I was shooting to land between 7-7.5lbs.

I’m waiting on a hinged metal to get made up - this should save a couple ounces and make it a lot cleaner for the hunting I’ll do with it. Only 4 fit in the magazine anyway.




Has anyone broken down mini bolt completely and polished the cocking piece, cocking ramp, etc to improve heavy bolt lift after (dry) firing?

Anyone replaced the firing pin spring with a lighter one?

I lightly sanded the two surfaces without complete disassembly, brake cleaner several times to clean as well as possible and then greased everything. Cycled it a couple hundred times, cleaned and added a little valve compound to the cocking piece/ramp, then cycled another hundred. Cleaned everything up then a little more grease. Doesn’t seem to be much different.

I’ll keep cycling it and hope for improvement. That spring sure seems like it’s way oversprung.



I’ll start a separate thread on the Dasher setup, but a little taste:

Varget, brass fire formed in another gun chambered by same reamer, 16” barrel:

87Vmax, 35gr - 2965 fps
95TMK, 34gr - 2815 fps
105 HPBT, 32.5gr - 2700 fps

I haven’t found a single post about anyone using Lever in a dasher, if I can’t get Varget to do what I want I may go chase a little more speed. Goal was 2800 with the 95’s, so may not need to press on the gas.

I modified the cocking ramp on a full size 1500 and polished it. I also ground on the firing pin to change timing and reduce the compression.

Rifle cycles like a champ and sets off primers 100% so far. Also had firing pin reduced and bushed for small rifle primers.

 

[KyleR1985]

Just gotta go pick up DD Wolfhunter. 7.5lbs and as much powder as you can fit in the mini action! 6dasher, 16” barrel