Thread: Kiwi made Howa mini ultralight chassis a reality?

Got all the bits together to test the new .22 ARC barrel today.
I have necked down a few Lapua 6.5 Grendel cases as Im not a fan of the Hornady brass.
The short 13" long 1:7" barrel got much better speeds than I was expecting and likely to pick up a bit more speed as it breaks in.
I tested BM8208, H4895 (2206H) and 2208 knowing the shorter barrel will get better speed with the faster end of the burn rates.
I tested the 75gr ELDM with max book loads of each.

BM8208 - 2855fps
H4895 - 2842fps
AR2208- 2726fps

The 2208 was noticeably louder and couldn't get the speed so no good with the lighter 75gr in the shorter barrel.

I backed the BM8208 of .1 of a grain at a time from book max before the velocity started dropping and max efficiency and full burn is achieved .3gr below book max.
This is my first test load for paper.

It was super windy today but it still stacked 4 shots inside 3/4" at 100m.
I look forward to testing them 77gr TMK and the 88gr ELDMs.

Originally Posted by bjp

@robhughes-games, any plans for a version for the Howa 1500 short action?

Busy doing a version for the superlight first. It's the same diameter action just longer so it's the obvious starting point.
Then will be a tikka, Remington and Howa version

Originally Posted by Delphus

Anyone have one of these in the Wellington region I could come have a fondle of? I’m keen to give it a feel before I go ahead and order one

I'm about an hour and a quarter north of you

Originally Posted by Delphus

Anyone have one of these in the Wellington region I could come have a fondle of? I’m keen to give it a feel before I go ahead and order one

In Te Horo if you don't want to travel as far north as Levin.

Mean setup @Wingman that's great performance out of a 13inch barrel.

Originally Posted by Gkp

Mean setup @Wingman that's great performance out of a 13inch barrel.

Yeah it's scorching! The 77gr tmks are even better than the 75gr eldms

Originally Posted by STC

either 3d printed rubber insert with some fancy "honecomb" structure

or just a foam insert i.e. profile cut piece of foam of similar properties than a jandal, you just need to figure out how to hold it in place.

Something like this?
Made from TPU rubber with a honeycomb center.

And in it's softer version, you can see the honeycomb infill pattern.
Excuse the garish green colour - it's a throwback to the gaskets I was printing with this filament.

I've picked up some .22arc Alpha brass (nice product, Thank you @Double Shot ) and fine tuned the loads a bit. The
75gr ELDM groups tightened up..
The 77gr TMKs shot great at max loads.
Tested some 80gr ELDMs too which shot ok but then velocity drop still puts the 75gr ahead balisticaly in this shorter barrel. I was intending to test the 88gr ELDMs too as the heavier and higher BC 88gr looked great in the balistic app but after seeing the velocity drop in the 80gr I won't bother.

The 75gr is the sweet spot in the shorties. The 13" .22arc shooting 75gr pills basically has the same performance as a 26" barreled .223rem



75gr ELDMs



77gr TMKs