New Howa Mini Action on the way!

[Old Bob]

Picked up the mini today from my local dealer. Excited to get this put together and see how it shoots. First impressions, the bad first. Packaging is minimal, gun, bolt, manual, and magazine and that’s it. I’m sure that’s one way Howa keeps the price point low. The stock sucks, but I think we all knew that. The barrel does contact the stock on the left side. I’m looking at the Bell and Carlson M40 as the replacement so if anyone has one please post a picture. Now the good. The finish looks good, nice and even. The action is silky smooth, like all other Howa rifles I’ve handle. The size is perfect for this caliber in my opinion although a little heavier barrel would have been ok with me.. I handled my cousins 20” .308 Howa over the weekend and it’s significantly heavier. A bull barrel like the one found on the .308 is nice depending on use. Threading on the barrel and the barrel crown look as good as any I have seen. The magazine setup is plastic, but functional and honestly doesn’t bother me at all. Next step, mount the one piece base and scope. Then barrel break in. I need to look up what Howa recommends for barrel break in as I read it’s different for cold hammer forged barrels? Also the site keeps telling me my photos are to big and can’t be uploaded, sooo how do I fix that?

AChristian

What does your manual say about stock screw torque? I hope it's right on yours (35 inch lbs). Even if you don't crack a trigger guard screw hole (like I did), you might wanna get the DIP aluminum bottom metal anyway. I'm also looking at the B & C M40 stock for my mini.