Notes on The Howa Alpine Rifle

[okie john]

I recently picked up a Howa Alpine Rifle in 308. My interest in this rifle came from our discussions on how to prepare for life under a hostile political regime. We’ve dodged that for the time being, but I still like the idea of a relatively compact long gun that can be used quickly at close range and that can still reach out a ways with authority if needed.

As a group, we’ve covered the Tikka pretty well, but have not given the Howa Alpine Rifle much attention. The purpose of this thread is to talk about it as a general-purpose rifle. It checks a lot of the boxes of a Scout rifle, but is not a Scout, so I sheared this thread off from the Scout thread (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....fle-circa-2016).

Overall, the Howa seems ready to go right out of the box. It has a weatherproof finish, a good trigger, a good recoil pad, and a superb stock. Glass bedding is conspicuous by its absence, but I’m not yet convinced that it needs bedding. It uses a Howa 1500 action that has had some material removed to reduce weight, and weighs right at 6 pounds without optics. (Weight with a 4x Leupold in Weaver rings and bases was right at 7 pounds. With a Leupold VX 2 3-9x40 CDS in Weaver rings and bases, it weighs 7 pounds, 3 ounces.) Once scoped, the balance is good, and while slightly lighter in the muzzle than I prefer, it's far better than a Remington Model 7. A 22” barrel would probably improve the balance, with slightly more velocity and slightly less muzzle blast.

This rifle is available with a DBM, but I don’t like them on bolt guns because they’re one more thing to lose and you usually need two hands to get them out of the rifle. The non-DBM Howas have a classic Mauser-style magazine that lets you top off easily with one hand even while you’re moving, so I got that version. There’s not much room around the ejection port with a scope mounted, but it’s no worse than any other short-action rifle in that respect and it’s downright spacious in comparison to a Tikka.

This rifle also has an excellent two-stage trigger. Pull could be lighter, but it’s perfectly crisp and I do not intend to change it. I’m not sure whether good triggers are unique to the Alpine or common to all Howas, but this one is exactly how rifle triggers should be. Other strong points include:

• A positive three-position safety on the right side of the action. Another classic Mauser function, just not on the bolt. This one is high enough that you can feel it with gloves, but not so high that it hangs up on stuff.
• Sako/M-16 style spring-loaded extractor.
• The bolt release is on the left side of the action. Like the safety, it's easy to use without being obtrusive.
• The floorplate is easy to open and close. It's not as glove-friendly as the safety, but it doesn't have to be.
• The one-piece bottom metal is held in place with hex-head screws.
• The sheet-steel magazine box floats a bit, as it should. There are markings in Sharpie inside the barrel channel. I don't know what they mean, but I suspect that they were made while someone was paying attention to fitting the stock properly.
• The bolt handle is big enough to use quickly while wearing gloves, but it doesn’t stick out too far.
• CeraKote finish.

This rifle has a Bansner stock that weighs 1 pound, 10 ounces with recoil pad, swivels, and aluminum pillars. The stock finish is a bit on the slick side but I’ll address that in time. The stock design helps soak up recoil, and has a 13.5-inch LOP. Once I get lower rings, I suspect that it will fit me very well. Best of all, this rifle has a Decelerator pad with a properly rounded heel and toe. I find that light rifles get tiresome off of the bench pretty quickly and far too many rifle makers drop the ball on recoil pads, but Howa has done an excellent job here. They should put these stocks on more of their rifles.

Thus far my impression of the Howa Alpine rifle is pretty positive. I’d prefer that it had a CRF action, but I’m not hunting anything dangerous with a 308, so it probably doesn’t matter.

Stock and inletting:


One-piece bottom metal:


Barrel channel markings:


Recoil pad detail:


Bolt handle geometry:


This rifle is what a love child between the Winchester Featherweight Model 70, the Winchester Extreme Weather Model 70, and the Remington Model 7 should be. Not that many years ago, you had to buy a rifle and spend $1-2k to upgrade it to match features that are standard on this rifle. Now you can get a rifle with most of those features for about $1,000 without upgrading parts on your own dime or shipping your rifle all over the country for work and waiting months or years for that work to be done. So yeah, the Alpine is a strong contender before you even open the box.

But what happens after you open the box?

I set this one up with a proven 4x Leupold scope in Weaver rings and bases. I LocTited everything in place and let it cure for 24 hours, then took it to the range and zeroed it at 200 yards with 155-grain Hornady American Gunner ammo because that’s what I had on hand.

The rifle as tested:


First group at 100 yards was 0.625”:


I got a couple of other sub MOA groups at 200 yards with cheap match ammo that I can find in any big-box store in the US, so I don’t see myself working up a handload for it any time soon. It shot well enough that I swapped the 4x scope for a more powerful one and will try to make small groups at 200 yards (maybe further) in the next few weeks.

Let me know if you have questions.


Okie John

[Adam]

After lugging my beloved 9 lb Remington 700 in the mountains of Colorado for a week last fall, these lightweight bolt guns sure look good. 1 MOA with a 4x scope, nice shooting sir!

[SLG]

Looks good, let us know how she holds up.

[SecondsCount]

I picked up one of the Howa mini action 223's last fall when Cabela's had them on sale.

The setup is nicely put together for the price and I like the way they did the magazine/DBM. At 100 yards I am getting horizontal groupings. It is probably the barrel contacting the channel and I am going to inlet it some more. The rifle handles well and the action is smooth. They are way nicer than a Remington or Savage in the same price range.

[OlongJohnson]

I've seen one of the early promoters of the Mini change his tune to recommend a standard rifle in the .223, due to magazine length issues.

I'm hoping to see more of the 7.62x39 Minis around.

[flux]

Can't talk much about the Apline model, but here in South Africa the Howas a a top seller, they dominate in sales both hunting and long range guys use them. Why? They shoot as well or better than most rifles twice or thrice their price. They well priced, reliable. Really are tack drivers. Even the standard hogue models do well unless you put a bipod, then the stock flexes a bit. A good friend of mine uses one as a back up rifle when hunting plains game, his on his second barrel and many foreign clients also end up using it , 300 win mag. I find it hard to fork out for a Sako when these rifles shoot so well, and I don't feel guilty when they gut bumped around in the field.

[SecondsCount]

I've seen one of the early promoters of the Mini change his tune to recommend a standard rifle in the .223, due to magazine length issues.

I'm hoping to see more of the 7.62x39 Minis around.

The magazine on mine will hold a 2.320" loaded round which is .040" longer than AR mag length. I can't fit a 75 Amax in there but the gun has a 1:9 twist which isn't optimal for stabilizing that long of a bullet. It would be nice if it was 1:8 and had a little more room, but the new 70 RDF and 73 ELD bullets will fit the mag and have an excellent BC for a 223.

So basically you can fit whatever you can fit in an AR length length mag, which is the length that most factory ammo is loaded, including the 77 MatchKing and 75 Gold Dot, and will stabilize in a 1:9 twist.

[JHC]

Okie, any plan for iron sights?

[okie john]

Okie, any plan for iron sights?

I need to sort it out out with a scope first, but a good peep sight could be a game changer. With that, this rifle would weight 6 pounds on the nose. It would only be two inches longer than a 94 Winchester but weigh half a pound less and have about 30% more sight radius.

It takes the same bases as a short action Remington 700, so I'm thinking of this:http://www.xssights.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=993546

I also have one of these lying around: https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shoo...ight-2-5x20mm/ That would bring it in at 6 pounds 9 ounces, or one ounce heavier than an iron-sighted 94, but with about double the practical reach.

As always, the problem is getting a good peep and a low-mounted scope on the same rifle at the same time. The XS peep demands medium rings, which hoists the scope way up in the air, and that does nothing for cheek weld.


Okie John