Thread: Modifing the Howa Mini plastic stock on my 6.5G

The howa mini actions are cool little rifles but in my opinion the factory stock is not in keeping with the mini theme.

While the factory stock is quite stiff, the forend is very wide and chunky as well as being a bit long.

The pistol grip is too long and chunky and the palm swell is all a bit fat for my liking.

I prefer stocks to be a bit slimmer and narrower etc, like a Rem model 7 or kimber.

Heres what the factory stock looks like.



A while ago id seen a chap on a yankie forum that had slimmed down the factory plastic stock, he used a rasp and a sander. He also cut the forend and sectioned a piece out to shorten it.

So i set about doing the same, i fitted a coarse sanding disc to the angle grinder and ripped into it removing the excess bulk on the forend and around the pistol grip area, i also cut a piece off the bottom of the pistol grip to shorten it up and reprofiled it a tad.

I then cut off the forend on the drop saw and cut a piece approximately 1.5-2 inches out of the forend.

I think drilled and pinned the forend tip back on and once it was aligned nicely bonded in back on with Araldite.

After curing for a couple of days i then finished smoothing the forend out with a finer sanding disc to blend in the joint.

Then i finished it with a file to smooth it all out a bit more.

While at it i also drilled out and hollowed out the solid pistol grip solely to remove a bit more weight.

Im really happy with the form of it now, i think it looks heaps better and feels so much nicer in the hands.

To finish it off ill give it a sand by hand to get it even smoother then likely give it paint job i think, we'll see.

As a bonus there has also been a reasonable weight reduction of close to 200 grams.

The barrel is the standard 22", which I'll likely reduce to 18" when i get the muzzle threaded. It sounds like max velocity is achieved at around 16" with the 6.5 Grendel so im sure lopping 4" off it isnt going to hurt velocity too much.

Its been a fun little project and im quite happy with how its come up.



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Nice!
Feel like doing this again @GWH ?, I will send you my stock!

I think the missus 7.62x39 might be getting stripped this weekend after seeing this... well done GWH

How does the grendel shoot - good thing with accuracy etc ? Knock the bigger animals over ok ?

@Ftx325 sure does!
My experience:
350m - Goats and Fallow
300m - Reds
250m - Pigs

Thanks @kiwi-adam , that's what I like to hear. Should be a good bush rifle then if it handles those distances ok. Thinking I will knock the barrel back to 16 as well...

Originally Posted by kiwi-adam

@Ftx325 sure does!
My experience:
350m - Goats and Fallow
300m - Reds
250m - Pigs

Yep id have to agree with this from my experience. I havnt shot any pigs but have shot fallow and a few reds.

Shot some reds at 400 and death was delayed. Shot a big red stag at 230 yds, hit him behind the shoulder, he was on flat ground and went about 70 meters from memory, he had a fair bit of damage internally, id say shot placement was more to blame than anything.

All animals were shot with 123gr eldm. Big exit holes on the closer animals.

Thanks guys... really appreciate the input. You probably saw and commented on my grendel thread too but I just want to be sure I am doing the right thing before I commit to spending way to much money on a custom grendel build that it's going to do the job as a close to medium range bush gun. I am considering going way over the top and replicating the howa mini chassis pic's from 55six and going whole hog with carbon Hardy barrel etc. Wanna be sure it's a keeper first as I usually go big bore but want to try small and light for a change.

Looks good. Much nicer then the original. I agree it's pretty big and clunky for a little rifle

I agree about the forend but like the shape and feel of the wrist as it is. The rifle is already quite light so it's more about ergonomics than weight I think. Both the grendel and the 7.62 x39 are kick arse cartridges for medium distances.

Originally Posted by Ftx325

Thanks guys... really appreciate the input. You probably saw and commented on my grendel thread too but I just want to be sure I am doing the right thing before I commit to spending way to much money on a custom grendel build that it's going to do the job as a close to medium range bush gun. I am considering going way over the top and replicating the howa mini chassis pic's from 55six and going whole hog with carbon Hardy barrel etc. Wanna be sure it's a keeper first as I usually go big bore but want to try small and light for a change.

Don’t do it.

Some might want to bash me over the head with a skillet but I think you would be making a big mistake with a big-money build mate. My reasoning is that the 6.5 Grendel is a neat little cartridge that has some good bullets available to it from the bonded through to the soft match type. But you cannot get away from the fact that it lacks ooommppfff.

These short Grendel barrels generate about the same muzzle velocity as what a 6mm Creedmoor generates as an impact velocity at 300m. You should run the numbers and have a really close look at the comparison with several different cartridge options before you commit to spending the big bucks on a rifle for which you would never, ever see a resale value close to what you spend on it.

My view is that the Grendel is a useful cartridge in cheap rifles for shortish range goats and small deer, but for a close range bush rifle where big animals are skittish and you may well have scrub etc in the way, then I would want something a lot more grunty. Likewise for the longer shots in the 300 meter range, you only need to be a couple of inches off with a slow cartridge like the Grendel and you are going to lose animals, and that is going to risk you falling out of love with it real quick.

At the end of the day the Grendel is just a modern cartridge with similar power to a 30-30 shooting a 150gr. Perfectly adequate close up in good conditions but not really a great all-rounder especially when the longer shots are tempting you to stretch it out a bit.

I wouldnt go dropping big money on a custom for short range either (oh wait I did in 300blk) but that was just a rebarrel due to lack of stainless options in the howa mini
if i could have gone factory stainless i would have been all over it, as the barrel cost more than the entire howa mini
you are unlikely to loose much on a howa if you decide to get one in the interim and sell later (gunsmiths are often booked 3-6 months in advance and christmas is coming)

Now where did I put that bloody skillet....?

Custom builds come from the heart not the wallet. If you want to chuck money at it, as you said it will be a keeper, go right ahead mate.

Yeah I agree with what Flyblown says, I could easily see myself with a 6.5G for fun but wouldn't want to spend big bucks as I'm sure the novelty would war off --- a soft loaded .260 in a short action (pick a brand you like, rem, sako, browning) will do the exact same job with the ability to be loaded back up to .260 speeds later on.

i recon if you have the money and thats what you want to spend it on go for it. Why would you want a custom rifle that someone else wants you to build....surley the grendel has enough power for bush work he says short to medium range. long range in the bush would be around 100m at a guess

Originally Posted by Mathias

Now where did I put that bloody skillet....?

Custom builds come from the heart not the wallet. If you want to chuck money at it, as you said it will be a keeper, go right ahead mate.

The custom thing is not really the issue. It's because the cartridge itself just isn't that great a choice.