Howa 1500 300 Win Mag Bolt Locked and Won't Extract After Firing

eco said:
$hit quality control if you ask me. Whatever happened to factory checking everything twice over and test firing it before shipping to dealer/customer.

Never cared for Howa before, now especially after reading this.
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You could spend $3k+ on a Fierce and get a rifle that doesn't even have rifling in the barrel and have to sue to get a new rifle. Google that story, its very legit and if you think this is "$hit quality control" you haven't even seen nothing yet.

At least Howa was good to deal with in repairing it and

Mass production is mass production, whether thats Howa, Tikka, Sako, Fierce, Savage, Remington, Winchester etc etc. Want to avoid this? Have a reputable gunsmith build you a custom rifle, you're going to pay for it but the quality is there.
 
Allthewayaround,
Thanks for this thread.
I am having this exact issue with a Howa 1500 in 6.5 CDM. Also brand new.
Will be sending it in for warranty this week.
Did u have to pay to ship it??
 
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Beeron said:
Allthewayround,
Thanks for this thread.
I am having this exact issue with a Howa 1500 in 6.5 CDM. Also brand new.
Will be sending it in for warranty this week.
Did u have to pay to ship it??
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Ah man sorry to hear that.

Same thing like chambers cartridges fine, extraction is very difficult?
 
Joel said:
Ah man sorry to hear that.

Same thing like chambers cartridges fine, extraction is very difficult?
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Yep. Exactly.
I borescoped the chamber and it doesnt look great but I dont really know what im looking for either.
I have a couple premium rifles and they look a bit smoother but not amazingly so.

Spend cases appear to have a band about half way round, about 1/4” forward of the base where it looks like they have been scraped.
 
Beeron said:
Yep. Exactly.
I borescoped the chamber and it doesnt look great but I dont really know what im looking for either.
I have a couple premium rifles and they look a bit smoother but not amazingly so.

Spend cases appear to have a band about half way round, about 1/4” forward of the base where it looks like they have been scraped.
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A band....

Could part of the chamber be tighter than the rest?
 
Beeron said:
Thats my theory.
And after firing, the part of the case forward of this area is larger than the back, so I have to overcome that to extract.
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Yeah, agreed with ya...think you have it.

Have a Wby Vanguard and Howa 1500 stainless in 6.5 CM sittin waiting for me to fire them. Wonder what will happen?

If the solution is as easy as "pass the reamer again" ah well. Sucks, but...again, QC from everyone lately has passed some lemons.
 
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If this was a used rifle I would say that it was possible that your bolt lugs were set back into the locking recess, this happens when lots of too hot ammo is fired. The bolt lugs press a groove into the lug recess that you have to overcome to open the bolt. The fact that the bolt cycles loaded rounds without firing them eliminates any interference from scope screws and reinforces the set back theory, the bolt has the room to move forward out of the groove before rearward for extraction. When you fire a round the case expands and holds the bolt lugs in the groove. If they “proof” the rifles with an over pressure round at the factory then they should have identified the issue and not sent it out.
 
I should have added that the bolt lift is only marginally more difficult than normal. I would pay more attention to every detail if i fired it again but at this point, I am not willing to do that.
It's the rearward action of the bolt that is extremely difficult.
Therefore, the lug issue You identify is ruled out. Also it's brand new.
I have tried rechambering a few of the spent cases as well and they are all very difficult to chamber, they were not difficult to chamber before firing.

I would also add that it is a Super Deluxe model with a wood stock and upon receipt, the barrel channel was far enough over to be contacting the barrel on the left side with 3/16" gap on the other. Not sure how that escaped the QC folks at Howa either.

Just hoping Howa does the right thing and fixes or replaces it and covers shipping too.
 
There will be subtle differences from chamber to chamber - OP earlier mentioned trying his fired rounds in another rifle - that sometimes proves not much. Back in the day, I had a Winchester Model 70 in 308 Win. My friend had a Parker Hale rifle, also chambered in 308 Win. Both of us could easily chamber store bought commercial unfired ammo. Each of us could and did reload rounds for our own rifles, and the other guy's rifle would close on our reloaded rounds. But, once fired, one way or other would not allow the other bolt to close - and I do not remember which way that went - either I could not chamber his fired cases, or he could not chamber my fired cases. Looking at various specifications - there is a Minimum dimension and a Maximum dimension - they do not have to be "bang on", the same to each other, for them to pass a headspace check, or to work properly.
 
Potashminer said:
There will be subtle differences from chamber to chamber - OP earlier mentioned trying his fired rounds in another rifle - that sometimes proves not much. Back in the day, I had a Winchester Model 70 in 308 Win. My friend had a Parker Hale rifle, also chambered in 308 Win. Both of us could easily chamber store bought commercial unfired ammo. Each of us could and did reload rounds for our own rifles, and the other guy's rifle would close on our reloaded rounds. But, once fired, one way or other would not allow the other bolt to close - and I do not remember which way that went - either I could not chamber his fired cases, or he could not chamber my fired cases. Looking at various specifications - there is a Minimum dimension and a Maximum dimension - they do not have to be "bang on", the same to each other, for them to pass a headspace check, or to work properly.
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A lot to sort through there. I think i get what you're saying and I agree. fire formed brass may not necessarily chamber in another rifle.
IMO, every rifle that rolls off the line should chamber, shoot, and extract every factory ammo offering without issues.
In the case of Howa, they even offer a Sub MOA guarantee with "premium" ammo.
I think Barnes Vor-TX qualifies.

I have more than one 6.5 Creed as well and the same ammo chambers, fires, and extracts from my other rifles with zero issues.
 
I agree - every rifle produced should chamber factory ammo. That is done by SAAMI where the spec for the "shortest" allowable chamber, is "longer" than the maximum length allowed for the ammo - the whole point ( I had read) of SAAMI - that anyone's commercially produced ammo would fit into anyone else's commercially manufactured rifle - dimensions, pressure, etc.

Conversely, I think the "shortest" permitted ammo will safely fire in the "longest" permitted chamber - without bursting - that has to do with parameters of brass case stretch, etc. I do not read SAAMI specs having much to do about "most accurate" - seems to be mostly about "safe to fire", without injuring the customer.
 
hunter-4-life said:
Have a reputable gunsmith build you a custom rifle, you're going to pay for it but the quality is there.
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No guarantees even there. Have had several rifles built over the years by some of the best, which included a barrel unthreading during firing because it wasnt tightened beyond hand tight, rifle chambered with the wrong reamer, parts left out, blotches in finishing, misaligned tapping, and poor stock finishing. I sadly have come to expect something to be wrong no matter who makes what. I consider great service now just to be people who make their mistakes right.
It disappoints me that Howa qc didnt catch this, but isnt going to stop me from having the 4 I currently have.
 
Dosing said:
No guarantees even there. Have had several rifles built over the years by some of the best, which included a barrel unthreading during firing because it wasnt tightened beyond hand tight, rifle chambered with the wrong reamer, parts left out, blotches in finishing, misaligned tapping, and poor stock finishing. I sadly have come to expect something to be wrong no matter who makes what. I consider great service now just to be people who make their mistakes right.
It disappoints me that Howa qc didnt catch this, but isnt going to stop me from having the 4 I currently have.
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I have one other Howa in 6.5 Grendel and was about to purchase a third in 7.62x39 but that's on hold now until I see how they handle this issue.
 
allthewayaround said:
Was sent back for warranty. As another member on here noted, he had the same issue and the touched up the chamber with a reamer. The same was done to mine. I have not fired it yet but fired brass cycles without issues, which was not the case before. The postal strike held up th process but once mailed it was back within two weeks. So no complaints about the service from the Howa rep. and from CSC who did the work. Here is what they said:

" chamber roughness at the neck and belt areas of the cartridge. While not good, we see it across quite a few manufacturers, especially on belted magnums like 300 Win , 7mm Rem Mag etc. Basically, the reamer got dull during cutting causing it to not cut properly. We go in with a new reamer in good condition, remove the roughness and then hone the chamber back to a good finish. Test fired - brass extracts easily now."
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So they use a ####ty wore out reamer and hope for the Best at first and if it goes sideways they will wil fix it up with a NEW reamer in GOOD condition 🤷🏼‍♂️ wtf 😳 and tidy it up ! 🫣
I can’t believe they told you this 🤪

I have owned and shot A 1/2 dozen Howa 1500 s and Vanguards with out a problem with any of them . There a Nice action .jmo RJ
 
remington jim said:
So they use a ####ty wore out reamer and hope for the Best at first and if it goes sideways they will wil fix it up with a NEW reamer in GOOD condition 🤷🏼‍♂️ wtf 😳 and tidy it up ! 🫣
I can’t believe they told you this 🤪

I have owned and shot A 1/2 dozen Howa 1500 s and Vanguards with out a problem with any of them . There a Nice action .jmo RJ
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I have a Weatherby Vanguard that I really like in 6.5 CR so I figured the Howa would be good as well, especially at the price I paid. The warranty work was done by a third party, and they were the ones who let me know what the issue was. And to be clear, I am not slagging Howa. Both they and the retailer stepped up without hesitation or argument to resolve the issue, and the third party that did the work was also quick to get it resolved and back to me. Yes, I did have to pay to ship it to get repaired and return shipping was covered by Howa, which I did not think was really right. But I wanted it back for spring bear season and that has been accomplished, so I can live with that.
 
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allthewayaround said:
I have a Weatherby Vanguard that I really like in 6.5 CR so I figured the Howa would be good as well, especially at the price I paid. The warranty work was done by a third party, and they were the ones who let me know what the issue was. And to be clear, I am not slagging Howa. Both they and the retailer stepped up without hesitation or argument to resolve the issue, and the third party that did the work was also quick to get it resolved and back to me. Yes, I did have to pay to ship it to get repaired and return shipping was covered by Howa, which I did not think was really right. But I wanted it back for spring bear season and that has been accomplished, so I can live with that.
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I have contacted HOWA too and they fobbed me off on their Canadian reps Northern Exposure Sporting Group.
Is that your experience as well?
Were they the ones that looked after you or did they put you over to CSC?
And did they cover shipping?
 
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