Howa brought the machinery from Sako for making sporting bolt action rifles, they thought they also brought the manufacturing rights to the Sako Finnbear model as well and started to produce Howa copies of the Finnbear before Sako threatened legal action and they stopped, some of these rifles come up for sale in the USA. They then brought out the 1500M model, although they re-badged the action for other big companies including Smith and Weston and Weatherby. The receiver is very similar in design to the pre 75 Sako models with a flat bottom and integral recoil lug. However the 3 rings of safety is like the Remington 700, but that is all it has in common with that model, the one piece bolt is far better designed than the remmy.