Howa Micro Mini project.

[klr]

Nice work.

[weagle]

Almost finished. Crown has been cut with the 11 degree facing tool. I just need to do the final finish with brass screw and valve grinding compound.

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Painted the stock with the base coat and then taped it off with a tiger stripe pattern. Final coat was desert tan and then black webbing.

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[weagle]

Mounted a Bushnell 3200 Firefly in tally lightweights. Ready for testing:

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Edit: It weighs 6lb 10oz with the Bushnell scope. The Bushnell is quite heavy at 1lb and after accuracy testing I'll probably replace it with a 10oz Leupold 6x36.

[stumpjumper3d]

What did you use to do the webbing ?

[weagle]

The webbing is rattle can: Krylon Webbing.

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[stumpjumper3d]

Thanks !!

[weagle]

Got a chance to shoot it today and I'm pleased. Only had the factory Hornady 123 SSTs to try, but it shot just over and inch at 100yds off a makeshift rest.

I still have a month of deer season left so I'm pumped to take this wicked little gun to the woods.

[weagle]

Swapped out the plastic bottom for an Aluminum hinged unit from Oregunsmithing. Added 1 oz. So now it is 6lb 11oz. It be 6lb 8oz when I swap the scope.

[nuthead]

Nice - I had a similar concept for mine (inspired by adamjp's rifle) it was to create an ultralight micro mountain rifle for busting deer and pigs out to 400m.
I started with a 22 inch barreled howa because I needed to wring out as much velocity as possible. Changed the bottom metal to the aluminum DIP one (I'll eventually change that to a hinged floor plate) and changed the stock to an ultralight MPI which I bedded in devcon and added pillars to (I shortened the length of pull by an inch as well) The bare rifle weighs 5.5lbs - I added a leupold vx3 4.5-14x40 bringing it up to about 7.5lbs

[tdbru]

Weagle,
well done. i'm always wanting longer tubes for less muzzle blast and more velocity. your changing the stock proportions improved things immensely. well done. and the crown job looked very well done too. did you really need the brass screw and valve grinding compound? the paint job looks great. LOP might be a challenge. or would be for me i think. if you can use it well, great.

by the way, if you're not shooting big game over 250 yards or so, the Leupold FXII 4x33 weighs only 9 oz i think. i just went to look and see that Leupold is no longer cataloging them. but there may still be some in the pipeline. they help keep things very light. the optics are great, clear, bright and the dials repeatable. and on a small rifle that FXII 4x33 proportion is just right. just a thought.

how well does that bottom metal feed? does it scratch up the brass a lot?

well done.
-tebru

[weagle]

tdbru,

One of the reasons I settled on using the youth stock is that a Pachmayr recoil pad fits perfect and makes the LOP the same as the standard adult stock. I figured since I could go back and forth easily, there was no down side to the youth stock. I thought I would like the longer LOP when shooting from the bench, but I discovered I like the short stock just fine. After hunting with it for a few weeks, I doubt I'll ever use the Pachmayr. It is very handy with the youth stock.

For reference here it is with the Pachmayr installed.



I'd be fine with a fixed 4X for hunting. That's actually what I have on my other hunting rifles, but I'm going with a 3X9 at least for now while I develop loads. Cranking the scope up to 9X is more condusive to shooting small groups on paper, at least for me.

I noticed a few light scratches on the brass. I could probably eliminate them by buffing the edges of the metal box, but it's insignificant.

[JSH]

If you want your paint job to last, find some matte clear ceramic header paint. It wears like iron.

[weagle]

I put some rounds through it today. A couple of notes:

With 2 piece Tally Low rings, there's plenty of room to load.

It feeds perfect with 3 down. 4 down is hard to load and hard to chamber. I could probably fiddle around with it and get it feed smoothly with 4 down, but 3 is plenty, so I'll leave it alone.

Ejection is perfect.

Feeds well as a single shot. Just throw one in the chamber and it lines up properly to close the bolt.

My gun went from shooting 1+ inch 100 yd groups to sub 1" groups shooting the same factory Hornady Custom 123gr SST ammo. I'm not going to give the bottom metal all the credit, It could just be from tightening the action screws differently when I installed the bottom metal. Worth mentioning though.

I swapped the scope for a Redfield Revolution 3-9 and it now weighs 6lb 8oz.

[biodsl]

Congratulations on a nice build. I should have pulled the trigger on that Whittaker deal!

[tdbru]

very well done Weagle. congrats! by the way, did you use a torque wrench to cinch up the bottom metal? if so, do you recall the setting you used?
-tdbru

[weagle]

I didn't use a torgue wrench and there weren't any torque specs in the directions. I tightened both till they just touched, tightened down the rear , tightened the front, then one more time harder on the rear. This was with a bit driver not a t wrench.

I didn't bed the action or fool with the pillars. I did make sure the barrel was free floated.

[s3silver]

Nice little project. You did a great job!

[Stevil]

Well done on the Color scheme, came up like a Pro !!

[weagle]

Here's the final version ready to hit the woods next weekend for Deer season in GA. Swapped the scope for a 2x7 Redfield. My handloads with IMR 8208 XBR and a 123 SST are doing 2427 fps and shooting slightly under an inch at 100 yds. Weight is 6lbs 5oz with the 2x7 Redfield.

[Dinny]

Looks good!