How true to the Finnbear are the Vanguards?

Huh:confused: As far as I know Howa has never had anything to do with sako. They have made rifles for weatherby/smith and wesson/mossberg but never sako. I believe that to be true but I will be the first to admit I don't know everything.
 
I believe Howa had a copy of the Sako design, but not the Vanguard model. Not sure if the threads were ever the same...

As some are aware, the Japanese firm of Howa (now markets their own bolt design, also marketed as Weatherby Vanguard) produced a knock-off of the Sako L61R back in the 1960's. It was called the Golden Bear (close enough to Finnbear). Urban legend has it that there was a successful international patent lawsuit brought by Sako which shut down Howa's production.

There are a few of these still floating around, and I was able to pick one up a few months ago. It appears very well made, and is so identical to a Sako of the same vintage that it's scary. The bolts interchange and fit like a glove. Everything else is, in both appearance and diminsion right down to the stock contours, essentially a L61R.

The major difference is that the Howa has an alloy trigger guard-floorplate, and the shape of the safety button is very slightly different. The trigger itself is as good as any Sako and breaks like glass at as little as two pounds. The blue is fully as good as Sako. The stock on mine has been refinished, but exhibits some excellent European-looking walnut.

Mine does have a small chip missing from the bolt guide that doesn't affect function, but this appears to be the result of having been dropped or otherwise traumatized, and not from poor metallurgy. Accuracy has not been quite as good as most Sakos, however this may be a result of the reworked stock and might be improved with a little bedding work
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As far as the L61R and the Vanguard they are very close, I've had one of each apart together a couple times...stocks inletting is very close providing we are talking long action Vanguard...bottom metal is close but not an exact fit. Basic receiver design is very close.

It's not hard to see that Howa used a lot of the Sako design in the Vanguard.

Even the firing pin assembly is retained in the bolt exactly the same way as the Sako.

The extractor is more like an M16 than a Sako but they work the same way.
 
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