giant groups from new Mini

[garyrapp55]

Did you bed the rifle in the stock?

Had planned on before I even had the parts. I haven't pillared and glass bedded yet. I just never had a rifle that shot so poorly. Headed back to woods in the am and will try different ammo as well.

[FLshooter]

5 inch groups? after checking my rifle to make sure everything I did was right,I would have called the factory and set up a return. At this point all you’re gonna do is waste ammo.Send it back and have them deal with it.

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

Had planned on before I even had the parts. I haven't pillared and glass bedded yet. I just never had a rifle that shot so poorly. Headed back to woods in the am and will try different ammo as well.

Have you been able to do anymore testing? If so,let us know your findings.

[garyrapp55]

I tested another kind of ammo last weekend with similar results. I went to work this morning and packaged for return. It's on the FedEx Ground pallet and will be picked up Monday. I sure hope this goes well, this rifle is for my son and I'd hate for him to get discouraged.

[Clumsy Keeper]

I have a 6.5 grendel mini action in a boyd’s stock also that does 5” groups with Hornady sst. Mine does better with Alexander Arms 129 SST ammo, .350” 3 shot group at 100 yds.

[garyrapp55]

Legacy said the MOA test failed. I'm told a new one will ship to my FFL. Sucks I've waited 2 months, glad they owned it. I will update when new rifle is delivered.

[Rosecrans1]

I really wondered with the pandemic what the turn-around time, if any, would be. I think all things considered that the outcome is better than expected under the circumstances. It sucked you got a dud but at least things are looking up!

[jmkhenka]

Factory hornady SST in my howa mini never performed better then 4-6 inches.
I have loaded up the same 123 SST in lapua brass, 1mm longer coal and velocity around 2400 V0, and they group 1" or lower at 100 meters. 5x5 (max load was 26 grain N133, down 4 steps 0.3 gr). All loads performed evenly.
Was worried the SST would not work even with hand loads and I bought 200 of them. But now i have 175 left and a load worked up.
I might get a bit more speed, Vihtavuori has max load of 26.7 on their 123 scenar, but the 26 load was quite OK and im going to use it for hunting roe.

Overall, im satisfied with the Howa mini, everything i feed it goes at worst at 1", so im mostly finding the velocity i need. Not like my previous 6.5x55 (modern sauer 101), where two bullets with same weight and V0 could differ 1" in groupsize.

--- edit

just to clarify, the only factory load i have used in the howa is the 123 SST (40 rounds). As ammo for grendel is not that common in sweden, i have not bottered to order any.
Was hoping for some ELD-M's from my store to try out or perhaps even federal. But with covid-19 and how ammo transports work in sweden, im not that confident i will ever get any.

but i have 600 bullets over like 15 kinds to use in the grendel, brass is easy to get (lapua or starline) so i rather reload. Brass life is good, unless i load max P.

[Stinky Coyote]

my mini is in an mdt-lss chassis, easily one of the most accurate rifles i've ever had and that's shooting factory hornady black ammo, half moa are it's larger groups...

not only that, my chassis was lightened by a machinest by 7 oz, the entire scoped rifle will drill those tiny groups at a total weight of 7 lbs all up, all day long, and it absolutely shoots that good when hunting, it hits the hair you aimed at...so ya, you gots some figuring to do

[Mopar forever]

I have been looking at the Howa mini that’s in a chassis. It’s 550 (new) are they worth the price and do they seem to be pretty good guns ? Thanks

[Stinky Coyote]

My fav Grendel now is the new Ruger American Ranch with the 10 round AR magazine. You can get mdt chassis for these also.

For me the Howa metal is fantastic, in the mdt chassis the trigger is pretty far back in the guard so you’ll want a grip with the rubber back strap that goes up and rearward to make the reach to trigger a little longer, I run ergo slim grips. Great for kids though. Also even though the trigger is crisp and adjusts easily, not a fan of the feel of the blade or the two stage pull. The ruger has creep and an accutrigger dual stage but I like it better and it’s positioned better and has better physical feel. The cz is my fav trigger of the three all the way around, feel, single stage, can be adjusted to nearly creep free and about 2 3/4 lbs which I love. The Howa magazine is the size of a 10 round AR mag yet only hold 5 and feels cheap af, often doesn’t feed all 5, last two tip down after a shot and that’s it. Absolutely hate the mags on the Howa...enough that it really levels off any enthusiasm for the rifles.

The materials and feel of the cz after slicking and polishing is fantastic. Love the magazine and all metal/wood construction. Handle and feels are fantastic.

The ruger has next best feels and a little better handling feel. Anyway, the ruger has become my fav of the three, it’s doing more right than the other two imo. The biggest thing I’d like to see on the ruger is a bolt handle that locks down on safe and a less tacky and squishy recoil pad and if I was wish listing one other change it would be give me a stainless version. Drool