MPI ultralight stock for the howa mini action

[nuthead]

after a long search I finally found a stock manufacturer that would make a nice, trim, lightweight stock for the howa mini action. If I didnt find one I would have sold it... i absolutely hated the plastic stock it came with

had a few teething issues to get the stock finished (it comes 75% finished) so i had to drill the action screws, fill in the barrel channel, file the bolt notch, do a fair bit of clean up and paint it and add pillars and do a bedding job.

theres a few little blemishes in the stock (it wasnt made as precisely as I initially thought) but i think it turned out alright in the end - the total weight of the rifle (with a 20moa pic rail and an aluminium DIP bottom metal and 22 inch barrel) ended up being 5.4lbs

it should make a good little micro mountain rifle for deer to 400m... the action size and length along with the light weight makes it feel a lot like a rimfire rifle (except it packs a heap more punch)

WhatsApp Image2 2020-02-09 at 10.19.13 PM.jpeg

[VASCAR2]

Looks nice and handy!

[Dinny]

Wayne York has been making lightweights stocks for the Mini for a while now. I forget what the weight is, but I want to say it was in the 20oz - 22oz range.

Thanks, Dinny

[nuthead]

Thanks! it completely changes the way the rifle feels... the factory Tupperware feels absolutely terrible in comparison

[nuthead]

Is that Pendleton Dinny? I did look at getting one from them but they weren't making them at the time (or they needed an action to make a mold from or something... I can't quite remember)

I probably would have gone that direction if I could have rather than putting in all the time and effort finishing this stock lol

Yep the MPI came in at about that weight... might be 21oz after paint, pillars, bedding and filling the barrel channel

[tdbru]

nuthead,
sounds like MPI made you do all the hard work. hope they didn't charge much in that case.
-tdbru

[nuthead]

Lol it wasn't cheap... in the beginning I thought they were quoting me in Canadian dollars (since they're in Vancouver) but it turned out it was USD. by the time I gathered all the material to finish it (Not including my labour) I could have bought a manners or a McMillan

I'm happy with it but I probably won't go down that path again lol

[Dinny]

Is that Pendleton Dinny?

Yes. Timing is everything. His stocks are $650 but they are hand laid, fitted, bedded, painted, etc. Just send your barreled action and they send it back complete.

Thanks, Dinny

[nuthead]

Yes. Timing is everything. His stocks are $650 but they are hand laid, fitted, bedded, painted, etc. Just send your barreled action and they send it back complete.

Thanks, Dinny

actually that sounds familiar Dinny - I live in australia so sending the action across wold have been difficult

I would have done that for sure otherwise

[flatland1]

That stock looks very similar to B&C's new sporter stock for the Mini. I had one in my hands a week ago at the plant in Dodge City - it's about 1/3lb lighter than the M40 style stock they make for the Mini. Very nice stock...

[nuthead]

That stock looks very similar to B&C's new sporter stock for the Mini. I had one in my hands a week ago at the plant in Dodge City - it's about 1/3lb lighter than the M40 style stock they make for the Mini. Very nice stock...

That looks like a great little stock - pretty light too at 2lbs

This ultralight is their "kimber style" stock... one good thing is it actually is light in weight

[nuthead]

just a quick update for anyone who might be interested - I finally got to the range and shot it... its a significant improvement over the factory tupperware with groups around the 0.5-0.55 moa range (compared to 0.7-0.8 moa with the factory stock)

one interesting observation was that since it is now so light I had to hold the forend for it to shoot properly... the groups opened up significantly when free recoiled

holding the forend
WhatsApp Image 2020-02-25 at 2.39.55 PM (2).jpg

free recoil - groups opened up a fair bit
WhatsApp Image 2020-02-25 resizedat 2.41.18 PM.jpg

[Stevil]

Good result nuthead, what pill powder combo you using?

[nuthead]

Thanks Stevil - I'm using 28.5gr of 8208 with a 123gr Amax/ eld-m (2553fps from the 22 inch barrel model)