HOWA anyone?

Just recently looked into buying a howa 1500 .270. Went to the store looked at the gun kinda heavy but felt good and it had a Nikon scope that I really liked. Just curios have any of y'all tried or heard anything about these guns.

I've heard a lot like the Savages, not the most expensive but certainly serviceable and very accurate. I own 2 Savages by the way.

Made by Weatherby if I remember correctly.

I've got one in .308. They are built in Japan on the same equipment as the Weatherby Vangaurd. Legacy International imports the barreled actions and mounts them on a stock. Mine (and most I've seen) are on a Hogue oversold stock.

My gun shoots pretty nicely. Its not a 1000 yard gun but I can consistently shoot 1 inch or so groups at 100 yards. I will say the trigger is not the best but it is adjustable. I got mine decent with the adjustment but I'm wanting to swap it for a Timney.

Overall, the gun isn't and wasn't meant to be a show piece but its a solid gun and hasn't let me down.

Actually, a Weatherby Vangaard is a Howa. It's made by Howa.

I've never seen a 1500 in person, but the old Howa Golden Bear was excellent.

dad has a howa and I have shot it and it was very nice and smooth!!! action was amazing and very accurate

I shot my first brown bear on Kodiak Island with a Howa 1500 in .338 WM. They're well made, accurate, and have a good trigger. The retail price makes them a Best Buy.

A Howa/W. Vangaurd has some of the best features of many rifles. Check this out.
Best rifle for the money

Howa is the old Smith and Wesson type action, same as Weatherby Vanguard - I own a 25-06 shooting Barnes TSX bullets and getting 1/2"MOA at 100 yards; own a Howa 300 win mag shooting 180 Barnes TTSX, overlapping bullets at 100 yards - love mine!

The Howa 1500 is the same as the Weatherby Vanguard, dang good shooting rifle. My rifle is a Weatherby Vanguard .243, I dropped it into a Blackhawks Knoxx stock, it's a beaut. The Howa will work great for you.

My first rifle I ever bought was a Howa 1500 in 270 Win. With good ammo, it's a 1/2" shooter on a good day, and 3/4" on most days. I've bedded and free floated mine, with a slightly tuned trigger, and feed it good reloads. It shoots very well out to 800 yards.

I have three Vanguards. Have done a lot of research and talked to Weatherby. My understanding is the Vanguard has the Howa action but a different trigger, barrel and stock.

My brother's SIL bought a new Vanguard this fall, and I mounted a scope for him and did some load work-up as well. The barreled action appears to be the same as the standard Howa--receiver, barrel, trigger, bottom metal. The stock may be unique to Weatherby, however, but I can't say for sure.

Howa are great quality rifles, we have one in 243. They come with Hogue stock and are Japanese built. Howa manufactures the Weatherby Vanguard and only difference is the bolt as I recall. I would certainly buy another..

I have the Ranchland Compact in .308 and after this season it has become my favorite rifle. Highly accurate and it has the HACT trigger which is very nice. The Scope it came with was trash but after topping it with a Burris it is now my go to gun over the Tikka and Rem 700.

you cant go wrong with the howa or w. vanguard, i own several of each and shoot better then my high $$ stuff, i would take either one all day long

I have a 1500 in 25-06. Got from Academy with the Houge stock. It is accurate and well built. Definitely a good value, IMO.

howa, vanguard is head and shoulders better than the rest, only thing better is a winchester

Ok this may stir things up but howa 1500 or a remington 700? And make an argument without saying there is more after market parts for the remington, out of the box which is the better gun?

I just bought a Howa .308, have not shot it yet, but it feels smoother than my last SPS. More to follow my scope will arrive later in the week.

I have a howa ranchland 308 with a hogue stock. It's a very nice gun that shoots good groups and feels nice holding and shooting. Like some have said its a little heavier but not too bad.

howa, its what a remington wants to be when it grows up, better bolt, better lug, better reciever, better extractor , better trigger, better quality control

I have a howa 308, weatherby 243, and a Remington 700 25-06 and a savage 270. All are great and shoot wonderful. As far as triggers all about the same at least close enough. As far as shooting groups the savage is the winner and nice groups with nearly anything. If I had to pick just one and get rid of the others I would keep the savage. The others are great as well...... I would not put the howa or Remington one ahead of the other, both have great triggers, both of mine are set at 2 pounds. Just buy more guns and you would have both, really a toss up from someone that shoots a lot and has both. Just my 2 cents

Pretty much true nowadays. Remington triggers used to be easy to adjust.....no mas. Their out-of-the-box accuracy was once legendary....now it's hit or miss. I only see two advantages that Remington retains: They are lighter weight, which could be a plus when crafting a carrying rifle. And the after-market gee-gaws still give Remmy an edge when building up a custom shooter.

Personally, I still favor the looks of the 700 CDL over the Howa, but that's aesthetics. Other than that, Howa just turns out a better product, I believe.

yes it is a shame cause rem does make some good lookin rifles

Man, I have a Vanguard 2 (howa) In my hand right now that we are about to build a custom on... They are nice. If more stocks were available, and they weren't metric threads. I would start making all my semi customs on them over the remmys the bolt is very nice. But If I had my rathers I would still build everything on Stillers. This Vanguard looks as thought they may be cast/ forged then machined. The lower portion where it sits in the stock has that pitted cast look. Everywhere else you can tell had been polished or machined.

They will be very, very similar out of the box and it really comes down to a Ford/Chevy argument. I think the expectation of intrinsic accuracy is very similar for either. Personally, I like the Howa trigger as-is (mine was set at a mite over 4# and has a good, clean break with no creep) and I would characterize the X-mark on the new 700s as "serviceable". I also think Howa's QC is superior and I've noticed that the wear marks on the bolt lugs are symmetrical, which isn't the case on my 700 and leads me towards believing that a Howa action comes off the mill pretty true. My biggest gripes about Howas are (1) the standard barrel length is 22", which really sucks if you want (or have) one in something like .25-06 and (2) that Legacy Sports International decided to roll mark their disclaimer down the spine of the barrel in huge font. A lesser complaint is that the pillar-bedded Hogue stock is too flimsy (my sporter contour still free-floats with an aggressive bipod rest, but who knows what happens when I pull the trigger). The difference between the Howa and the Vanguard is pretty similar to the difference between, for example, an 870 wingmaster and an 870 express; more finish than function but there is a difference. The action and barrels are made in the same place by the same people using the same methods, one just has a 24" standard barrel with a polished finish and the other has a 22" standard barrel with a matte finish. Maybe they chop down barrels that are out of spec for the Vanguard and sell them through Howa? I dunno... Mine seems to be pretty fond of a number of 100 grain factory loadings, particularly the Federals with the ballistic tips, but has printed slightly sub-MOA 3-shot groups at 200 yards even with 100 grain CoreLokt.

Anymore, the selection of aftermarket parts for the Howa/Weatherby is almost as good as for the 700... That shouldn't be a deciding factor. Also, the screw spacing for the Remington 700 long action is identical to that of the Howa/Weatherby long action; You can use a Rem700 LA rail on a Howa1500 LA and vice-versa (although the ejection port opening is a little longer on the Howa), but the same is NOT TRUE FOR THE SHORT ACTION...

I love my old Remington 700 and it was always my go-to gun. It held the same zero for 15 years, never had to adjust it at all. I would check it before deer season, put 3 in the bulls eye, and be done sighting in. Finally, a ring base screw backed out and it was off. New (better) rings and base and it's good to go again. Also have two Vanguard sub MOA rifles that are great shooters. I used the Vanguard 308 this season and it's been a tack driver.

If I were to choose between brand new models of each, I would most likely go with the Howa. Remington quality has dropped since they were bought out.

I have a Smith & Wesson 1700 LS in a 243. It looks good and shoots very well but it is a Howa action & barrel. I bought it 30+ years ago but it wasn't taken out of the box till about 6-7 years ago. The grand daughter wanted to go hog & deer hunting with me so I put a scope on it for her and here we went.