Savage, Stevens, Howa

[Ksmirk]

I tried this in the gunsmithing and well not a bite so I figure maybe I could find an opinion or two here. HELP

Ok I'm about to head off for the Christmas Holiday but I just wanted to know how many folks have built an Edge on either of the following actions, Howa 1500 or Savage 110, or even a Stevens M200, if you have built one how have things worked out? Hey everyone have a great Christmas and thanks for your advice! Later,

Kirk

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I built quite a few ultra wildcats on the Howa 1500 understanding they would be single shots. You can do a little work on them and they will feed but not with the bullets seated very far out. It is a good action but a short mag action since they use it primarily for the 7 rem mag, 338 win mag and 300 win mag. It is a little short for even the full length standard mags like the 300 wby and stuff off the 8mm rem mag case if you want to seat your bullets out a little.

[James Jones]

The Howa action is a very good action tobuild on ,they are very strong and very rigid ,the bolt is well made being one piece evnted out the side and comes with an awsome extractor being the pined in M-16 style. Now all that said they are a bit short and that can be fixed but it aint cheap due to having a new mag box made or retrofitted so like mentioned above if your building on the 300 Win mag case on down it would be a great action to build on. You are somewhat limited to after marked goodies like stocks and triggers , Timney makes a good tirgger for it and theur are a couple stock makers that inlet for them but nowhere near as many as for the Rem 700 and Savage.

The Savage and Stevens being the same basic animal are very good action to build on for the budget mined folks , they are easy to work on have a reasonable amout of aftermarket parts available. If I were planning to build a custom on one I would set the barrel up wth a shoulder like on the Rem 700 especialy if your planning to go with the bigger cases like the RUM and WSM as they are a bit fatter. You can have they "trued" up just like anyother to make sure that everything is strait.


either way you can build a very accurate rifle off of either , but I will say that if your planning to build a custom rifle from the ground up and you don't have an action yet then I would highly reccomend that you save a few more dollars and buy a custom action rather than buy a factory action as by the time you inverst all the money into a factory astion to make it smooth and square your not to far for the cost of a custom Rem 700 clone and the custom action will hold WAY WAY more of it value in case you ever have/want to sell the gun. With a Savage custom gun you will basicaly be eating all of the gunsmithing charges and about 50% of the action cost hich will be a big loss on your part.

[Ksmirk]

Fella's thanks a bunch! most everything I have built so far has been the little stuff like 243, 308, 6.5x55, and a 6mm Rem. Whichever action I go with and the reason I'm looking at the Howa and Savage/Stevens is first the cost which when you do the work yourself I'm only out the cost of the action that may make a little more sense? I have a great gunsmith friend that has been helping me to build these rifles since it has become a little of a hobby of mine but when were talking about the RUM class of rounds this will be new water! I know I can build the thing right but while I want it to go boom I'd rather not spread the action, stock, and maybe worse across the range hence the reason I ask. This is going to be a single shot and the idea has been single shot since the day it poped into my head, I just hate slow days at work!

As soon as I get this 243 and 223 finished it will be time to start the BIG one so if you have any other opinions or suggestions please jot them down I'd really like to hear from someone that has one of these on one of the above actions. Again fella's thanks a bunch. Later,

Kirk