Howa mini 6mm ARC available now!

[MTMAN]

WELL IT DOES PAY TO TIGHTEN YOUR SCOPE RING SCREWS. SHOT SOME MORE GROUPS TODAY. 85 GR. SPEERS, CC1 400 PRIMERS, 31.5 GR. LVR AT 2897FPS .730" 3 SHOT GRP.. 105 AMAX USING 30.5 LVR AND CC1 450 PRIMERS 2787 - 2797 FPS, .427" 3 SHOT GRP. VERTICAL STRING. THIS LOAD IS MAXIMUM IN MY RIFLE PLEASE USE WITH CAUTION!

[Bill]

Best Primer for the 6mm ARC are CCI 450. Good too see you getting some good groups MTMAN it a lovely round to shoot with plenty of punch

[MTMAN]

SPEER ALWAYS RECOMMENDS MAGNUM PRIMERS WTH BALL POWDER. LOOKS LIKE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT. GIVES BETTER IGNITION IN COLD WEATHER, WHICH WE HAVE PLENTY OF HERE.

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[grayfox]

Be careful on tightening the scope rings, Vortex has a limit of 18 in-lbs (IIRC), use a torque wrench.

[MTMAN]

GOT IT! DON'T HAVE A TRRQUE WRENCH, BUT TIGHTEN JUST ENOUGH TO STOP THE RECOIL FROM MOVING THE SCOPE. ONE INCH TUBES NEVER GIVE ME ANY TROUBLE, 30MM ALWAYS DO. HAD THE VORTEX ON MY 6.5 CREETMOOR BEFORE. IT DID THE SAME THING. I WASN'T AWARE OF THE VORTEX REQUIREMENT. THANX FOR THE INFO.!

[Fmuguira]

CCI 450 and some cfe223 are in my stack along with 105 AMax, 100 TGC and 108 Eldm. Hopefully the CFE223 will be similar to lvr ball in its performance and liking of the 6ARC.

Got Varget and H4895 that I might give a try with my 80 gr Sierra Blitz’s. Know velocity won’t match ball powder but I could see great accuracy AND possibly consistency and temperature insensitivity. ( heck might even have to fill a case and try the heavy bullets with that stick powder!). I did fill up a fired case and 28 grs with either of those 2 powders is as much as you can fit….

Keep the info & testing coming, appreciate it much.

[grayfox]

I'm looking for more of those 100gr gamechangers! I have some but not enough to feel "free" to shoot and develop... might use it for a hunting load this fall however...

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On these howa's, I might have an mdt chassis available soon, I'm debating whether to sell off a 223 howa mini I have... but will put a standard stock on it b/c you don't get any extra $$ with a chassis on these rifles, at least in my experience.

[MTMAN]

Loaded some 95 Nosler Particians and used my 105 grain Amax load data, velocity was 2827 fps. MOA accuracy and will try some other loads latter before hunting season. That load will suffice for Mule Deer easily to 300 yds. The real surprise was Nosler 55grain Ballistic tip. Using A2200 and CCI large rifle primers (Made 6 cases from 7.62 X 39 on a lark to see if they would work) got 3299 avg. MV and under 1/2 inch accuracy for 3 shots, WOW amazing! I made those cases before I even had a rifle or cases.

[MTMAN]

I have been comparing the 6mm ARC with other existing calibers and have come to the conclusion that in a bolt action the 6ARC is nearly identical to the 250/3000 Savage. They both push the same weight bullets at nearly the same velocity. To three hundred yards I don't think you'll see much difference on game. Beyond three hundred, the 6 ARC definitely pulls away from the 250. The 6mm bullets are just designed with better sectional density and bc. The 250 can handle bullets up to 120 gr. in a 1-in-10 twist and have larger frontal areas for expansion, but the sectional density is better or equal in 6ARC, all be it with lighter bullets. The 250 savage is way out of its class for truly long-range shooting. The Savage isn't available in autoloaders, but I imagine in 16" and 18" barrels velocities would be about the same as the 6mm ARC. in ARs.

[CZ527 Guy]

Brownells had a good sale going on this weekend w 20% off so I pulled the trigger On a Howa 22" barreled action. Opted for a factory 2nd Stocky's NextGen Ultra Carbon™ Hunter Composite Accublock® Stocks which the wait may be a while as they were not in stock when the order was placed. Then the install may take some time from what I am seeing.

Anyone here have any experience with the stocky's carbon fiber stocks?

[CZ527 Guy]

Sourced some scope bases for a Rem 700 that worked adiquitly for the Howa mini today. Opted to break in the barrel with some inexpensive all copper 85 grain pulled bullets sourced from American reloading & a mild load. So today was about mounting the scope & breaking in the barrel as much as anything.

Barrel clean up was rather quick with the factory Howa barrel. I cleaned the barrel b4 firing, after the 1st round, then 2 rounds & clean up through the 11th round. & roughly every 5 rounds after that. Put a total 39 rounds down this tube today.

Can't help but compare this 22" rifle to my 22" CZ527 with the lapped barrel. Accuracy with the pulled bullets was acceptable.

The Howa barrel seems as consistent & smooth as any factory barrel I have worked with thus far. To my feel Id guesstimate the bore may be on the bigger side. This is based on the resistance of the cleaning patches & velocity achieved with the factory ammo.

Now the wind was likely over 20 MPH today so my accuracy expectations was not the greatest. Still this 22" light sporter barrel seems to have real potential. Took a stab at testing accuracy with factory 108 grain & while I was not that steady with the wind & getting used to the new trigger & rest, MOA w factory ammo looks likely quite possible.

Velocity experienced With the 22" Howa vs the CZ w the 22" Pacnor was a bit of an eye opener.

So I picked up 1 box of factory 108 grain ELDM with a suggested velocity of 2750 from a 24" barrel for todays testing. Three shots measured with the 22" Howa read as follows when measured with the magneto speed. Factory ammo was the last 4 rounds fired today. I missed the velocity on the 1st round due to operator error.

2653
2659
2640

Well I had the CZ 527 along w the 22" Pacnor barrel. May as well measure velocity with that barrel as well, Right? Well I did & velocity was as follows, Mind you this is the same box of factory ammo.

2689
2744
2751

While the factory ammo showed real accuracy potential in the Howa, The same was not true for my CZ527.


More interesting stuff, the brass left on the face of the bolt of the Howa was quite note worthy. Brass left on the face of the CZ, not so much. I ask is the brass on the face of the bolt on the Howa, more a feature of pressure or does the ejector play a considerable roll here.

[MTMAN]

Two inches seems to make a lot of difference in velocity with factory ammo. My Howa has a 20" barrel and shows almost 50 FPS less velocity with the 108 Match. The 103 grain ELDX shows about 2630 to 2650 fps.
I strive for over 2900 fps with 85 grain handloads using LVR powder and .70" accuracy, but CFE223 gets better accuracy and 2770s with the same bullets .2" to .3". Going to up my CFE load by 1/2 grain and see what happens with groups. Would settle for low to mid 2800s if accuracy doesn't suffer to much.
The bolt faces on the CZ are polished much smoother than the Howa, I think that's the reason the Howa shaves more brass off the head of the case. Sounds like you have a good Howa Mini though. Don't know what it would do to head space if you polished the Howa bolt face but might stop shaving brass if you did.

[CZ527 Guy]

Managed to take the time to look in to this bolt face deeper. Found the bolt face did have some significant burrs pushed in to th bolt face on the sides of the extractor groove. Did a little search on servicing the Howa bolt. Sounds like it is not un common to have serious difficulty getting these pins out. I would really like to disassemble the bolt to shorten the ejector spring & polish the bolt face.
As the Howa currently operates the brass is typically 8 ft from the bench in the ejection process, unless I am very careful to catch the brass.

I'd be lying if I said I did not wish for a Pacnor barrel for this rifle. Once you have had a good laped custom barrel it is hard to go back to a factory barrel. Mind you, as a factory barrel, this seems to be a good one. Super match grade Pacnor is just that much better In my opinion. suspect the same could be said for other custom barrels as well.

[grayfox]

Regarding MV and barrel length. The hornady 108-110 (sincle) page has a barrel length table that shows MV gain/loss per inch of their loads. You can get a feel for a similar load of yours there.
That said, the smaller case capacity rounds, and the powders they use, like the 6Arc and grendel, tend to run out of gas when the barrel gets too long, usually beyond 24" I doubt if you see the improvements you want. Being able to load a bit longer, allowing more fuel (powder charge) and being able to take it up to 60 ksi, will give you some extra. But face it, it is a small case.

For a 20" barrel, 2780-ish is a node, the next one up is ~2875. These nodes have a little bit of bandwidth, is what I've found but your numbers should line up close to these. Some of this depends on whether the powder and bullet can get you there without over-stressing, and staying less than "over-compressed" - on this last I've seen people talk about 103% fill but I don't like to go there, maybe 101 effectively but that's about as far as I would go... come to think of it, I try not to stretch out even that far over 100 (listening for the crunch when seating).

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For a 22" barrel, those same nodes move to ~2820 and 2915 respectively. Again, dependent on whether the powder and bullet combo can get you there safely.

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And this is "node movement" due to barrel length, not MV increase of same powder with a longer barrel. These 2 are not the same...

[MTMAN]

THAT IS INTERESTING GRAYFOX, BUT I'M A BIT CONFUSED., ARE YOU SPEAKING OF 108 GRAIN BULLETS AND ACCURACY NODE OR MUZZLE VELOCITY NODES?

[Pork Loin]

I received my new Howa Mini 1500 in 6mm arc yesterday. They are officially available.
Haven't done anything but sight it in at 25 yds. Hope to load up some 85 Gr. Speer boatails and try them out next week.

MTMAN,
What type of stock came with your Mini 6mm ARC?
I am looking for one with a "black carbon" stock is why I ask.
Thanks.

[CZ527 Guy]

I received my new Howa Mini 1500 in 6mm arc yesterday. They are officially available.
Haven't done anything but sight it in at 25 yds. Hope to load up some 85 Gr. Speer boatails and try them out next week.

MTMAN,
What type of stock came with your Mini 6mm ARC?
I am looking for one with a "black carbon" stock is why I ask.
Thanks.

Pork loin
If you are up to a bit of assembly the barreled action frequently available through Brownells may be of interest to you.

Stocky's is who provides the Howa carbon fiber stocks & offers finished carbon fiber stocks & Factory 2nds in the sporter stock You see frequently available as a Howa offering. With the recent Memorial day 20% discount at Stocky's I had close to $270 into the Stocky's factory 2nd with shipping & tax. 

To my moderately trained eye, very little that was needing further attention on the Factory 2nd stock. As a comparison I also purchased Stocky's Vertical grip carbon fiber stock, roughly 3 ounces heavier than the Sporter model. The vertical grip stock was supposed to be their finished offering. Only difference I noticed in the finished Vertical grip was the front swivel stud was epoxeyed in. Both stocks would benefit from a light skim bedding Job. Bedding is quite simple IMHO with the Howa.

Personally I like the Vertical grip carbon fiber offering much better. To the point I could be talked into parting with the lighter sporter model.

Would not be surprised to see Brownells & Stocky's offer promotions around the 4th of July.

[Pork Loin]

CZ 527,
Thanks for your reply.
I live in Kanada, so buying from Brownell's direct is a no-go without going thru a importer.
Cost would be plus or minus $300.00.
I didn't know that Stocky's made a vertical grip stock for the Howa mini, so thanks for that info.

[CZ527 Guy]

Jefferson Outdoors bottom metal, Hinged floor plate came into stock today for the Howa Mini. Hope to share reviews by next week.

[MTMAN]

I JUST ORDERED A JEFFERSON OUTDOORS HINGED FLOOR PLATE MAGAZINE FOR MY HOWA MINI 6MM ARC. HOPE IT WORKS WELL.