A friend of mine holds a private tactical shooting competition about twice a year and one of the events requires a bolt action rifle to fire 8 rounds for accuracy and time. Looking for an edge I decided to put the CDI box magazine kit from CDI Precision Gunworks on my Howa 1500 chambered in 308.
The CDI manufacturing quality is top notch as well as the AICS 10round magazine that the kit based around. (For those of you that don't know AICS stands for Accuracy International Chassis Systems and they build state of the art sniper equipment, needless to say... expensive stuff)
The CDI kit that I received was a pretty good fit, nearly. The slot cutout for the trigger to pass through in the new floor plate (CDI calls it a "base metal") didn't match up with the trigger on my Howa. Considering that the cost of the kit, delivered, approaches $300 I was very annoyed, but no big deal for since I have machine shop in my garage. For the average Joe it would be a definite show stopper. Also, the directions that came with my kit said that I may need to do some light machining on the receiver (not mentioned on the website). After verifying with Jeff at CDI, he said not all Howas need it and it was the case that mine did not. Again though if it was needed, a definite show stopper for average Joe without taking it to a gunsmith. Once I got the stock inlet and the floor plate installed I just needed to massage the front of the magazine about a 16th to get it to seat snugly.
Translation, Installation was more work than just inletting the stock which can be tricky in itself. The Hogue stock that come on the Howa is difficult to machine/carve without gouging it's rubber exterior.
But, like all good things it was worth the work if your have means. Clicking off 10 rounds without reloading puts me in winning contention at my shooting matches easily now. Plus being able to lay down fire power at a good rate probably stayed off Erectile Dysfunction for about 20 more years at least. If you decide to buy one of these kits I recommend springing for an extra magazine even though they're $80, you'll be happy you did as I am.
Oh ya... While I was at it I machined that custom stainless muzzle brake and threaded my barrel too. Gotta say... NICE.
The cat's name is Chaz whom I named after my favorite local conserative radio talk show host.
