New Hope for Fireball cartridges, maybe...?

[william t. oviatt]

Howa's new short action is a commitment to smaller cartridges. Might just mean they see potential in Fireball based cartridges as a niche to develop with their new small action rifles.....
Bill

http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/art....x9TJmdDW.dpbs

[montdoug]

Interesting rifle. I've never shot a Howa so I'm curious as to the accuracy of them?? I'm gonna guess however that the polymer magazine is gonna be unpopular but the scope sits low and the looks like it'll clear whatever so it's got that going for it. The price-point looks to good to be true but I'm guessing that strange looking stock (at least to me) is inexpensive to make.
Hope it works out and thanks for posting it .

[SmokinJoe]

Those stocks look like the Hogue overmolded units on my FNH PBR 308's.

[MIBULLETS]

I used to own a Howa 1500 in 22-250. Bought it used and the barrel was shot out, but I really liked the action. Short bolt lift and an extractor similar to a Sako/ M-16 style. Wish I would have not sold it and built something else. At the time I couldn't find many stocks for it. It came with a cheap one like the cheaper Savage rifles. The newer ones can be had with the Houge though.

[basdjs]

Originally Posted by william t. oviatt

Howa's new short action is a commitment to smaller cartridges. Might just mean they see potential in Fireball based cartridges as a niche to develop with their new small action rifles.....
Bill

http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/art....x9TJmdDW.dpbs

I'd love to see it in .17 Fireball!

[Bill K]

Humm. 204 R re-chambered, barrel set back and a 20 SCC repeater. Bill K

[Jim D]

We need someone to pick up on the brass production !

Factory 17FB brass is high priced, and impossible to find. If I was Remington, I'd get on it !

Then we'd see more rifles chambered for it, I bet.

Jim

PS. Just bought a model 7 action to build a 17FB. My first actual build.

[glennlasher]

Originally Posted by montdoug

Interesting rifle. I've never shot a Howa so I'm curious as to the accuracy of them?? I'm gonna guess however that the polymer magazine is gonna be unpopular but the scope sits low and the looks like it'll clear whatever so it's got that going for it. The price-point looks to good to be true but I'm guessing that strange looking stock (at least to me) is inexpensive to make.
Hope it works out and thanks for posting it .

I had a factory heavy-barreled .223 that would shoot .3" with H-322 and the Hornady 50 SPSX bullets. Nice rifle, horrible trigger on that particular rifle. The triggers on the newer rifles are much better, I'm told, but Timney makes a good trigger for them, too.
A buddy of mine built a heavy-barreled .221 Fireball on a Howa action (the .308 length), and it fed and extracted just fine. I don't know why they're building a whole new action for the little cartridges when the old one worked just fine, but hey, a new rifle is not to be disparaged until it shows it's not worthy.
I own a Howa .270 currently, that kills deer real dead, they are excellent actions and I like them better than the Remington 700.
Howa makes excellent stuff, they made Weatherby MkV actions for years, and still make the Vanguards for Weatherby, too. The Vanguard is just a 1500 action with some cosmetic differences on the bolt cap and some fluting on the bolt. Otherwise, it's the same rifle Howa (Legacy Sports) is selling.

I can't really tell from the photos, but it looks like it's just an ultra-short 1500 action, which would make it a VERY nice rifle for a very fair price. Other than the trigger, it might be a very tough competitor to the CZ 527 and the Mini-Mauser. The 1500 is one of my favorite actions, it's a dandy.

[Chad]

I'm not a fan of the flimsy hogue stock, but the action sure looks nice.

[ab_bentley]

Metric threads once again, I guess I should update my lathe


Adam