HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions

[LRRPF52]

I personally would like to see the heavier profile at 22", but it's not a big deal.

Looking forward to the range reports.

[Matt @ LSI]

Curious what the rifleing twist rate is in your Experimental test rifle? Tight patch and a piece of tape on the cleaning rod should confirm this. Look forward to your report as well. Glad to see this platform moving right along.

the rifle sent to Mr. Waites is a 1-8, the dummy behind the keyboard mis-stated the actual ROT.

[Matt @ LSI]

I suspect that our friend from LSI will be wanting this particular rifle back. I also suspect it is a prototype, not production version.

Still, it is awesome to see a distributor supporting the Horde with this rifle and LSI gets my respect for this effort and they deserve for this rifle to be a sales success.

I know that here in Australia I'm fielding questions from people who are looking to buy one. Just those at my local club (fairly large club) are saying that they will put money down on a Grendel when they are available for order - at least half a dozen so far that have spoken to me. If Howa did a left handed rifle there would be another half dozen in a blink.

yes, any rifle with an "XP" serial number comes back to us. If we could sell them, we would. Left handed options just arent in the cards for right now, not our call, thats Howa Japan.

[Matt @ LSI]

Anticipation is killing me, I want the heavy barrel setup. Plan to shoot it and save up for a premium barrel and other things as they become available. If it shoot really well then the barrel may never get touched.

Does the HB come threaded?

we do not offer a threaded option at this time.

[Matt @ LSI]

I personally would like to see the heavier profile at 22", but it's not a big deal.

Looking forward to the range reports.

we had to stay with the barrel options that were already offered by howa. We could not have altered barrel options with once caliber offering.

[LRRPF52]

No complaints here. Just glad to see your support. Those of us who have all our unique wants will pull barrels and get custom stocks until we have exactly what we want.

I'm thinking about a micro M40 clone.

[Matt @ LSI]

No complaints here. Just glad to see your support. Those of us who have all our unique wants will pull barrels and get custom stocks until we have exactly what we want.

I'm thinking about a micro M40 clone.

+1 for this! impossible to please everyone, although we try!

[JASmith]

No complaints here. Just glad to see your support. Those of us who have all our unique wants will pull barrels and get custom stocks until we have exactly what we want.

I'm thinking about a micro M40 clone.

How easy is changing the barrel for thie average Joe?

[bwaites]

How easy is changing the barrel for thie average Joe?

Not, Howa utilizes a metric thread that many gunsmiths can't replicate easily. I had to send my 7mm out of state to have it rebarreled. Of course the new action might be different. In talking with gunsmiths in my area, they all simply said it wasn't worth their effort. Interestingly, one also shared that truing and blue printing a Howa was a ripoff for the customer, since he had NEVER seen one that wasn't square from the factory. I asked a couple others and they said essentially the same thing, while admitting that they had taken the work when customers insisted.

[Matt @ LSI]

Not, Howa utilizes a metric thread that many gunsmiths can't replicate easily. I had to send my 7mm out of state to have it rebarreled. Of course the new action might be different. In talking with gunsmiths in my area, they all simply said it wasn't worth their effort. Interestingly, one also shared that truing and blue printing a Howa was a ripoff for the customer, since he had NEVER seen one that wasn't square from the factory. I asked a couple others and they said essentially the same thing, while admitting that they had taken the work when customers insisted.

the whole metric threading this is a big mystery to me. its a metric thread....its still the same process, just different thread pitch. how a gunsmith would scoff at re barreling one is beyond me. over the years, we have heard manyh of the same remarks to having a Howa blue printed, Howa quality is a big step above the rest.

[JASmith]

Thanks!

I had a faint glimmer of hope that the rifle has a quick-change barrel option similar to the Savage 110 / 10 series.

[bwaites]

the whole metric threading this is a big mystery to me. its a metric thread....its still the same process, just different thread pitch. how a gunsmith would scoff at re barreling one is beyond me. over the years, we have heard manyh of the same remarks to having a Howa blue printed, Howa quality is a big step above the rest.

I think that the biggest issue is a vast majority of gunsmiths have equipment manufactured before metric threading was common, and so it's a pain to switch their machines over. Newer machines, it's not such an issue. One told me that it's a metric thread, but that the actual angle of the threading was such that he couldn't even make his machine do it. I'm not a machinist, so I'm not sure I completely understood what he was getting at, but it wasn't just the thread density per cm, but the actual angle that the thread presented at.

[kmon]

Have a Gunsmith friend that has no issues working with Howa actions. Uses CNC equipment so once he has the programming for one can duplicate it easy. He keeps some long barrels without taper in stock and will turn them to what ever contour you want and put together a fine rifle.

His website could use a little work but the man knows what he is doing on rifles. When I was looking for a Smith to do a Grendel conversion on a CZ 527, he was the only one I found in Texas that would do the work, most complained about metric threads and about how difficult Howa barrels are to remove, he just said sure no problem. Link to his website http://www.liveoakaccuracy.com/

[adamjp]

the whole metric threading this is a big mystery to me. its a metric thread....its still the same process, just different thread pitch. how a gunsmith would scoff at re barreling one is beyond me. over the years, we have heard manyh of the same remarks to having a Howa blue printed, Howa quality is a big step above the rest.

Agreed. The hardest part about barrelling a Howa is getting the factory barrel OUT. I don't know how big the gorilla is that tightens them, but he knows how to make 'em tight!

FWIW the thread on Howa SA and LA action is 26x1.5mm. A simple metric thread which is almost, but not quite the same as the Remington 700 1&1/16x16tpi (26.9875x1.5875mm).

It looks to me that the Howa MA would have a thread about 22x1.5mm size, coincidentally the same as the Zastava m85. Howa action screws are M6, or 6x1.0mm.

I know the USA has persisted with a love of old imperial measurements, but truthfully it is an awful system and once you work in metric you find it hard to go back. Any modern machining tool will be built to work either way, with most CNC products built to work in metric (with conversion to imperial as necessary). Find a competent gunsmith who speaks metric, even in the USA that shouldn't be impossible.

[ricsmall]

I agree with Adamjp on the threads and gorilla. Apparently Remington hired his brother! I was pulling a barrel on a brand new 700 that took two days of kroil soaking,moderate heat, a 240 lb gorilla on action wrench and me, another 200 lbs holding the bench down to break free! Hardest one I've seen so far. Nothing to the metric threads,same machine that does imperial, just switch the necessary gears and little different method, depending on machine.

Richard