Howa Mini Action 6.5 Grendel Accuracy

[drewsbow]

Sticks : I bet my older chrono is off or still getting low reading from my scale , new one hasn't arrived yet but kept calibrating my old one in hopes of keeping it correct. I'm sure its on my end not yours and the magnetospeed is on my list of " needs " for the coming year . Thanks for posting your info , I am out of 129 sst's but a friend has some he is going to sell me since he can't get them to shoot. I will wait for the new scale and maybe magnetospeed before I try again I'm sure my data is suspect and want to get it straight the next run. Love this Howa rifle and will probably stay with the 123 sst for hunting but its fun to burn powder and work on load development. Thanks again

[cwlongshot]

Im a lil late to the posting..
Mine shoots pretty well. Cannot really comment to factory loads. If your limited to that, you have handicaped yourself.

I did buy a couple boxes when I first bought the gun to get brass and 1.5 was anout what I saw. BUT, That was a brandnew non broken in barrel. I can with no uncertanity tell you it shoots better once it has some rounds down the tube and you have cleaned it good! Took mine about five cycles.

Barrels have dictinct specfic likes and dislikes. Many times factory ammo isnt a davorite. Of coarse, sometimes it is. I have yet to own or load for a firearm thats accuracy couldnt be improved by handloading.



CW

[Dinny]

CW,
Those are pretty decent 25yd groups! Keep practicing and I bet you could do that at 50yds, lol

Merry Christmas

Dinny

[cwlongshot]

One day we will connect Dinny and I can edjucate ya on bug holes!



Merry Christmas Medic

CW

[drewsbow]

those are some nice groups , congrats good shootin

[GaGuideMan]

These dang little Howa rifles are something! Some of the pics of the insane small groups that the 20" heavy barrel models shoot is what makes me want one too.

[Tacoma21]

These dang little Howa rifles are something! Some of the pics of the insane small groups that the 20" heavy barrel models shoot is what makes me want one too.

The HB model is a bit of a misnomer. The barrel is no more heavy than a standard weight .308 barrel. Heck, I've had 16" HBAR barrels that were heavier. Point being that unless you only plan on taking a single shot with it, a HB howa should be a given.

[drewsbow]

I love mine so much I'm trying to talk myself out of or is that into ? another one maybe 22" and make a light weight hunter what to do what to do ?

[GaGuideMan]

I say that about the 20" HB version and my range session today yielded a 3/8" group with 123 SST factory loads fired from my standard weight 22" version. To me, this gun is an absolute dream of a rifle. Light, handy, and crazy accurate. All of this being said, I still want one of those HB 20" versions too.

[GaGuideMan]

I am interested in knowing from the horde going all factory, what are people seeing as far as accuracy from Hornady Black 123 Match vs Hornady 123 SST ammo shot out of these Howa Mini 20" and 22" rifles with no mods.

[Sticks]

I am interested in knowing from the horde going all factory, what are people seeing as far as accuracy from Hornady Black 123 Match vs Hornady 123 SST ammo shot out of these Howa Mini 20" and 22" rifles with no mods.

gods, I feel like a broken record....

The SST line (either Factory loaded ammo or hand loads) is one of the pickiest bullets to get to shoot accurately - More specifically it is picky about what barrel it will shoot well out of. 5 barrels by the same MFG, and it might shoot MOA or better out of one of them. Some people here have gotten lucky and got MOA or better with SST in both factory and handloads. I have tried it in 4 Howa rifles and 2 AR (Bartlien and Lilja). All shot 1.5" or more. Load up some Hornady Black right behind them and shot .5, 5 round groups.

The SST is an excellent and likely the best hunting bullet for the Grendel, and plenty of data in the knockdown survey to prove it. 1.5 MOA ammo is probably perfectly fine for most hunters who won't take anything past 250 yards and that is a 4" group, minute of deer, hog, elk, antelope, moose...

[A5BLASTER]

gods, I feel like a broken record....

The SST line (either Factory loaded ammo or hand loads) is one of the pickiest bullets to get to shoot accurately - More specifically it is picky about what barrel it will shoot well out of. 5 barrels by the same MFG, and it might shoot MOA or better out of one of them. Some people here have gotten lucky and got MOA or better with SST in both factory and handloads. I have tried it in 4 Howa rifles and 2 AR (Bartlien and Lilja). All shot 1.5" or more. Load up some Hornady Black right behind them and shot .5, 5 round groups.

The SST is an excellent and likely the best hunting bullet for the Grendel, and plenty of data in the knockdown survey to prove it. 1.5 MOA ammo is probably perfectly fine for most hunters who won't take anything past 250 yards and that is a 4" group, minute of deer, hog, elk, antelope, moose...

True that on the broken record thing. The hornady sst ammo use to shoot great when I first got into the grendel now it's like you say 1.5 to 2 inch 5 shoot groups and for me and my hunting that's worthless even at 50 yards.

I'm of the missed I'm not even going to try and work up a handload with them for any of my rifles, far too many better hunting and target bullets to play with then to have to worrie if the sst will like my barrel.

[GaGuideMan]

That's two that don't have good success with the SST. I however have. Just curious about what the members of this forum are seeing.

[Frontier Gear]

One of my Howas shoots the current factory SST at 1 moa. I haven't tried it in the other Howa yet. I feel pretty lucky with this one though as it likes both the SST and the ELD-M. Both are within 1 moa and are in the same vertical plane. The ELD-M has a slightly higher POI. I've switched back and forth between the ELD-M and the SST while hunting between 200-300 yards and not re-sighted the scope. Both rounds have taken game.

[Taz575]

The Alexander Arms 129 SST shot pretty well for me in my Mini. Handloads with the 123 SST were .3" and .49" for 5 shots when I got to a seating depth it likes (1.73 and 1.72" to ogive). It may be a bullet that is very picky about OAL and seating depth?

[Aknv]

Hope everyone had great holiday season! So I have an update and a question for my fellow Howa Mini action owners. First the update , LSI did send me a new stock and it was identical to my factory one, so I spoke to them on the phone for a while and they said go ahead an cut up the stock to inlet it. I opened the barrel channel but notice that the recoil lug on the receiver bottoms out into the stock. Is this normal ? IMO it would only cause more problems acting like a see saw on that front recoil lug. I measured my factory lug at approx. 0.346" (the depth that it extends into the stock) and the pocket in the stock is only machined about 0.325" so it sits on top of pocket by about 0.021" which doesn't seem like a lot but i feel it is. Thoughts? So the question would be what are the dimensions of the recoil lug on your how mini action. Thanks!

[grayfox]

That's two that don't have good success with the SST. I however have. Just curious about what the members of this forum are seeing.

I've had success with the earlier (~1.5 yrs ago) sst factory, but the factory now, is kinda meh.
However with handloads on AR comp, 2505 give or take, and < 1 moa at 100.
The hornady black factory - I just got back from the range and 4, 3-shot groups from 0.430 to 0.934.
My single sst handload group is 0.736, and about 0.75 higher POI than the black.

(All this with some guy and a cannon next stall, gave me a headache even with dbl ear protection!)

[FW Conch]

Aknv, the recoil lug defenently should not bottom out. If it is as You describe, the slot needs to be dremmeled out on the bottom for clearance. When bedding that area, tape should be applied to the bottom of the recoil lug to insure the clearance remains.

[Aknv]

Aknv, the recoil lug defenently should not bottom out. If it is as You describe, the slot needs to be dremmeled out on the bottom for clearance. When bedding that area, tape should be applied to the bottom of the recoil lug to insure the clearance remains.

Yeah thats what I was thinking .. But when I tried to explain it to a rifle company there thought I was crazy. They said that it should touch since the HOWA mini action is flat on the bottom it is suppose to touch at the recoil lug (on the bottom) and the rear tang. I appreciated your response but have decided to sent the rifle back for a warranty repair and see if they can find the problem with it, I'm just tired and frustrated with its performance. So when I get it back in 4-12 weeks as quoted for turn around time I will post another update.

[cwlongshot]

I see you sent it back, so moot point. But why not just hog it out and bed the whole thing?

(I'm sure you realize) Inletting is never as precise as a good bedding job and a good bedding job is a good idea for consistent accurate shooting...

CW