Range Results Day One: Howa 1500 .243 Win. (Pictures)

SeekingTradDeer

SeekingTradDeer

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Let me start this thread by thanking all of our veterans (alive and dead)...I couldn't help but think of them and appreciate my right to keep and bear arms while I was firing away at the range today.
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About a month and a half ago I picked up a new to me Howa Model 1500 in .243 Winchester from Cabelas. It looked like it had never been fired or if it had it hadn't been used much. Other than a problem with the stock fit it looked great.

It has been a long and painful wait while my gunsmith worked to eliminate any creep on the trigger and set it at 3lbs. He also did some work on the stock and mounted my scope.

Here she is topped with a VXII 4x12x40 AO with the long range rectile and supported by a Harris S Model 25C bipod.

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Here are the results of three different boxes of ammo I shot through the gun today:

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All right...I will ramble some now then sit back and look forward to your input, suggestions, etc.

The Hornady VMax blew away the Remington and Fedral loads I shot along with it...really no comparrison. I am a bit worried that the 58gr. will not penetrate enough of a coyote shoulder bone and I looked all over the internet tonight and in some catalogs to find the Hornady VMAX Molly loaded in the 65, 75, and 87 grain variety but I couldn't find it. I like the Molly design of the 58 grainer not so much as increased speed and reduced barrell life but because I don't have to fight the copper in the barrell. I ran solvent through the barrell five times tonight and waited ten minutes between each and still had blue copper coming out on the patches when I quit for the night.

I shot off of a $20 V rest I got at Cabelas.

After the targets I did some shooting with the bi-pod. I struggled with the sitting position and tried to lean forward with my feet crossed and did manage to get them all in the black. However, when I got on my big belly and did the prone shooting it was very stable and tight. I see why guys often just buy the shorter bipod sticks.

I am totally satisfied with the Howa but somehow I still miss my Savage rifles when shooting this one. It is my first non Savage gun . I think in time however we will be tight.
 
Great shooting.

Have you tried using J-B abrasive bore cleaner after you get the nitro-solvent cleaning done? Often, this step will smooth the bore and slow the build-up of future copper from bullets. This helps with accuracy, too.

Just a thought.

Best wishes,
 
Float the barrel. I have several HOWA's and all of them are floated. Each of them can shoot WAY better then I can. I haven't met one yet that won't shoot. It will get better with time. NICE GUN! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
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Your groups show some lateral dispersion. If you know you had a solid rest and the wind wasn't causing it, check the barrel to make certain the barrel is not touching the side of the barrel channel. A lot of new guns, even with synthetic stocks, will allow the barrel to touch one side or the other.

I have noticed, however, that if I shoot from a sitting position off a bipod, my groups will tend to show some lateral dispersion. My heartbeat tends to make the cross hairs wander a bit from side to side if I am hunched over. So, if either of those two groups were shot off your bipod from the same sitting position, you might have experienced the same phenomenon.
 
I think the 58 grain v-maxs will do the trick on coyotes. I'm sure they'll be DRT. I load the 75 grain v-maxs with good results. One thing I have noticed with the .243 is that it does get a lot of copper fouling. I have to clean every 50 rounds or so because accuracy falls off dramatically.
 
cjg: What is DRT?

cdr: Now you have me wondering as the smith did have to do some work to straighten the stock.

superseal: how does one bed the barrell.

Gander: how does one float the barrell.

I wish Hornady sold some other .243 VMAX bullets other than only the .58 grain in premade cartridges.
 
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cjg: What is DRT?



"Dead Right There" or "Dropped Right There"

edited: spelling error /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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Thanks for cracking the code cjg :).

Do you also use J-B abrasive bore cleaner to get out your copper? Do you ever get it all out...ie...rag with solvet no longer blue when you have let the solvent solve a while inside the barrell?
 
That's a Hogue Overmolded stock. Assuming it's the less expensive model, it's free floated and pillar bedded already. The one thing you might check is if the barrel is touching the stock at the very front end of the stock. I put one of these stocks on my .270 and there is some play so the barrel can touch the stock if you don't line it up right and tighten the screws well.
 
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Float the barrel. I have several HOWA's and all of them are floated. Each of them can shoot WAY better then I can. I haven't met one yet that won't shoot. It will get better with time. NICE GUN! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif



My experience also. Howa 1500's shoot with any factory offering out there. If you handload, PM me......
 
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cdr: Now you have me wondering as the smith did have to do some work to straighten the stock.


Gander: how does one float the barrell.





Sometimes, with synthetic stocks, using a bipod can cause the foreend to flex and touch the side of the barrel when you turn the rifle to level it up. This can cause shot stringing, usually horizontal. That's why enough stock material has to be removed from the sides and bottom of the barrel channel to insure that doesn't happen. I have stiffened my barrel channels with carbon arrow shafting and Accraglass epoxy.

But, if you get somewhere between .030" and .050" clearance on each side of the barrel, that will usually be sufficient, except in the most extreme cases, to keep the barrel from touching the stock. I would let someone more experienced with stock work do it, though, for aesthetic reasons. You can easily remove too much material if you don't know what you are doing. That doesn't impair functioning, but does affect appearance.
 
CDR
I personally shoot off a pair of shooting stick or a bipod alot. For reason others have described. My barrel channels have a little more clearence then normal, probably an 1/32nd inch of clearence around the barrel. To achieve this I use a rattail file and some sand paper starting with 80 grit and working up.I do the ruff work then set the action into the stock and use two sheets of heavy paper between the barrel and stock all the way down to the chamber area of the stock. Once I have the clearence all the way down I remove it and finish sand. If its a wood stock I put a couple coats of polyeurothane to seal it. For synthetic I used WD 40 to bring back the shine.
Some others may have their way but thats how I do it.
 
GDB:

That pretty much describes the way I do my wood stocks, too.

I have only had to deal with the Savage synthetic stocks and those I normally stiffen up a bit since I use Harris swivel bipods on my heavy varmint rifles. I normally put two layers of duct tape on the barrel to provide spacing while the Accraglass sets up.

One Ramline I used on a 788 was stiff enough I didn't have to add anything to the barrel channel for that purpose.
 
I did an extended range test today on the Howa. Also, did check the barrell and it does free float. I have to say that I am disappointed with the rifle compared to my various savage centerfire rifles. I had a very steady bench rest and ideal conditions on the range today...had the place to myself. It just does not shoot to my satisfaction....even after the trigger job. My Savage guns blow it away in the accuracy department even those without trigger jobs. Of course some of it is me and perhaps I still need to find a load that will shoot within an inch at 100 yards 80% of the time...but I am not there yet. Hopefully, when I get a couple more boxes of bullets I have on order from Midway next week I can get closer to what I expect.
 
Check to see if the magazine box is bottoming out on the
floor plate. One way to do this is to shoot it with the
box removed. If the box is bottoming out on the floorplate,
the action can't make full contact with the pillars.
 
Whats the twist of those rifles? Maybe a little heavier bullet is the answer. Start reloading if you dont already. It is a very rewarding past time, for me at least. My best friend is a farmer, and lives out in the middle of coyote country. He struggles big time and has only killed two coyotes in the past three years. I finally bought him a Lee anniversary reloading kit, because he is to stubborn to buy one himself, but anyway he killed one last week while putting in the crop, and he is just absolutely certain it was his reload that killed the coyote. Kinda funny but you know the old saying-what ever it takes- He really is enjoying reloading rifle cartridges. To me it just goes hand in hand. If you love to shoot rifles you will feel more complete if you reload the cartridges you shoot! Lee
 
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