Howa 1500 .223 best varmint gun

Howa 1500 best varmint gun, big call. Of course this article will cause a lot of contention. But what I want to provoke more is the importance of “purpose of use” and as such why the Howa 1500 varmint in .223 is the best varmint gun for my purpose.

I’ve been hunting since I was 18 (I’ve been going hunting with my Dad since I was 4). Last year 2016, saw me buy my first firearm smaller than a .308. My Dad had given my a .22 air rifle and a .22 rim fire, but I never bought them and never hunted with them.

I had always said .308 was the perfect caliber. Big enough to smash every pig I’d ever come across and the perfect size for a cat and best varmint gun.

I was indiscriminate, under spotlight if a saw it, I shot it with a .308. Why because it was what I had and it was cheap (well I thought it was cheap). To me it was cheap because I’d reloaded about 1000 rounds and 6 years later I was still shooting off those rounds. They were in fact, expensive. I’d just forgotten how much they cost.

Purpose of use

When I started getting low on .308 rounds I needed to reload and I realised the cost. So it was time to reconsider. I thought about what I was using the firearm for and identified 95% of my shooting was under spotlight, off the back of a vehicle at varmint. The .308 was overkill and I was paying for it. So I knew it was time to get a .22 caliber rifle cartridge varmint gun.

Caliber selection

The obvious choices were .222, .223 and my Dad insisted on the .22 hornet. The triple 2 is definitely a more accurate caliber than the .223. All the stats I looked at and all the comparisons I could find indicated that. But it wasn’t as cheap. The hornet… well it’s not cheap and not readily available, so sorry Dad, no.

The .223 is a cheap reliable cartridge you can pickup anywhere. You can probably get free secondhand cases from most of your mates if you reload. It’s also available in bulk packs. It’s one of the cheapest rifle cartridges by a long shot.

Most of my shooting off the vehicle is under spotlight shooting at; foxes, hares, rabbits, cats and occasional certified mitigation of macropods. The .223 in a 55gr has plenty of stopping power.

So the caliber was sorted.

Choices

My next obstacle was being left eye dominate. This eliminates a lot of firearms. My budget was to stick below $1500, because it was to be a knock about, to rattle around in the back of the Ute.

Now I could consider a right handed gun, being right handed, it’s very convenient for reloading. But if you have ever sliced your thumb open with a bolt… It feels very similar to levering your finger into a 30 30 trigger, very painful. So right handed bolt is out.

So my obvious options for a varmint gun where; Remington 700, Savage Axis, Tikka T3, Browning T-bolt and Ruger Scout (Howa do not make a left handed firearm). There are plenty of good reviews of these firearms on YouTube.

Magazine

Because of our hunting style there were some other factors I wanted to consider. The biggest annoyance with my Tikka T3 .308 was the inability to top load the magazine. The Tikka requires removal of the magazine to fill it. It also does not like single loading over an empty magazine.

Now in the middle of the night in the freezing cold racing across the paddock. Means I have to hold the roll-bar with my armpit, magazine in one hand, open the ammo box and load with the other hand, while holding the firearm between my legs and with my bicep. With frozen fingers try to precisely get the rounds into the magazine without dropping anything or falling over. So top load only.

So this immediately eliminated the; Tikka, Savage and Browning. At this point I discovered the Sako was prefect, removable box mag that holds 6, flush mounted and can be top loaded. The only one of its kind and highest mag capacity. Unfortunately way out of my price range.

This left me with the Ruger Scout and Remington 700. This brought me to my next problem, magazine length. On my Tikka .308 I have a 10 round mag that hungs well below the stock. This often knocks on the roll bar or gets caught in the window. It was terrible for shooting from a vehicle or on a rest.

So the Ruger Scout was out and another firearm modded with a DBM.

Barrel

Another factor I considered was the barrel. Because I intended to do no walking with this firearm, it was purely for off the back of a Ute or out the window. The varmint barrel was an easy choice, for its renowned accuracy.

So all that research left the Remington 700, available in blued, stainless and varmint barrels, with a 5 shot mag. The firearm has a great reputation and a favorite amongst many people.

So I headed down to my LGS (local gun shop) to have a look. Firstly there were no left handed ones in stock. Everyone kept trying to make me buy a Tikka, the obvious left handed choice, but the worst choice for my purpose.

I had a play with some right handed Remington 700s. Compared to my Tikka they are so clunky and agricultural. It felt rough, unfinished and the synthetic stock was hollow and flexed under my cheek. I could not get how horrible this stock was out of my head. I know I could replace it, but with the price of a new stock the Sako is becoming very attractive.

I went home felt my Tikka’s synthetic stock, felt my Remington 7600’s synthetic stock (on 2 guns), the 700’s stock was absolutely garbage.

But it was the perfect firearm for my needs. So I started looking at replacement stocks. The option I liked the most was a Boyd stock, which if under $100USD they would ship to Australia.

Decision made I headed back down to the LGS (understand I’d been researching this for like 8 weeks to make this decision). Slapped my credit card on the table and said “order me a left handed Remington varmint gun”, “we can’t, Remington is in such high demand they have stopped manufacturing left handed guns!” What! No way! I left the shop and was like liars! I’ll shop else where. But several calls later no one had one and the distributor confirmed there was an unknown ETA of the next shipment.

Outside choices

So I started looking at secondhand firearm websites and dribbling around the internet frustrated. I started googling ‘left-handed right eye dominate’ in my frustration and low and behold I found that Boyd did a left handed thumb-hole stock for a right handed bolt… This allows the bolt to go over the hand without making contact.

From my original researching early on watching YouTube videos the Howa was a clear winner but only a 4 shot mag and right handed. But it top loads, in .223, in stainless, in varmint, in the price range and available.

But here is the best part, being right handed but left eye dominate; having a right handed firearm is awesome for reloading! I would suggest that for my purposes this is the best outcome.

So I purchased a Howa 1500 in stainless steel with a varmint barrel and a Boyd stock in nutmeg (the only choice for under $100). It’s fantastic I love it, even after a year I feel my choice was right and I purchased the best varmint gun for my needs.

Modifications

Turns out though I was scrolling through a gun shop website looking for a second Howa 1500 in .223 (yes I love the gun that much I can justify 2) and I couldn’t help but notice this:

Top is a magazine and trigger guard for a .223 Howa, below that is a magazine and trigger guard for a .308 Howa. If I remove these limiting tabs I can gain an extra 2 rounds in, making the Howa 1500 a 6 shot, 1 round more than the Remington 700.

Considerations

I know that there are a lot of other guns out there, I know everyone has their personal opinions about what’s the best gun. But for my requirements;

• Budget
• Caliber
• Window shooting
• Back of Ute shooting
• Under spotlight
• Flush magazine
• Higher magazine capacity
• Top loading
• Varmint barrel
• Left eye dominate
• Right handed
• Available

After checking off all these requirements the Howa 1500 was the best varmint gun for a left eye dominate – right handed – spotlighter – shooting varmint from a vehicle.

Conclusion

So I hope you learnt something for your next varmint gun or firearm purchase. Make sure you define your perimeters and requirements, so you can make sure your choice is perfect for your needs. There’s a high chance the Howa 1500 is not perfect for you. So I refer you to my original statement: “purpose of use”