Looking at giving a 22" Howa 6mm ARC a try in the coming weeks. Will pick up a barreled action tomorrow & expect a carbon fiber stock from Stocky's next week. Have not decided on scope mounting system yet. Would greatly apreciate input on scope mount options. feel free to weigh in on the scope mounts, bottom metal options & your experience with Howa mini action rifles.
I'll weigh in in the coming weeks once I have acquired a bit of exposure.
Larger pool of Howa mini users are likely to be found on this form. The contributing parties on the 6 ARC Forum is rather limited, even more so with the bolt action side of things. So I thought I'd reach out here as well. Stocky's carbon fiber stock should be here tomorrow. Have moderately high hopes. Time will tell.
06-12-2023, 02:44 PM (This post was last modified: 06-13-2023, 08:01 PM by Harpoon1.)
SDguy Wrote:Larger pool of Howa mini users are likely to be found on this form. The contributing parties on the 6 ARC Forum is rather limited, even more so with the bolt action side of things. So I thought I'd reach out here as well. Stocky's carbon fiber stock should be here tomorrow. Have moderately high hopes. Time will tell.
What does the Stockys Carbon fiber stock weigh!
I like the split pic rail scope mount or the leupold backcountry mounts. Both give you better access dealing with feeding/extraction malfunction! The one piece rail makes it too tight for me. The leupold BC are probably the lightest way to go and Burris split rail makes it easier to swap multiple scopes around. I like a high mag scope for load development and lightweight, low power variable for hunting. I swap back and forth frequently with the split base pic rail and little to no adjustment in zero.
As far as bottom metal, do you want to use mags or prefer a clean bottom profile and hinged floor plate internal mag? Ive got both Hokey Pokeys original factory replacement and his hinged floor plate internal mag. Both work as advertised. Also have Waynes (Oregon Gunsmithing?) hinged floor plate internal mag and it works great as well! Hokey Pokey has since come out with a CZ mag replacement that looks great and Im sure works well too. Loads of options. I like using mags for load development, find it more convenient with an internal mag and a hinged floor plate for hunting! YMMV!
Made it out with the new to me, Howa 6mm ARC over the weekend. Just getting used to the set up with windy conditions. One note worthy disappointing experience with the outing, was the bolt face, was tending to chew up case heads with factory ammo & mild reloads. Thoughts?
Cleaned up bolt face after photos. Felt for burrs on the bolt face on either side of the extractor & indeed this was an issue. Managed to make some progress removing those burrs. Would really like to remove the ejector & extractor to better facilitate a good polish of the bolt face. Unfortunately I do not have a proper punch to remove the retaining pins. GRR
SDguy Wrote:Cleaned up bolt face after photos. Felt for burrs on the bolt face on either side of the extractor & indeed this was an issue. Managed to make some progress removing those burrs. Would really like to remove the ejector & extractor to better facilitate a good polish of the bolt face. Unfortunately I do not have a proper punch to remove the retaining pins. GRR
Brownells has a bolt vise for removing the ejector from AR15 bolts. They have pin punch sets too ...
Dawned on me last night that I may be able to polish the bolt face with a cartridge & a bit of polishing compound. Placed a rather well used cartridge in a cordless drill chuck. Applied a bit of polishing compound on the base of the cartridge & proceed to apply force to the bolt face compressing the ejector while running the drill rorward & reverse. Looks good now & i feel more optimistic about this bolt performance going forward.
