Howa Mini vs custom action

[tdbru]

i too had a Zastava M85 / Remington 799 / Interarms mini mauser. elegant looking little rifle. but ..... the extractor was very poorly done. as noted above, it was a push feed action. but with a standard mauser pattern ejector. with a mauser pattern ejector, you have to keep lateral force against the case head with enough of a ledge on the bolt face opposite of the extractor to catch the other side of the case so that the lateral pressure would hold the case against the bolt face as you extracted the case. the M85 didn't have enough rim on the bolt face for case to get pushed tightly against and held there. so the extractor would pull the case from the chamber, but after the case was extracted about 1/2" the case would come off the bolt face and sit there in the action. i took the extractor out once and tried to bend it a wee bit to have it push a bit harder with the lateral pressure to keep the case held by the bolt face. i have since sold it. might possibly work well, with better execution and attention to details. it also had a wee bolt handle. very petite. and scaled to the petite action. but i could only get a few fingers on it and since it was short due to the petite scaling the leverage wasn't as good as a longer bolt handle. so it was a bit harder to cycle as well. but it was pretty to look at. the mini howa is much better done for a functional rifle action. and as others have noted, a custom action/barrel/stock/trigger and put together by a good 'smith is a joy, but not cheap. good luck with your decisions.
-tdbru