Howa .204 Ruger

[Mint Hill Mule]

I'm in the market for a .204 ruger rfle. The Howa, from what I read is a very accurate rifle. My .223 Ruger Hawkeye doesn't have the accuracy that I expected. Can someone give me a reason to try the Howa?

What mods will I need to do to make it a shooter?

[elkslayer4x5]

Sure, I'll chime in here. Just recently bought a Howa Thumbhole Varminteer Supreme in .204 Ruger. Put a Mueller Eraticator on top.The combo now weighs about 12 pounds,but it sure shoots great. part of the reason it shoots so nice is the trigger in the Howa actions. Way better than the factory trigger of any Ruger rifle I've ever shot. Had a chance to shoot both side  by side this last April. My Nephew had just bought a new Ruger M 77, and my son and I where along to help/harass while he sighted in. My son brought his Howa along, just working the action of the Howa as compared to the Ruger, made me look into a Howa when I was shopping for my .204. Go on down to your local Sportsmans Warehouse and check em out. Every Howa comes with a fully adjustable trigger, don't see that in any Ruger.

[elkslayer4x5]

Oh, yeah, here's a photo

[tuck2]

I got a Howa 1500 Thumbhole Varmint in the 223 Rem this past spring. I think that the thumbhole stock is made by Boyd . I adjusted the trigger down to three pounds and glass bedded the action with  1 1/2 inches of the barrel. The rest of the barrel is free floating. The rifle shoots 1/2 inch five shot 100 Yd groups.

[nomosendero]

Sure, I'll chime in here. Just recently bought a Howa Thumbhole Varminteer Supreme in .204 Ruger. Put a Mueller Eraticator on top.The combo now weighs about 12 pounds,but it sure shoots great. part of the reason it shoots so nice is the trigger in the Howa actions. Way better than the factory trigger of any Ruger rifle I've ever shot. Had a chance to shoot both side  by side this last April. My Nephew had just bought a new Ruger M 77, and my son and I where along to help/harass while he sighted in. My son brought his Howa along, just working the action of the Howa as compared to the Ruger, made me look into a Howa when I was shopping for my .204. Go on down to your local Sportsmans Warehouse and check em out. Every Howa comes with a fully adjustable trigger, don't see that in any Ruger.

What twist does it have?

[elkslayer4x5]

Sorry that I took so long to respond, I'm in the middle of gearing up for a ten day elk hunt in Oregon. The heavy barrel Howa .204 Ruger has a 1 in 12 twist. 

[nomosendero]

Sorry that I took so long to respond, I'm in the middle of gearing up for a ten day elk hunt in Oregon. The heavy barrel Howa .204 Ruger has a 1 in 12 twist. 

Thanks for the reply. I hope you have a successful & most of all, a safe hunt!

[elkslayer4x5]

Thanks, this hunt is already a success ! It became a success when we were drawn to hunt bull elk in the Paulina East Fort Rock #2 hunt. It was our first choice. Despite my user-name, this will be my first elk hunt. My son, the hunt party leader, and his sort of son-in-law are residents, my oldest nephew is from Wash. and I'm in Calif. We have been up to the area twice on scouting trips, and it was on the first one that I picked up my Howa, ( no sales tax in Ore ) and we spent part of the weekend calling coyotes, in between looking for camping spots and or elk. We did find great places to set up our camp, but struck out on them song dogs! Oh well , whatyagonnado! Still had a wonderfull time, camping and scouting with my son and grandson ( not old enough to hunt yet, 10 now) who shoots his Mom's NEF .223 very well, especially now that I've made them a Lady/youth stock for it, shown here in progress

It had a crack running thru it vertically, so I had to glue in dowels to stabilize it And here it is finished.

 The other stock is now on my .25-06 Ultra, here

Feel free to browse thru the photo album by clicking the view album button, but be forwarned, there's 8 pages of that album. Sort of a pictorial guide to how I made stocks from a table

[elkslayer4x5]

I know, I really should get around to posting my stock story on the NEF center fire board, instead of hijacking this one

[WayneJessie]

I'm in the market for a .204 ruger rfle. The Howa, from what I read is a very accurate rifle. My .223 Ruger Hawkeye doesn't have the accuracy that I expected. Can someone give me a reason to try the Howa?

What mods will I need to do to make it a shooter?

First, I love Rugers and Howas. I own both. What kind of groups are you getting with the Hawkeye? How many rounds have you run through it? I have three M77s and it took close to 65-70 rounds before any of them really shot to be proud of. Do you have a known good scope? One thing for sure,if you have a real problem with your Hawkeye Ruger will do all it can to correct it. Their service has been great to those that I have heard of needing it. That being said, I would hang on to my Hawkeye and pick up a Howa if I really wanted one. You can't have too many .204s.

[Luckyducker]

I am a fan of Ruger rifles and rifles in general I guess when you get right down to it.  I turned my S-I-L on to Rugers also, and he talked a friend of his into a Hawkeye in 7mm08.  They took it out and shot it with a couple different factory loaded ammo and it was pretty bad, I wasn't there but Heath (SIL) told me it grouped about 2.5" at 100 yds.  After some messing with different bullets, powders and charge weights they finally got it to shot into .5"  I believe most of these new over-the-counter rifle will shoot pretty good if you can find what they like to digest.  Not saying a consumer might not get one that has a defect of some kind that got past QC people, but that can happen with about anything that is manufactured, just hope the maker stands behind their products.  This kind of reminds me of the only Howerby Vanguard rifle I ever owned.  It grouped pretty decent with factory ammo when I hurredly sighted it in 2" high at 75 yds and then went deer hunting with it.  Shot at the only record book whitetail ever had the opportunity to put crosshairs on at about 200-225 yds and the bullet went about 11'-12' to the right.  I took it to the pasture and set up targets at 200 and another at 75, it was stil hitting same POI at 75 but way right at 200.  I adjusted the scope to hit dead on at 200 then shot at the 75 yd target and went about a dozen ft to the left.  I was so mad at the gun I did something wrong, palmed the POS off in trade on the way home.  I should have tried to get it covered under warranty through the maker but I had a lapse in judgement and integrity.

[nodlenor]

I might as well throw my 2 pennies in. I don't own a 204 but I do own 3 Howa's and they all shoot very, very good. My first one was a 1500 in 223 with a syn. stock. It shoots so good I can't make myself change anything about it. My second one is a 1500 270 SS. I put a Boyds pepper laminated stock on it and haven't looked back. I just recently purchased a 1500 25-06 barreled action and used the syn. stock that came with my 270. I'm well satisfied with all three rifles. They are very accurate and didn't break the bank either. My only problem is I don't get to shoot them as often as I would like but with the weather warming I will see if I can do something about that.

[GPR125]

My first Howa was/is a sporter .223 that I got used.  Had a Bell& Carlson syn stock stock,  I slapped a 4-16 scope on it and have shot a truck load of prairie dogs and the occasional yodel dog with it, when I could get it out of my FIL's hands.  The trigger is an absolute delight, easily adjustable from fire on closing (not recommended) to breaking a glass rod crisp.  I have since bought 2 others, a HB 204 & a standard barrel 22-250.   Factory stocks have improved, and as soon as Boyd's starts making them again, one of them will have a lami thumb hole stock.  The triggers are still adjustable, but I ended up replacing both the new rifles triggers with Timney units.    The factory triggers just didn't seem to get rid of the "crunch"   I like rugers, but value wise, I'd have to place the Howa way ahead.