Buying A Howa !!

[Guest Billyt]

I have ordered a new Howa, but the gunshop is telling me they are struggling with the Importer. They are telling me the comunication is very poor, and they get no back up.

 

Has anybody else heard this as I am considering cancelling my order.

 

[njc110381]

I have ordered a new Howa, but the gunshop is telling me they are struggling with the Importer. They are telling me the comunication is very poor, and they get no back up.

 

Has anybody else heard this as I am considering cancelling my order.

 

 

 

The only dealings I ever had with Howa was when I was looking for my 6.5x55. What I was after was only available as a barrelled action, so I contacted them to ask if they knew of a decent stock to fit it. I tried several times, and never got a reply. I ended up with a Tikka, and I find GMK very helpful.

[Jager SA]

Ive heard that these guys are very sloooow, and they dont have any onfo on products...you just need to place an order as they are selling fast! Heard that one before!

 

Still, the Howa is a very good action to play with.

[Guest Billyt]

Ive heard that these guys are very sloooow, and they dont have any onfo on products...you just need to place an order as they are selling fast! Heard that one before!

 

Still, the Howa is a very good action to play with.

 

 

Well its arrived at long last 2 months late, It looks fantastic hope to set it up this weekend.

[Streeker59]

Congrats Billy. A friend of mine has a Howa 1500 stainless in .308. The finish is superb and it shoots very well.

You need to use a photo hosting site like photobucket to post pics on this forum mate.. It will be good to see some pics when your'e sorted..

http://photobucket.com/?link=topmenu

 

Grant..

[Bambi-basher]

Here is a few Howas for you that I have been involved in.

 

 

I spoke to the European importer the other week and he told me that they are struggling to keep up with demand and he wants Legacy (the USA company that is involved with Howa) to get there finger out and increase production of the rifles so he can sell more.

 

 

 

A out the box (OK I Lied, I had free floated the barrel) in that hard to control 270 using factory ammo shot this group.

 

For the money they are worth the wait.

 

Best rgds

 

B-b

[Greenbear]

Waiting on my .308 stainless laminated thumbhole to arrive, importer told D J Litts approx a few weeks, have been advised maybe a little longer

 

However my 22.250 has arrived in exactly the same format

 

This will be my third Howa and agree they are worth a little wait.

 

 

GB

[baldie]

Personally, i,m not a fan of howa,s, but cant fault the guns themselves, and i,m certainly not having a dig at them.

What i do find laughable , is the sales broccoli from the importers, etc. We have sold one howa in the last 3 years, and theres a .243 on the wall, thats been there six months. I think i,ve screwcut maybe half a dozen in the last two years....so where are all these thousands of howa,s they are selling?

Apart from bambi and kal, i only know two other owners....and i know a lot of shooters.

Good luck with your new guns though fella,s, they certainly are shooters.

[Bambi-basher]

Billyt what cal' and model are you after? The Countryman of Derby has a few in stock.

 

Best rgds

 

B-b

[Andrew]

Personally, i,m not a fan of howa,s, but cant fault the guns themselves, and i,m certainly not having a dig at them.

What i do find laughable , is the sales broccoli from the importers, etc. We have sold one howa in the last 3 years, and theres a .243 on the wall, thats been there six months. I think i,ve screwcut maybe half a dozen in the last two years....so where are all these thousands of howa,s they are selling?

Apart from bambi and kal, i only know two other owners....and i know a lot of shooters.

Good luck with your new guns though fella,s, they certainly are shooters.

 

Baldie: Perhaps the Howa's hanging around your shop reflect your personal preferences? I worked in retail firearms sales and know that I couldn't sell a gun I didn't like. (For example, I dislike Remington rifles so I was the last person who you'd have pitch them.)For some reason i always steered the customer to what I felt was a better gun! It's an unavoidable part of human nature. ~Andrew

[Bambi-basher]

You might be on to something there Andrew Dave is a Remmy man though and though.

 

Best rgds

 

B-b

[baldie]

Gents, you are quite right, i most certainly do prefer remmy,s, but i do try and give the choice.The only gripe i,ve ever had with Howa, was their poor triggers, just like remmy,s, but there is now a decent unit [jard] available. To be honest, they beat remmy in every dept, the quality is better, but they just dont sell for us.I can only recall one full gun, and an actioned custom in the target scene too. I think most go for sporting use in this country. If there was the range of accessories available for them, that there is for the 700, they would be a world beater, however, i think the current importers package deal of a nikko sterling scope, and cheap mounts, is a bad move....people dont want packages...only when they have the choice of what goes on it. This all adds up to make them difficult to sell.

[Bambi-basher]

I think you are right on all points there Dave.

 

Best rgds

 

B-b

[ejg223]

I'm really enjoying my howa, they are made a little old fashioned,

meaning that the rifle will work in 30 years time. Many modern

injection moulded plastics break down after a few years, faster if

exposed to sunlight.

I'm also astonished how nice she feeds.

edi

[DaveK]

So Baldie, if you've had a Howa on the wall for 6 months, how much will you give me to take it away? Where are you in Barnsley> I'll collect it for free.

 

At the moment I'm looking round for a .223. I've always favoured Remmy's, I've had a VSSF and her indoors has a couple in .223 and .243 but Howa are getting my attention(although I've never seen or shot one)

[Andrew]

Gents, you are quite right, i most certainly do prefer remmy,s, but i do try and give the choice.The only gripe i,ve ever had with Howa, was their poor triggers, just like remmy,s, but there is now a decent unit [jard] available....

 

I can tell you that the Howa triggers are pure junk; far worse than the Remingtons and second only to Interarms MKX triggers with regard to poor quality. I adjusted my HOWA .223 Varmint's trigger down to a tad over 2 pounds and the damn thing would go off whenever you switched the safety on and then off -even without manipulating the trigger in between position changes. I opted for a Timney trigger which is supposed to fit both the HOWA and the Weatherby Vanguard. To my surprise, and unmentioned in the instructions, there is a large tab of metal on the inboard end of the safety lever that needs to be cut off to have the safety function in the HOWA 1500. The Dremel and a little care took it off in about 30 seconds and the resulting trigger is acceptable. Be forewarned if you buy a Timney for a HOWA that there will be some "blacksmithing" required to fit it! ~Andrew

[baldie]

Andrew, yep, your quite right, i,ve fitted one or two of the timneys, but they have now made the screw hole elongated, to make fitting easier. We had a load of the new rifle basix too, but the safety wasn,t reliable, so they went back. That was a nice unit, and we will have some more , once the problem is sorted. Try the jard...its sweet.

[ejg223]

Roedale worked on my howa trigger and I must say

it's the best I've ever had. I wouldn't swap it for

any other.

Don't know how much work he put into it though.

 

edi

[Bambi-basher]

I can tell you that the Howa triggers are pure junk;

 

Sorry Andrew my experiences of Howa triggers differ to that of yours I have adjusted may be half a dozen Howa triggers only one of them triggers I would describe as poor. I have adjusted factory triggers down to 11/2 pounds with no problems (checked with electronic force meter). Sounds like you were very unfortunate to have a poor one.

 

I opted for a Timney trigger which is supposed to fit both the HOWA and the Weatherby Vanguard. To my surprise, and unmentioned in the instructions, there is a large tab of metal on the inboard end of the safety lever that needs to be cut off to have the safety function in the HOWA 1500.

 

The reason you have to remove that tab of metal is because the Timney trigger unit has been designed for the later 3 position safety not the earlier 2 position safety that I can only assume is fitted to your rifle.

 

So if you have a later 3 postion safety Howa the Timney should drop straight in.

 

Best rgds

 

B-b

[17 Rem]

second only to Interarms MKX triggers with regard to poor quality.

 

And I've adjusted a Mark X Mini Mauser's trigger to a perfectly acceptable 2lb pull.

You do seem to be VERY unlucky with triggers.... ever thought about taking up golf?!!!!!

[Andrew]

I'm sure you are right. My HOWA is about 7 years old. Until now, I'd never heard of anyone who got any satisfaction from the original triggers -at least in a varmint rifle.

 

B-b: Maybe they changed them at some point.

 

17 Rem: I have a drawer full of standard and magnum action Mark X triggers in my shop collected over the last 20 years. Get over to the States and you can take them home with you. ~Andrew