Howa Mini Action 22 ARC Rifle: Predator Prepared

Though I’ve been fortunate enough to hunt in some far corners of the globe, I’ve lived my entire life in the southeastern United States. Growing up in Florida chasing feral hogs, predators and relatively small deer, I learned the virtues of a light and handy .22 centerfire as a utilitarian rifle. In those days we were hampered by slow rifling twists and bullets intended for varmint hunting but, as a handloader, I was able to make do. Today we have cartridges and rifles specifically designed for this type of duty. The new Howa Mini Action Yote chambered in .22 ARC is just such a rig.

Howa is one of the few rifle manufacturers in the industry building a bolt action that is appropriately scaled for cartridges at the smaller end of the centerfire spectrum. Howa’s 1500 Mini action weighs just 10.2 ounces with a bolt that is 6 inches long. This petite receiver is a perfect fit for Hornady’s new .22 ARC.

The .22 Advanced Rifle Cartridge (ARC) was created in the wake of the highly successful 6 ARC, a cartridge designed to maximize the performance of an AR-15-sized receiver. The .22 ARC is basically a 6 ARC necked-down to .224. With a maximum overall length of 2.260 inches, the .22 ARC is no longer than a .223 Remington but, thanks to its larger case diameter and overall geometry, it has roughly 17% more powder capacity. Unlike most .22 centerfires on the market, the .22 ARC was designed to work with long, heavy-for-caliber bullets with high ballistic coefficients. The bottom line is, where it’s legal and with common sense bullet choices, the .22 ARC is a perfectly viable deer cartridge at reasonable distances.

Having spent some time afield and on the range with the Howa Mini in 6 ARC, I was excited to get my hands on the .22 ARC version soon after it was announced. This rifle weighs in right at 6 pounds with a 20-inch steel barrel. The overall length is 39.5 inches so it is compact and handy.

Behind the Action

The Howa Mini Action is a push-feed design that uses a two-lug bolt. The bottom of the action is flat which provides a nice bedding surface. There is a three-position safety that allows the user to lock down the bolt so that it is not inadvertently pushed out of position during a hunt. In the middle position, the bolt can be cycled with the rifle on “safe.” The Mini uses an M16-style extractor and a plunger-type ejector. Three gas ports on the bottom side of the bolt vent propellant gases away from the shooter’s face in the event of a case failure.

The barrel is of a lightweight contour, measuring .575 at the muzzle. The 1:7 rifling twist is capable of stabilizing the heaviest of bullets, including Hornady’s 88-gr. ELD-M and the 90-gr. A-Tip. The muzzle is threaded ½-28 and capped with a thread protector. Most centerfire suppressors use a larger 5/8-24 thread, but this barrel doesn’t have enough meat for that thread pattern. A thread adaptor can be used and certain suppressors, such as Silencer Central’s Banish .223, will thread right on.

Since this rifle is just about ideal for chasing coyotes, the stock is hydro-dipped with Thunder Mountain Camo’s Yote pattern. It is basically a photographic image of coyote fur that covers the stock’s exterior. If you think about how well a coyote blends in with its surroundings, the fur-camo idea makes sense. It’s hard to beat Mother Nature. The stock itself is injection-molded and has traditional sporter lines and a distinctive flared grip. Textured panels are molded in at the grip and forend positions to provide a nonslip surface. Standard sling swivels are located front and rear and the stock is finished off with a 1-inch soft rubber recoil pad.

The Mini uses a two-stage trigger called the Howa Actuator Controlled Trigger (HACT). Our test sample’s trigger broke at 4.2 pounds which is a bit on the heavy side for my taste. Though many hobbyists have lightened HACT triggers by trimming the internal springs, the easy button is to simply order an aftermarket trigger from an outfit such as Timney. This rifle uses a simple but functional polymer trigger guard and “bottom metal” unit that houses a detachable-box magazine. The magazine release is located forward of the magazine well.

Ballistics

Our rifle shipped with a set of Talley lightweight 1-inch rings that I used to mount a Maven 3-12x40mm scope for our testing. We used two factory loads, both from Hornady: their Superformance product with the 70-gr. monolithic CX and the V-Match load that uses the 62-gr. ELD-VT. The CX would be my first choice for deer and hogs, while the ELD-VT would be ideal for coyotes and bobcats. The ELD-VT bullet was built to mimic the excellent drag characteristics of Hornady’s long-range bullets but in a lighter-weight payload that allows for impressive velocity. This is a great example of some of the cutting-edge work that Hornady’s ballisticians are doing.

Since the .22 ARC was designed to work in semi-auto rifles, it has a maximum pressure spec of 52,000 psi. In a bolt-action rifle such as the Howa, Hornady provides load data that cranks the power up to 62,000 psi which results in significant velocity gains. I used some fired cases from my first range trip to handload a box of 62 gr. ELD-VTs using the bolt-action load data. With a near-maximum charge of Hodgdon’s LEVERevolution powder, I was able to push them to an average velocity of 3,494 fps, more than 250 fps faster than the factory load using the same bullet. That is impressive speed out of a 20-inch barrel.

To put these ballistics in perspective, that 62-gr. ELD-VT handload would drop 6.47 MOA (33 inches) at 500 yards. A M855 “green tip” bullet of identical weight fired out of a .223 Remington with the same barrel length would drop 9.7 MOA (50 inches) at the same distance. With a full-value 10 mile per hour wind, the .22 ARC drifts 3.2 MOA (17 inches) while the .223 drifts 5.2 MOA (27 inches). In this case, the combination of increased powder capacity and bullets with superior drag characteristics produce demonstrable and meaningful reductions in both bullet drop and wind drift. Though ballistic dials can go a long way toward mitigating bullet drop, flat shooting cartridges can save a hunt when a coyote comes in fast and there’s no time for a correction. Flat-shooting cartridges are also a huge advantage when night hunting since range estimation can be so challenging under those conditions.

I spent a good deal of time at the bench to test the potential of this setup. The Mini shot reasonably well right out of the gate, but suffered a malady that is nearly universal on rifles with injection-molded stocks. In every three-shot group, two of the rounds would almost touch on target while a third would land an inch or so away. This tells me that the barrel and receiver are capable of far better performance than the stock will allow. Though 1 MOA is nothing to sneeze at, I’m confident that greatness is close by. There are two solutions: stiffen the internals of the factory stock using an appropriate bedding compound or replace the stock with a more rigid aftermarket option.

Customization

Those who know me recognize that I’m not great at leaving things alone, especially when it comes to firearms. I own very few rifles that haven’t been tweaked in some way, some are downright unrecognizable from their original form. When I got my hands on this rifle, I asked editor in chief David Draper if I could do a follow-up article to this one. The plan is simple: I’m going to write a check for this rifle and customize it until it’s exactly the way that I want it.  It doesn’t need much and the price tag will be modest. The result will be a budget-friendly “custom” rifle that can be assembled with a minimal level of skill and very little in the way of specialized tools.

All of that said, this was an impressive rifle straight from the factory. The Howa Mini .22 ARC is a lightweight and compact rifle in a chambering that makes a great deal of practical sense. Recoil is light, even without a suppressor. As a dedicated predator rifle, a walking varmint rig, a youth hunting rifle or as a truck gun, this rifle would be difficult to beat.

Howa Mini Action 22 ARC Specs

• Type: Bolt-action centerfire repeater
• Caliber: .22 ARC (tested)
• Barrel: 20 inches, 1:7 twist, threaded 1/2-28
• Weight: 6 pounds, 0 ounces
• Capacity: 4+1
• Stock: Synthetic
• Finish: Matte blue
• Sights: None. Drilled and tapped receiver
• Safety: Three-position
• Trigger: Two-stage, 4.2 pounds
• MSRP: $539
• Manufacturer: Howa, legacysports.com

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