I once owned a 1500 Smith and Wesson when the Howa was sold under this name. Anyway, it was a push feed and I encountered problems as time went on with feeding. The cartridge would only feed from one side of the magazine--otherwise the bullet tip collided with the breech face. I think I may have slightly bent the follower in trying to load too many rounds, as it only was designed to hold five and I believe I tried to put 6 in it at one time. I had had problems before this, however. Anyway, I figured on repairing it but lo and behold in the used gun rack at the local store was a barely used pre-64 Featherweight with bluing still on the bolt face even though the stock looked pretty tough. So I traded, as they were asking $550 for the Winchester. This .30-06 shoots very consistently with 59 grains IMR4831 and a Hornady 165 grain btsp.
Any one out there had any problems with this in the Howa line? I'm curious to find out if my problem was unique. All the center fires I now own are controlled round feed--got kind of spooked with the push feed after this.
Thanks
