Howa Mini action hinged bottom metal users

[Briano23]

Hey All, I planning to use a Bell and Carlson stock on my Howa Mini action and would like to know if any feeding issues with hinged bottom metal .
Any pictures would be great.
Briano

[jmkhenka]

Feeting? No, the bottom metal has a plastic insert (part of magwell) that is essentialy identical to the normal factory magazine.
Its a bit difficult to load 4 from the top, 3 is easy. But if you are loading standing, its just easier to drop the rounds from below instead.
4+1 is possible with no issues, but i rather go 3+1 for ease of closing the bolt.

[Briano23]

I see orgunsmith has a hinged bottom metal that has a metal insert for the Howa Mini action. I plan to talk to them this week to learn more about there bottom metal.

[Briano23]

I have my Howa Mini Barrel action ordered the B&C M40 Stock and now I'm trying to decide between DIP INC bottom metal or Hinged Bottom metal. I wondered if the is any advantages or disadvantages over one or the other.
Any help on this would be great.

[A5BLASTER]

I have my Howa Mini Barrel action ordered the B&C M40 Stock and now I'm trying to decide between DIP INC bottom metal or Hinged Bottom metal. I wondered if the is any advantages or disadvantages over one or the other.
Any help on this would be great.

Hokies hinged bottom metal setup will give you a longer possible coal length for your handloads over the oem or DIP setup since they use the oem mag.

I had the hokies bottom metal that is made like the DIP bottom metal and DIP improved mag latch on my howa and loved it worked great for me.

If I still had the howa I would have already changed it out for Hokies hinged floor plate setup.

When I had the howa I had also did the flush mag mod and modified the follower and end plate to allow it to be a 4+1 setup.

Hokie is a member here and he owns the Jefferson outdoors website that sales the aftermarket parts for the howa. Great parts and good guy to do business with, highly suggest doing business with him.

[Briano23]

Jefferson outdoors I will look into this.
Thanks
Briano

[HokeyPokeyKid]

I would recommend you look into both mine (jeffersonoutdoor) and oregunsmithing's bottom metal.

We took slightly different approaches to achieve the same goal and multiple options are a good thing.

[Briano23]

Thanks Hokey for your honest opinion. Could you tell me more about your bottom metal. When it comes to reloading I would like to find the lands on my 6.5 Grendel barrel and adjust my OAL from there with the Howa box magazine I'm limited on OAL.
Would like to loads Barnes 127 gr LRX loads for hunting.

[HokeyPokeyKid]

The main difference with my bottom metal is I built half a plastic magazine that centerfeeds like the original magazine design.

I have been able to feed handloads that were 2.460 long from my box magazine. Loading is a little stiff from the top but it is manageable because you have to push the cartridges down through the feedlips. It does smooth up with use though.

I have found that barnes copper bullets like a bit of a jump into the lands instead of being close up but you have to experiment to find your sweet spot.

I don't have much else to offer...

[Briano23]

Thank you very much.
Briano

[tdbru]

Briano,
i have HPK's hinged floorplate bottom metal in a B&C sporter. really like it a lot. i usually load from the bottom because i have an EGW rail across the top of the magazine and with my fat fingers there is not enough room between the rail and the magazine to get a round pushed down. i can put a round in the top. or i can fit my thumb in the opening. both stacked vertically won't fit. once i have the magazine loaded, it feeds really well. and for bench shooting, you can just drop one in the action opening and close the bolt on it. i think in an earlier post i posted some photos of what the rig looks like. if you do some searching you will likely find it. have fun!
-tdbru

[Briano23]

So you say you can load the HPK'S Bottom metal from the bottom.
I too have a 20moa rail on top would like to have it cut down to load from the top but if HKP' can load from the bottom that's a plus.
Thanks

[Dinny]

The Oregunsmithing hinged bottom metal fit tightly into my newly acquired B&C stock but it feeds perfectly. The stock doesn't fit my action as closely as I prefer so it's off to the see the gunsmith for a solid bedding job. Still shoots 1 MOA as is, though I know that same load in the factory stock is 1/2 MOA.

Thanks, Dinny

[rookie7]

I have my Howa Mini Barrel action ordered the B&C M40 Stock and now I'm trying to decide between DIP INC bottom metal or Hinged Bottom metal. I wondered if the is any advantages or disadvantages over one or the other.
Any help on this would be great.

If you plan on hunting with the rifle I highly recommend buying one of the two hinged bottom floorplates. I had the DIP mag well and mag release last season. Even with their redesigned mag release accidental mag dumps are possible and very probable. I had it happen to me while shooting at a coyote from a ladder stand.

As soon as HokeyPokeyKid had his BDL floorplate available I bought it and sold my DIP setup and 2 mags. The mag system as is or with DIP release is workable for the bench, but IMO not for anything dynamic.

[Briano23]

I purchased the HPK Bottom metal hope it fits the B&C B&C stock.