Howa Superlite – Ultra-Compact Hunter

Howa has offered a wide variety of chamberings, actions, and stock designs for over a decade in the UK, and their popularity as a purposeful entry-level rifle has never waned. The Superlite is one of the few rifles that make an immediate impression from the moment you even carry the box, as it feels incredibly light. When you actually open the box, the dimensions also impress you, as this is definitely quite an unusual rifle from an ergonomic standpoint, which will immediately polarise opinion.

Super simple
Howas are made in Japan, and the blued barrel shows a neat crown and a well-machined 5/8”x28 UNEF thread. The initial barrel diameter is 16mm, with a square shoulder for a moderator to butt up to. The barrel has a light taper and measures just 16.5” (420mm) long, which is quite simply one of the key weight-saving features of this Superlite rifle. There is a slight lateral gap around the barrel walls within the carbon-fibre ‘Stocky’s Stock’ fore-end, although it does not truly free-float inside.
Howa barrels are screwed into the receiver, and this is the mini-length action with a perfect 100mm bolt stroke. There are two lugs enabling a 90-degree handle lift, and the push-feed face uses an M16-type extractor claw and sprung plunger ejector to withdraw and discard the fired brass. The bolt shaft diameter is also 16mm, and at the rear, the bolt shows a 50mm handle terminating with an 18mm ball to exert acceptable leverage when cycling the action.
Howa offers their adjustable HACT trigger and safety mechanism, whose folded steel lever sits to the rear right-hand side of the bolt handle. This is a three-position unit with the forward position as fire, the middle as safe with bolt operation, and the rearmost position locks the bolt completely.
The opposing side of the action features a bolt release lever, and the rear of the flat-backed shroud shows the central striker mechanism within the outer surrounding black shroud, enabling visual and tactile perception of the action’s condition.

Going underground
Switching to the underside of the rifle, you can see the polymer floorplate insert, which envelops the trigger and magazine. The adjustable two-stage trigger breaks at 1280gr, and the vertical serrated blade offers a shallow curve and 95% crisp break on the second stage. There is ample space for larger or gloved fingers within the trigger guard, and ahead of it is the recessed magazine release catch. This audibly disengages the three-shot magazine, which drops a couple of millimetres from the bottom metal, but you need to extract it with your fingertips as it is not sprung to release from the gun, nor will it drop under its own weight as the polymer construction is, again, lightweight. The magazine is a single-column unit, so it must be removed from the gun to load ammunition, which slots in one at a time from the front.

Proportionally scaled
Howa’s mini action is supplied with a Picatinny rail screwed to the receiver in four places for scope mounting. When flipped over, you can see two underside Torx screws spanning the bottom metal. When these are unscrewed, the action can be removed for inspection or maintenance. It’s a flat-bottomed action, and the rear screw threads into the tang, while the front screw threads into the base of the rectangular recoil lug, which fits into a machined inlet within the carbon-fibre stock’s central void, allowing recoil to transfer in a linear fashion to the shooter. Everything is neatly machined, but it should be noted that the Superlite’s stock bends slightly into position against the base of the physically stiffer steel receiver as you re-tighten the screws, so this isn’t a perfectly stress-free junction.

Sling it
Sling studs are presented on the fore-end’s underside and similarly under the tapered butt. The length of pull is 13.25” (338mm), which is relatively short, and the slim recoil pad is a Limbsaver unit with one spacer installed. There are two screws holding the butt pad in place, so it’s realistically possible to add more spacers to increase the length of pull, although none were supplied. The stock’s lines are conventional, and it is attractive with a brown, green, and buff splatter pattern over the still-visible and tactile weave of the carbon-fibre. No chequering is present anywhere on the rifle, although the finish is matte and retains some grip with dry hands. The grip itself shows an open radius and is quite small, plus there is a slight bilateral palm swell. The reach to the trigger is correspondingly short as well.

Feeling relieved
Having a Picatinny rail always makes scope mounting easier, as you get more versatility when it comes to positioning the scope. I was immediately pleased to find the mini action was not swamped by a medium-sized scope, and I had no issue obtaining the correct eye relief, although I did find myself physically pushing my shoulder forward to meet the recoil pad. I used three ammunition types with the gun and shot three-shot groups at 100m. (See Ammo Table).

Physical proportions
At 5ft 11”, an average height, I appreciate the low weight, though it does compromise the gun’s size and barrel length, affecting ballistic capability. It was no surprise to see the short barrel, which is 6” shorter than the average for a sporting rifle, led to significant velocity loss and reduced muzzle energy, but there were upsides. If you have always struggled with guns that were too large, this is the perfect choice for you, and I really liked the fact that the scaled action with modest 100mm bolt travel wasn’t too close to my face. I could still operate the bolt without moving my head and without fear of bumping my face, which is not the case for a lot of actions whose bolt travels up to 125mm when cycling to reload. The 50mm bolt handle was also correctly scaled for smooth operation without over-levering the bolt shaft and creating jams. The rounds fed smoothly from the magazine and entered the chamber via the feed ramp without issues. Firing was reliable with solid firing pin strikes, and the primary extraction and ejection of cases were trouble-free. Single rounds dropped into the ejection port and loaded smoothly in a backup situation, and the magazine operation was quiet, without damaging the brass or bullets. It also clips securely into the rifle without difficulty. It would be nice if it sprang out of its well a little more, but it’s possible to grasp it with fingertips, though this will naturally be a little harder when wearing gloves.
Accuracy was acceptable for a hunting rifle of these specifications, although the lightweight structure of the stock requires a little more finesse than a rifle with a broader, more rigid fore-end and full free-float. Similarly, the short barrel and low weight did result in more noticeable muzzle jump, although this was significantly calmed by the weight of the moderator. As a result, I believe this rifle is better suited for .243 or Creedmoor, as the 7mm or .308 calibres would likely be very lively and harder to control for shooters fitting this stock size.
I set the rifle up with the supplied components, and the scope was OK for me, but for a smaller shooter with a smaller head and face, lower scope mounts and perhaps even separate rings or bases might be preferable to promote a better-supported head position on the stock. However, this would mean a compromise when it comes to the clearance between the ocular body and the bolt handle.

Conclusion
This isn’t the gun for me, but it would be perfect for shooters who appreciate the low weight and correctly scaled dimensions throughout the rifle’s architecture. Although advertised as the Superlite, I think a better label would be the ‘Ultra-Compact Hunter’, but in the days of language sensitivities, who are we to decide? Just make sure you consider all the technical details, and not just the name! I have used other similarly adapted rifles designed for small shooters and often found that one specific component still seemed grossly oversized and unsuitable, so the fact that Howa has got this one correct in seemingly every relevant dimension is to be congratulated.