Howa Golden Bear

About the Howa Golden Bear

The Howa Golden Bear is a bolt-action hunting rifle produced by Japan's Howa Machinery, based on the Finnish Sako L61R 'Finnbear' action. Debuting at the 1967 SHOT Show in Chicago, it was Howa's first major sporting-rifle export to the United States, chambered for standard-length cartridges such as .30-06 Springfield and .270 Winchester. It features a hammer-forged steel barreled action, a walnut stock, and a hinged-floorplate internal magazine, and served as the direct forerunner of the enormously successful Howa Model 1500.

Before Howa became a household name for budget precision rifles, it entered the American market by cloning Finland's revered Sako Finnbear and badging it the Golden Bear, a rifle so well-built that its barreled action later reappeared under Smith & Wesson, Mossberg, and Weatherby labels.

Howa Golden Bear specifications

Roughly 3,000 Golden Bear rifles were exported to the U.S. market. The same barreled action was later sold under numerous brands, and the Golden Bear evolved into the Howa Model 1500, which is also marketed as the Smith & Wesson Model 1500, Mossberg 1500, and the OEM basis for the Weatherby Vanguard.