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HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - bwaites - 02-07-2016
As promised by Matt, I received a call from my FFL that I had a package. A quick trip revealed that a "Heavy" (Number 6 contour) HOWA 6.5 Grendel rifle was waiting for me. After all the appropriate paperwork was completed, I popped the rifle in the trunk and promptly forgot about it!
Not really...But I had a bunch of shop cleaning to get done before I was ready to do an unboxing. That completed, I pulled the rifle out and saw this:
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - bwaites - 02-07-2016
Actually, I removed the plastic wrap from the rifle so it was at least visible! Along with the rifle, I found these parts and pieces.
![[Image: Bih1He.jpg]](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/923/Bih1He.jpg)
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - bwaites - 02-07-2016
My very first impression is that this is a LIGHT rifle. With the empty magazine in place, this "heavy" barreled rifle weighs 6 pounds 10 ounces. On first impression, the stock is nicely shaped, and has appropriate stippling in the wrist and forearm area. The stippling provides a good grip, without punishing you if you want to have a prolonged range session, the way some synthetic stocks do. It is not a rubbery grip the way some Hogue overmolded stocks are made.
The barrel is by no means a "bull barrel", tapering to .745 at the very nicely recessed and crowned muzzle from over 1" at the action. From the way I shoot my Grendels, (generally at long range) I would have preferred at least a 22" and even better, a 24" but the heavy barrel is only offered in a 20". (Longer is better, right?)
However, this will make a VERY nice hunting and varmint rifle, I suspect.
Length of Pull is approx. 13.5-14", a bit short for my 6'3" frame, but very workable for just about everyone. The recoil pad is a very nice, comfortable, nearly one inch thick cushion. (I tend to crawl the stock, so I like longer LOP). It is very comfortable to dry fire in both standing and prone positions and the bolt is easy to manipulate in both positions.
The two stage trigger breaks very crisply and consistently at 3 pounds 11 ounces, (average of 5 pulls, with the lightest at 3 pounds 10 and all the rest at 3 pounds 11), with a first stage at approximately 1 pound 8 ounces. This is straight out of the box, no cleaning, so I expect it will be better once I clean everything. Factory spec says it is 3 pounds 8 ounces. I will say that this is a HUGE improvement over the factory trigger that was in my HOWA 7mm WSM.
That's the first impressions. More later. Overall, impressive so far.
Addendum: This appears to be a completely new rifle, with no wear on the bolt, and factory oil in all the places I would expect. Serial number is XP...., so I am assuming this is eXperimental Prototype..... That said, it is in what appears to be completely normal factory packaging, so I believe that it is probably exactly as the production rifles will present.
Factory recommendation for break in is "Shoot one, clean" x 10 shots, then "Shoot two, clean" for 10 additional shots, with at least 5 minutes between rounds. This is NOT my standard protocol for a new rifle or barrel, but I will follow it for standardizations sake.
This rifle did come with the Nikko Sterling scope, rings and rail. Once I have mounted the rail, I will put the factory glass on for the initial break in, but switch to glass I am familiar with before shooting groups.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - bwaites - 02-07-2016
Reserved 3
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - kmon - 02-07-2016
Looks good so far, looking forward to the range report
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - Drift - 02-07-2016
I too am looking forward to your range report. If you find a 6lbs 10oz rifle too light, you can always put a big honking scope on it
Me, I can hardly wait till you can compare it to a lighter #2 barrel with a 10 oz scope.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - am4966 - 02-07-2016
Anticipation is killing me, I want the heavy barrel setup. Plan to shoot it and save up for a premium barrel and other things as they become available. If it shoot really well then the barrel may never get touched.
Does the HB come threaded?
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - 37L1 - 02-07-2016
Nice! Thanks for your observations so far. This one looks like it has some potential. Range report will be looked forward to.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - VASCAR2 - 02-07-2016
I was at a large stocking dealer last week and they had several Howa Mini Actions in 223 & 204 with all three barrels. The rifles are lighter than I expected and I'd be surprised if their is much difference compared to the 6.5 Grendel model. I liked the 20" heavy barrel the best and even got to see the Howa side by side next to a CZ 527 7.62 X 39 carbine. The Howa rifles I saw had a matte finish compared to the polished blue and wood stock on the CZ.
I didn't pay enough attention to the Howa finish but it appeared the Howa had a matte blue finish. Considering how I would use the Howa I would prefer a Nitride QPQ type finish. My main criticism is the location of the magazine release on the Mini Action.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - SDguy - 02-07-2016
Curious what the rifleing twist rate is in your Experimental test rifle? Tight patch and a piece of tape on the cleaning rod should confirm this. Look forward to your report as well. Glad to see this platform moving right along.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - BluntForceTrauma - 02-08-2016
Reported earlier that twist is 1:8.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - bwaites - 02-08-2016
SDguy Wrote:Curious what the rifleing twist rate is in your Experimental test rifle? Tight patch and a piece of tape on the cleaning rod should confirm this. Look forward to your report as well. Glad to see this platform moving right along.
I will check and report back!
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - SDguy - 02-08-2016
BluntForceTrauma Wrote:Reported earlier that twist is 1:8.
Earlier report seemed clear to me that production rifles will be 1:8. The test rifles seemed less than clear to me and likly a slower twist. I am not considering this quite a production run yet. Thus the question.
once we get around to testing heavier - longer ammo at distance this may be a factor.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - SDguy - 02-08-2016
Bwaites seemed a little disappointed with the short barrel length. Suppose I was trying to determine if I would be willing to allow him to unload this little runt barreled rifle on me or not?
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - adamjp - 02-08-2016
SDguy Wrote:Bwaites seemed a little disappointed with the short barrel length. Suppose I was trying to determine if I would be willing to allow him to unload this little runt barreled rifle on me or not?I suspect that our friend from LSI will be wanting this particular rifle back. I also suspect it is a prototype, not production version.
Still, it is awesome to see a distributor supporting the Horde with this rifle and LSI gets my respect for this effort and they deserve for this rifle to be a sales success.
I know that here in Australia I'm fielding questions from people who are looking to buy one. Just those at my local club (fairly large club) are saying that they will put money down on a Grendel when they are available for order - at least half a dozen so far that have spoken to me. If Howa did a left handed rifle there would be another half dozen in a blink.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - LRRPF52 - 02-08-2016
I personally would like to see the heavier profile at 22", but it's not a big deal.
Looking forward to the range reports.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - Matt @ LSI - 02-08-2016
SDguy Wrote:Curious what the rifleing twist rate is in your Experimental test rifle? Tight patch and a piece of tape on the cleaning rod should confirm this. Look forward to your report as well. Glad to see this platform moving right along.
the rifle sent to Mr. Waites is a 1-8, the dummy behind the keyboard mis-stated the actual ROT.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - Matt @ LSI - 02-08-2016
adamjp Wrote:I suspect that our friend from LSI will be wanting this particular rifle back. I also suspect it is a prototype, not production version.
Still, it is awesome to see a distributor supporting the Horde with this rifle and LSI gets my respect for this effort and they deserve for this rifle to be a sales success.
I know that here in Australia I'm fielding questions from people who are looking to buy one. Just those at my local club (fairly large club) are saying that they will put money down on a Grendel when they are available for order - at least half a dozen so far that have spoken to me. If Howa did a left handed rifle there would be another half dozen in a blink.
yes, any rifle with an "XP" serial number comes back to us. If we could sell them, we would. Left handed options just arent in the cards for right now, not our call, thats Howa Japan.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - Matt @ LSI - 02-08-2016
am4966 Wrote:Anticipation is killing me, I want the heavy barrel setup. Plan to shoot it and save up for a premium barrel and other things as they become available. If it shoot really well then the barrel may never get touched.
Does the HB come threaded?
we do not offer a threaded option at this time.
HOWA Grendel 6.5 Out of the Box, Early Impressions - Matt @ LSI - 02-09-2016
LRRPF52 Wrote:I personally would like to see the heavier profile at 22", but it's not a big deal.
Looking forward to the range reports.
we had to stay with the barrel options that were already offered by howa. We could not have altered barrel options with once caliber offering.