New Lightweight Howa Mini's

[HokeyPokeyKid]

Looks like there are some new lightweight Howa Mini's coming our way. How light they will be in production who knows....

https://www.legacysports.com/catalog/how...n-elevate/

https://www.legacysports.com/catalog/how...n-stalker/

[hill37]

Per TFB https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/

[jambau]

Been looking high and low for an Oryx for my wife. May have to just get two when I find them.

[tdbru]

and yet Legacy still doesn't fix the bottom "metal" or release. sigh... oh well. looks cool. nice and light weight too.
-tdbru

[biodsl]

And I think the 6mm ARC would be a superior chambering in a high end rifle than 7.62x39.

[Remington Jim]

And I think the 6mm ARC would be a superior chambering in a high end rifle than 7.62x39.

The 6MM ARC should be compared more to the 6.5 Grendel NOT the 7.62 x 39 ! jmo RJ

[Remington Jim]

I Would like that Carbon stock for my Mini Howa - RJ

[Stinky Coyote]

Looks like there are some new lightweight Howa Mini's coming our way. How light they will be in production who knows....

https://www.legacysports.com/catalog/how...n-elevate/

https://www.legacysports.com/catalog/how...n-stalker/

Lol, almost got it figured out. So stainless is available in other markets...fail. Still their crap two stage trigger with sad excuse for a safety knob please give Single stage trigger with a better safety knob (think timney), still have that abomination of bottom plastic and terrible magazine. Like why? Why offer a stock and a barrel while still keeping the rest of the garbage? And the barrel gets stainless carbon but we don't get the stainless action? I'm lost on it...still a money pit to make it right. It's like the people making the decisions have no idea about hunting or guns at all...just winging it on what we 'might' like by a trend or something and getting it into production. Like wtf, so dumb. These fools have a great little action, but they can't seem to get everything you attach to it at 'correct' level...they can't even get the material of the action right. Build a nice little mountain rifle and not offer the stainless action??????? Doh....fail

[Stevil]

So I contacted my local Howa distributor regarding the new Carbon Stalker Mini and Carbon Elevate Mini.

https://www.legacysports.com/catalog/how...n-elevate/

https://www.legacysports.com/catalog/how...n-stalker/

The Carbon fiber stock on the Stalker can be order now ( # STKYS001) and will be available in around 3 months, they had not ETA on the Elevate stock to suit my HB Grendel. Was given rough pricing of around $800 Aus ( $600 US).

Id love to know the weight ?? any Im a patient man .......

[tdbru]

SC,
you may be right. these are made in JAPAN. JAPAN has draconian gun control laws. no one can have them. own them. shoot them. so of course they're clueless about features that work or don't work. they were probably told "here's what we want (small bolt action. these calibers. detachable mag.) and it has to hit this price point $". So, they probably did what they thought was reasonable given the requirement constraints and the fact that they have no experience whatsoever with actually using a rifle. it could also be that all the features we all want probably didn't hit the price point that legacy requested of howa. or a combinations of all of the above. and i could be wrong too. but this seems to explain why they just don't seem to "get it".
-tdbru

[Harpoon1]

SC,
you may be right. these are made in JAPAN. JAPAN has draconian gun control laws. no one can have them. own them. shoot them. so of course they're clueless about features that work or don't work. they were probably told "here's what we want (small bolt action. these calibers. detachable mag.) and it has to hit this price point $". So, they probably did what they thought was reasonable given the requirement constraints and the fact that they have no experience whatsoever with actually using a rifle. it could also be that all the features we all want probably didn't hit the price point that legacy requested of howa. or a combinations of all of the above. and i could be wrong too. but this seems to explain why they just don't seem to "get it".
-tdbru

Wow, good lord! Where are you getting your information from? I actually know people in Japan who own rifles and handguns.

A quick search turned this up.

https://althistory.fandom.com/wiki/Gun_p...Bear_Arms)

[Remington Jim]

Lol, almost got it figured out. So stainless is available in other markets...fail. Still their crap two stage trigger with sad excuse for a safety knob please give Single stage trigger with a better safety knob (think timney), still have that abomination of bottom plastic and terrible magazine. Like why? Why offer a stock and a barrel while still keeping the rest of the garbage? And the barrel gets stainless carbon but we don't get the stainless action? I'm lost on it...still a money pit to make it right. It's like the people making the decisions have no idea about hunting or guns at all...just winging it on what we 'might' like by a trend or something and getting it into production. Like wtf, so dumb. These fools have a great little action, but they can't seem to get everything you attach to it at 'correct' level...they can't even get the material of the action right. Build a nice little mountain rifle and not offer the stainless action??????? Doh....fail

So many STINKY thoughts there stinky yote - Be Happy we even have the mini as is ! :p jmo RJ

[Oso Polaris]

SC,
you may be right. these are made in JAPAN. JAPAN has draconian gun control laws. no one can have them. own them. shoot them. so of course they're clueless about features that work or don't work. they were probably told "here's what we want (small bolt action. these calibers. detachable mag.) and it has to hit this price point $". So, they probably did what they thought was reasonable given the requirement constraints and the fact that they have no experience whatsoever with actually using a rifle. it could also be that all the features we all want probably didn't hit the price point that legacy requested of howa. or a combinations of all of the above. and i could be wrong too. but this seems to explain why they just don't seem to "get it".
-tdbru

Something to keep in mind is that in 1972 Weatherby contract Howa of Japan to manufacture its rifles. This continued until mid 1990's for Weatherby's Mark V. The Weatherby Vanguard (barrelled action) is still being produced by Howa in Japan.

Long and short is Howa is focused on Weatherby's product, and anything that comes out under Howa is secondary in production efforts. Also, having worked for Japanese owned company, their mindset on somethings is rigid... not everything done in Japan has the radical fresh start as their automotive industry.

Has anyone compared the Weatherby Vanguard, which is most likely similar to standard Howa 1500

[Dinny]

That's too bad. That plastic piece on the bottom is an abortion. I can't imagine the new rifles being only $100 more than the standard rifle with the HTI stock. Wayne York's stocks are carbon fiber and weigh only 18oz.

Thanks, Dinny

[Remington Jim]

Called Howa to see if they would have the Carbon Stalker stocks avail to buy for a 1500 Mini - answer is NO right now - Maybe later on -

[Stinky Coyote]

So many STINKY thoughts there stinky yote - Be Happy we even have the mini as is ! :p jmo RJ

Negative. Loving my Ruger American Ranch. The Howa would be the last one i'd buy. I still have one, but something tells me it will go down the road soon. Someone will get it all correct one day, Sako xs perhaps, the ruger hawkeye stainless already chambered in .204 and i believe some are starting to chamber 6mm-Arc now like savage etc. so eventually some 'real rifles' will come along that we can at least rebarrel quick and easy like, i have the Dave Manson reamer so bring on the Arc's, a sako 85 stainless on their xs action would be ideal. Howa is the furthest away from this and they just added a little more lipstick to their pig...that's all folks.

[Stinky Coyote]

Howa - Legacy - Listen up, you got a great action and half decent barrel....wrapped in garbage. Wake the eff up.

1. Stainless
2. Anything BUT that Hogue tank of a stock, what a sad pos that is. H.S. precision would be a start but only if you do 1-4 in this list!
3. Completely eliminate that bottom plastic and silly oversized unreliable magazine that tips cartridges down after the shot. Go hinged floor plate or open up the bottom of action and make an AR magazine well (ala Ruger). Don't do anything else unless it's flush floor like any other 'REAL' rifle manufacturer does with a bottom metal or detach magazine, if savage can do it so can you.
4. Single stage trigger, 2-4 lbs, without the cheap over curved tinfoil feeling blade that's set too far back, take a page from CZ on how to get trigger blade to feel and fit. AND the safety knob (ala timney) while you're at it, don't keep half azzing everything.

Sure you can half azz it with some walnut stocks and blued metals/black finishes also but you HAVE to eliminate that bottom garbage/magazine and fix the trigger/safety as i noted above in points 2 & 4. These are mandatory must do's for your little mini action rifles.

People...stop buying these pieces of shat, seriously, Howa needs to smarten up. Having only 25% of the rifle any good doesn't cut it in the 21st century imo. You are far better off with Ruger Amercian Ranch! And for a little more upscale a CZ 527, but it's money wasted going Howa...period. End of story. I'm not wrong, don't bother trying to argue with me on that, i've had all three and 2 of the Howa's, i know what i'm talking about. But it's your money peoples, they got all they will every get of mine. That goes across the entire line up, will never have a howa or vanguard due to this trial and error.

They should be embarrassed with all this time and complaints and still can't get it right? Shake. My. Head. Learn how to make a real rifle.

[Oso Polaris]

Yes...I agree. Admittedly, I do like the slightly heavier action/footprint of the Howa over the CZ527 for this one particular cartridge.

Legacy is def. This is why I sat on the fence for +3 years with a barrelled action sitting in my closet. I was just waiting for other 3rd-party aftermarket parts to solve the problems. I have decided that if I was to do it again I would either just do a Precision Firearms AR15 upper or go full custom and buy a Borden Rimrock action and build it all out from there. Now that I finally have it built there isn't enough ammo. Feeling really good about the 15 boxes of Hornady Black 123 ELD that I bought for $18/box....