SmallCaliberCentral

I have a Howa 1500 Heavy Barrel, .204 to start loading for. If any other 1500HB loaders would want to share their best loads it might save me some time and effort in load development.

I think I've found the best way (or rather the cheapest, which to me is best) to get a fantastic rifle. I ordered the 1500 heavy barreled action (blue), cost was $350 including tax and shipping. I've got a custom laminated stock ordered, but in the mean time I got a nice Boyd's Walnut stock off e-bay for $22 including shipping. So I got A brand new heavy barrel Howa 1500 in 204 Ruger for $372. How's that for a deal?

Greetings and thanks for any help.
Dan

Welcome to the forums Dan!

That's a heck of deal.

i have a howa 1500 heavy barrel that came with a hogue synthetic stock. i am able to get 5 shot groups down to .490. the load i am using is 27.2 gr. benchmark powder behind a 32gr vmax, with ww small rifle primers. seating bullets at .020 off the lands. as far as all the other things i see on this forum about dies, neck turning to within .001, uniforming flash holes, bullet run out and such, i don't worry to much about. i am not a paper puncher, nor do i ever plan to be. i bought the rifle for shooting prairie dogs, and i want to shoot at some longer ranges than i feel comfortable shooting with my .223, hopefully 500 + yards.
also, before i settled on the benchmark and 32 gr bullets, i did have purty good luck with h335 powder, 26.7 gr and 40 gr vmax w/ wsr primers.
good luck, have fun and be careful.

That is a good deal on the Howa rifle Dan. I can't help you out on a load as I shoot a savage. But welcome to the forum and let us know how she shoots when you fine your load for it.

If you look thru the "Favorite loads sticky" at the top of this page, you can probably find a load that makes your rifle really happy. It's the distilled knowledge of most of the posters here, and that adds up to a lot of smarts (excluding myself in that )
I've had pretty good luck with H-322 and the 32 VMax with my Savage, and the same load shoots well in my CZ, too, along with anything using Benchmark powder. For the heavier bullets, my best results have come with H-4895. I won't give the charges, since finding the "best load" is rifle specific. You shouldn't have any problem finding a "shooter" load for workhorse duties, just about anything listed is reasonably good.