Howa/hogue 1500 .223

[savagefp10]

Hi I am considering buying a Howa 1500 with the Hogue stock in 223 caliber. I pickup one of these guns yesterday and I could not believe how well it felt in my hands with that Hogue stock. The weight and balance was Great! Does anyone have any comments on these guns I don't no much about Howa. I mostly stick with the names that I am familar with.

Thank you.

[Waterengineer]

Howa is a very nice rifle. Well made and accurage out of the crate. You may know Howa by anpther name, Weatherby Vanguard. The Vanguard is Howa, with minor changes. I would purchase more Howaa if I could find them more easily. Excellent value. Bottomline, you done good.

[chaz12]

I looked at the Howa 1500's myself recently. There had a couple of minor drawbacks I thought.

The Hogue stock is reported to not be stiff enough to prevent it bending up to touch the barrel if you support it on a bipod or front rest.

The twist rate of the barrel is 1-12 which is on the slow side. It will limit you to bullet weights of 55 gr or less.

Neither one of these would prevent it from being an accurate rifle. It just wasn't what I was looking for at the time.

chaz

[sholling]

I like Howa rifles although they are heavy. The Hogue stock I'm less fond of because they flex like a garden hose. That's not conducive to accuracy. I'd also look into the twist rate of the barrel. Howa 223s used to have a slow twist for very light bullets. I'd rather have a 1:9 or 1:8 twist than say a 1:12.