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Thread: Howa 1500 mini action 6.5 Grendel

  1. #1
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    Howa 1500 mini action 6.5 Grendel

    This is a gun you may not have considered, the cartridge (based on the 7.62 by 39) looks too small to be a serious long range or hunting calibre, however, american shooters have been routinely shooting 1000 yard matches and hunting whitetail deer and feral pig with it (admitedly mainly using AR 15 derived guns as the round was developed around this platform to fit AR 15 magazines.
    I have just taken delivery of one of the standard barrelled 22 inch mini action 1500's and first impressions are very good, the gun is smaller than the short action and lighter, the pillar bedded overmoulded stock is not hougue but is very comfortable with a good but pad. The HACT trigger is crisp with no creep although I may replace the springs to reduce the weight slightly. The ballistics of the 6.5 make it a very serious contender, the mini action is probably a much better hunting rifle than a target shooter, I will let you know how it shoots but if it is anything like my 1500 .243 I will be delighted as that is a 0.5 moa shooter.

  2. #2
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    My mate has one and loves it, he's taken fallow and roe with it running 120 NBTs at 2700 fps which is just shy of what I run them at in my 6.5x55 (could push them up to 3k but deer wouldn't be any more dead and more damage would occur).

    I was quite tempted by one but already have 2 x 6.5s and they aren't importing the CZ527 in Grendel which would be my choice over the howa, the sporter I have handled was just a bit 'too light' for my liking but I have a thing for heavy barrels.

    My middle cartridge of choice instead will be the 25-45 sharps; once I've shot through my remaining .223 ammo the cz527 will be re-barrelled with a medium weight barrel in this calibre. This will give me an all deer legal cartridge If however I didn't have a howa varmint in 6.5 creedmoor then I definitely would have gone for a varmint 6.5 grendel.

    PS if you reload and you want a decent fox / long range vermin bullet and you can find them the Sierra 85gr varminters are working very well for me out of the creed, you should get them up to circa 3000 fps out of the Grendel.
    Thanks for looking

  3. #3
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    To be honest a slightly heavier barrel would be nice but I was intrigued by the fact that such a short cartridge could show the potential it does. The 6.5x55 is a superb deer rifle but the cartridge is much longer and needs a lot more powder, I like the very short action of the mini howa coupled with the light weight and the very light recoil. The creedmore is also interesting and very capable but the Grendel is just that bit different.
    I am reloading for it and my first loads will use the lapua 123gn scenar heads, it was all I could find at short notice, I intend to try the 85gn and the 110gn when I have the chance.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by neutron_bomb View Post
    To be honest a slightly heavier barrel would be nice but I was intrigued by the fact that such a short cartridge could show the potential it does. The 6.5x55 is a superb deer rifle but the cartridge is much longer and needs a lot more powder, I like the very short action of the mini howa coupled with the light weight and the very light recoil. The creedmore is also interesting and very capable but the Grendel is just that bit different.
    I am reloading for it and my first loads will use the lapua 123gn scenar heads, it was all I could find at short notice, I intend to try the 85gn and the 110gn when I have the chance.
    100 gr NBTs would be a good choice for deer out f this cartridge
    Thanks for looking

  5. #5
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    I have finally managed to fire a few shots through this rifle and it is very smooth, the recoil is light and the factory two stage trigger is very crisp. I even like the stock Howa have used it is very comfortable and fits me well. All told this is an impressive gun shooting a surprisingly effective projectile with little muzzle blast or recoil. I was unable to shoot many rounds and need to do more using a good scope to assess its accuracy but first impressions are very good.

  6. #6
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    I have now replaced the trigger springs and the weight is down to about 1.5 lbs and very crisp, I have a boyd stock on order and a 6-24x50 scope and have started fire forming some cases, the gun shoots well and I will start to work up an accuracy load soon along with some chrono work. The gun is lovely to shoot with very little recoil.

  7. #7
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    howa 1500

    I found by the time I added the better trigger , mag conversion & stock,et etc to the howa, I may has well just have put the money into a pedigree rifle & had done, the best grouping I could get with a howa 1500 in 6mm + cal was 3" at 100yds.. 7mm was diabolical..needless to say they went back !

  8. #8
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    I am astonished that you would not consider a Howa to be a high quality rifle, my 1500 in .243 will group less than 0.3 of an inch at 50 metres and my mini action 6.5 Grendel is now producing groups under 0.4 inch at 50 metres. They are two of the most accurate firearms I have owned

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by neutron_bomb View Post
    I am astonished that you would not consider a Howa to be a high quality rifle, my 1500 in .243 will group less than 0.3 of an inch at 50 metres and my mini action 6.5 Grendel is now producing groups under 0.4 inch at 50 metres. They are two of the most accurate firearms I have owned
    50 metres isn't really an accuracy test.

    I like my HOWA a lot, I wouldn't suggest they are a high quality rifle though - they a well made, accurate budget rifle that will get the job done just as well as pretty much any 'high quality' factory rifle out there!
    Thanks for looking

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by joe public View Post
    I found by the time I added the better trigger , mag conversion & stock,et etc to the howa, I may has well just have put the money into a pedigree rifle & had done, the best grouping I could get with a howa 1500 in 6mm + cal was 3" at 100yds.. 7mm was diabolical..needless to say they went back !
    Both should have bettered that, every howa I've seen has been accurate to sub MOA or better, so yours probably would have been too, my guess is something else to blame!
    Thanks for looking

  11. #11
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    A friend just bought a .223 mini action and it's shooting .7 MOA at 100 yards. Very accurate. I have just ordered one in .204 Ruger with the Kryptek Hogue stock. Excited.

  12. #12
    PeteB is offline Personally, I don't trust any bloke that makes me feel stiff in the morning
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    My RWS Sporter .243 (Howa made iirc), totally standard, was sub MOA, tested at 100m with factory ammo. Never found a need to modify it and would have only hand load for cost saving reasons.
    I plink, therefore I am.

  13. #13
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    I followed the Howa barrel break-in process to the letter on my .223 being a 1:12 twist it loves the high speed Hornady 40g pills.

    It will group to half inch at 100yds

    But, being a sporter barrel, I don’t fire more that 3 shots in succession as it gets quite hot, so no good for “target shooting”
    And then an ice hockey game broke out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0woZ...layer_embedded
    son got MOM in world championships: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoCcYwNJxv4

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