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Dickson Howa Golden Bear repair

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25 September 2014, 10:53
35whelenman
Dickson Howa Golden Bear repair
Gents,

For years now, my father has had a DH Golden Bear in .30-06 sitting in his gun cabinet with a broken trigger guard. It doesn't seem right to leave a .30-06 in such shape, but I have run into some major roadblocks in trying to figure out how to fix this.

The trigger guard assembly is made of aluminum, so must be completely replaced. From what I've read, this rifle should be able to interchange parts with either a Sako L61R or Howa 1500. However, the Golden Bear's magazine and trigger guard assembly are all one piece, not separate pieces like the Sako or Howa.

Has anyone ever had this same issue and fixed it? Do any of you all know if I can buy a trigger guard assembly and magazine housing from Sako or Howa and fit them to the Golden Bear? Since the Golden Bear's magazine was part of the trigger guard assembly I don't know if this means the bottom of the receiver would have different dimensions than a Sako or Howa.

I'd really love to get this rifle out of the gun safe with something other than duct tape on the trigger guard, but cannot find any hard answers. And with Sako trigger guards selling for well over $200 USD, I'd like to know if they might work before I order one.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
25 September 2014, 19:11
butchloc
if you can't find a replacement the guard portion can be remade and tig'd together. even easier if you have the broken piece
25 September 2014, 23:04
35whelenman
I believe the broken piece is still sitting on a shelf.

But I'm sorry I'm not tracking on how it could be tig'd together. My natural skill set is geared more towards breaking things than fixing them so I don't quite understand how it could be repaired.

I am under the impression that the aluminum assembly could welded or reworked in anyway.
25 September 2014, 23:05
35whelenman
spelling error there. Last sentence should have read 'aluminum assembly COULD NOT be welded'
25 September 2014, 23:20
ramrod340
Aluminum can be TIG welded. Look around you will notice a lot of Aluminum that is welded together.

If you have all the pieces get a quality TIG welder to put it back together. It would probably need a touch of smoothing. Then you can paint it or have it anodized.


As usual just my $.02
Paul K
25 September 2014, 23:42
igorrock
quote:
The Dickson-Howa Golden Bear is a copy of the Sako Finnbear. Dickson was a US importer who brought the Howa rifle in from Japan. The Howa is a good rifle and the Golden Bear is the same as a Smith and Wesson Model 1500 or Mossberg Model 1500. The Weatherby Vanguard is also very similar.



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26 September 2014, 10:13
35whelenman
Thank you, much appreciated.