Con Kapralos applauds Howa’s deluxe walnut stocks
The partnership between Howa of Japan and the Fuller Global consortium has propelled the Howa M1500 barrelled action to legendary status worldwide. Howa’s ability to produce the M1500 in a wide variety of actions and platforms and mate them up with some fantastic rifle-stock options has made the model hugely popular. This is especially true in Australia where they’re imported and distributed by Outdoor Sporting Agencies (OSA), a subsidiary of Fuller Global.
Early models of the M1500 were only available with a well-designed and proportioned walnut rifle stock. Yet with advances in modern materials and manufacturing, the Hogue rubber over-moulded unit became the entry-level option. Howa’s ‘Dream it, Build it’ campaign introduced several more options and prospective purchasers could choose a barrelled action and mate it to a rifle stock of their liking, while recent chassis-style and carbon-fibre options have spoiled Howa M1500 hunters and shooters even more.
While the standard walnut rifle stock is still available, OSA and Fuller Global decided to introduce a more opulent deluxe walnut option to suit Howa M1500 barrelled actions in both short and long in ‘sporter’ and ‘varmint’ profiles. Never one to shy away from a nice piece of walnut, for review OSA sent Australian Shooter one of the new deluxe stocks to suit the Howa M1500 short-action sporter rifle.
Rifle stock in detail
The one sent for review is for the Howa M1500 short-action sporter barrelled action and was mated up to my .223 Remington and 6.5 Creedmoor rifles for assessment. Initial impressions were very positive with the Turkish-made stock adorned with some fine walnut. The stock is patterned on a classic sporter pattern with pronounced cheek-piece on the left of the buttstock, making it suitable for right-handed shooters.
Two prominent external features are a fore-end tip made of Jacaranda-patterned laminate inletted into the walnut fore-end and a matching laminate pistol grip base, further enhanced by the Howa logo machined from aluminum inletted into the grip base itself. Checkering on the pistol grip and fore-end is laser machine-cut and perfectly executed. To the rear of the butt-stock a 20mm red sorbothane-style recoil pad is fitted, which perfectly complements the aesthetic of the stock. Quick-detachable sling swivel studs are fitted as standard and the entire stock carries a satin oil finish.
Two aluminium strengthening braces are fitted into the walnut bedding mortices, one immediately behind the recoil lug recess and one in the area between the rear of the magazine cut-out and front of the trigger cut-out. The walnut in these areas did seem quite ‘open-pored’ and not properly sealed so could be prone to cracking, hence the addition of the aluminium braces. Aluminium pillars are fitted as standard, allowing the action screws to pass through and the barrelled action to be torqued down securely to the stock and bottom metal, while the barrel remains free-floating.
One downside was the inletting on the underside of the stock where the bottom metal/magazine floorplate mates with the walnut. The one-piece bottom metal didn’t sit flush with the profile of the underside of the stock, sitting proud by a several millimetres and on raising this with the importer, I was advised it was manufactured in this manner and wouldn’t affect the function of the rifle.
While I accept the reason given it looked fairly average to my eye, considering the original Hogue stock that came with the rifle didn’t have the same appearance, the bottom metal sitting flush with the underside of the stock. Stock dimensions are 750mm long, a weight of 1.17kg and length-of-pull at 345mm.
On test
The Howa Deluxe walnut rifle-stock was fitted to two Howa M1500 rifles in a .223 Remington blued sporter and 6.5 Creedmoor stainless sporter. Both barrelled actions were drop-in fits with the action screws torqued to a moderate 35 inch-pounds. Both rifles functioned perfectly with the only drawback being that bottom metal fitment issue. If the stock was mine I’d look at having the action, recoil lug and first 30mm of the barrel channel epoxy bedded and remainder of the barrel free-floated, which would ensure perfect fit and accuracy.
Summary
Howa Deluxe walnut stocks are offered on new rifles or can be bought to retro-fit to your existing Howa M1500. With an RRP of around $600 (stock only) it offers an excellent alternative for the shooter or hunter after something a little different when it comes to a traditional walnut rifle stock. For more, ask your local firearms retailer or visit www.osaaustralia.com.au