• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

What rifles other than sako's do you hunt with?

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

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Thanks gunner620.

Hi iwanna, I agree, fine rifles. I've owned a couple over the years too and find them very comfortable to shoot as their fit, quality, weight and design all seem to work together to make for instinctive use. I love my Sako too for exactly the same reasons.

Here, in Australia, the Sauers seem to be well respected but their initial cost is quite high for an everyday hunting weapon. Secondhand prices are also a little high.

For example, a secondhand standard Sauer 202 would probably be advertised for a similar price as a new Sako 85. The proper secondhand Takedown Sauer 202 would be still twice the price of a new standard Sako 85. In my own estimation, that makes a new Sako 85 a real bargain here in Australia. After all, a new Sako 85 is a real quality package.

Is it a similar situation in the USA? Perhaps a secondhand Sauer may be a better buy?
 
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Some very nice rigs there guys. I like the look of the .240 wby 7mmmagnum.

Its interesting in the thread that a lot of the calibers are non-sako chambering's. 7x61, 8x68, .240 wby etc. I sometimes wonder why the early bofors sako's where never offered in cals like 6.5x55, 7x57, 8x68, 9.3x62 etc as they where popular in Europe at the time I would have thought. I also thought they would have done a .257 Roberts considering the US was their main market.
 
Rumor has it that the L57 was produced in .257 Roberts, but I've talked to our leader Jim (L61R) about that and he believes that information is erroneous. The L57 and L579 magazine is just a tad shorter, by about .08" or so, than the Rem 722 and Rem 700 magazines, so the .257 is very crowded in that action. I've seen a few L579's rebarreled to .257R, but the bullets have to be seated very deep. (While the .244 has the same length case, bullets for the .257 are usually a bit longer since the 117 grain bullet has always been the "standby" game bullet in this round. If you've ever fired a 100 grain bullet in a Sako .244 you know that they are shoved way down in the case.)

By the time the L61R (overly long for the .257R, anyway) was introduced in 1961, the Roberts popularity had declined greatly due to the .243 Win and .244 Rem. So I can understand Sako never chambering it.

As to the other calibers, well, one of our members has published a photo of his 7x57 L61R; and it appears that Sako may have made some very limited runs of other European cartridges for the European market, so there are possibly some Sakos for the rounds you mention floating around somewhere in Europe. Sako did chamber the 8x60 in its Mauser-actioned rifle, and may have carried that over to the L61R.

However, once Sako and Jan Winter got together, Sako could easily see that its bread and butter was the U.S. market, so other markets and their favored calibers understandably took a back seat.
 
Gary Fountain said:
Thanks gunner620.

Hi iwanna, I agree, fine rifles. I've owned a couple over the years too and find them very comfortable to shoot as their fit, quality, weight and design all seem to work together to make for instinctive use. I love my Sako too for exactly the same reasons.

Here, in Australia, the Sauers seem to be well respected but their initial cost is quite high for an everyday hunting weapon. Secondhand prices are also a little high.

For example, a secondhand standard Sauer 202 would probably be advertised for a similar price as a new Sako 85. The proper secondhand Takedown Sauer 202 would be still twice the price of a new standard Sako 85. In my own estimation, that makes a new Sako 85 a real bargain here in Australia. After all, a new Sako 85 is a real quality package.

Is it a similar situation in the USA? Perhaps a secondhand Sauer may be a better buy?
Click to expand...

The Sauer 202 "ain't your father's Oldsmobile" to borrow an old advertising slogan. Very sophisticated re-think of a bolt-action rifle. As I recall, when they were first introduced back in the 90's they began getting some real notice--and then the price abruptly doubled.

I'd hate to sell one on GunBroker. They seem to get killed on on what few open auctions I've seen. If the seller holds his price with a high/fair opening bid, the rifle sits forever. I think that's because of brand-name recognition and maybe collector status. Everybody has heard of Sako. They may mis-pronounce it, but at least they've heard of it.
 
iwanna said:
Everybody has heard of Sako. They may mis-pronounce it, but at least they've heard of it.
Click to expand...

I don't think it is possible to mispronounce "Sako". It is an acronym, meaning a word formed from the initials of other words (in this case the initials of what translates roughly to English as "Finnish Civil Guard Armory"). Acronyms are pronounced according to the rules of whatever language you're speaking in.

For example "Laser" stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of electromagnetic Radiation" (not sure which of the "e's" was dropped for simplicity.) Everyone in the English-speaking world pronounces it with a long "a", as in "Lay-zer". Similarly, in English the word "Sako" would be pronounced with a long "a" as in "Say-ko" or "Sake-oh". In many other languages such as Spanish where all "a's" are pronounced as "ah", it would be "Sah-ko" or as some would pronounce it, "Sock-o".

So pronounce it as you wish; just don't put a "Le-o-pold" scope on it.:p
 
Oh, I agree with you there, Stonecreek. I'm not usually much of a stickler, anyway. "Le-o-pold" does grate a bit though.
 
stonecreek said:
I don't think it is possible to mispronounce "Sako". It is an acronym, meaning a word formed from the initials of other words (in this case the initials of what translates roughly to English as "Finnish Civil Guard Armory"). Acronyms are pronounced according to the rules of whatever language you're speaking in.

For example "Laser" stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of electromagnetic Radiation" (not sure which of the "e's" was dropped for simplicity.) Everyone in the English-speaking world pronounces it with a long "a", as in "Lay-zer". Similarly, in English the word "Sako" would be pronounced with a long "a" as in "Say-ko" or "Sake-oh". In many other languages such as Spanish where all "a's" are pronounced as "ah", it would be "Sah-ko" or as some would pronounce it, "Sock-o".

So pronounce it as you wish; just don't put a "Le-o-pold" scope on it.:p
Click to expand...

Well, thanks for that, stonecreek. I found out about Sako's when I joined the California Varmint Callers Association in 1964. Sako was the favorite rifle of the great majority of the club members and all of pronounced it Sayko so I've been pronouncing it that way for the past 60 years and I don't want to change.

However.........since Leopold is located within 20 miles of my house and I have one on all of my rifles plus a couple of extras I have to take offense at any pronunciation other than Loupold or Lewpold. Some Oregonians will actually correct you. I won't, tho. I'll just take into account that you may be a foreigner or a flatlander.
 
BTW, LASER is short for Light Amplified by Stimulated Emissions of Radiation. As a telephone engineer designing fiber optic systems I had to learn all about the subject.
 
Enfield No 5 Mk 1 Jungle Carbine

I can't say I have hunted with this beauty yet but I intend to. I bought this Enfield No 5 Mk 1 (aka Jungle Carbine) for a very reasonable price a few years ago. Today I finally got round to removing the abortion of a scope (a monster fake Leupold) and scope rail and mounted an original 800 yd ladder sight I found on ebay.au. You can flip between the ladder and a wider aperture battle sight which is pretty cool.

The rifle now looks really neat and will make a great bush gun. The guy who sold me the sights (and shoots .303s competitively) reckons they like light fast pills and that the "wandering zero" is just a myth. So I have loaded up a test ladder of 125gr Sierra Prohunters and will head to the range after Easter to see if my tired old eyes can still use peep sights. There is something about shooting a gun with a lot of history behind it. And my first rifle was a .303 too - a No 1 Mk III. - David


P1010843 (Small).JPG

800yd ladder sight erected P1010837 (Small).JPG

Battle sight erected P1010836 (Small).JPG
 
My favorite hunting rifle is the accurate rifle, and since Sakos are notoriously accurate rifles I call them my favorites. But others are accurate as well and I enjoy carrying them too. Now when hunting in a tangle of brush or laurel I like my little Remington 600 Vent Rib in .308. No, it's not a quality rifle and yes, it is absurd in appearance, but it shoots as far as I can see when I'm in a thicket and that isn't real far. When shooting hundreds of yards over fields a favorite non-Sako of mine is a Ruger No.1 in .300 Roy. Another go-to is a Browning Safari in .284, a rifle I've owned for 40 years.
 
IMG_6689.JPG
Not a "Sahko" …but still a winner. Ruger 77/22 Hornet SS laminated.
If it were a Sako I couldn't have afforded it.
Last winter I worked up a hand load for groundhogs.
Today I went out for walk after sighting in.
I didn't get any shots but I am confident.
 
I kind of like those Remington 600's. No need to be a snob, right?

Yeah, that's about as practical as it gets where I hunt--all brush. I've often considered pistol hunting for deer, I'll put it that way.
 
Since this thread has been revived I'll mention another non-Sako favorite of mine. I have a Mini Mark X (Zastava) action with a custom stainless barrel in a laminated stock chambered in .221 Fireball. The little Mini Mark X is a kind of "poor man's" Sako L461 -- a bit rougher, but quite functional. I don't know who put the little rifle together or what the make of the barrel. All I know is that it shoots "lights out" and I bought it for a song. Everyone who has ever shot it wishes he could put it on a Xerox machine and make himself a duplicate. But even it is part Sako: The factory trigger just couldn't be tamed, so I mounted a Sako #4 on it and now have a 2-pounder that's as crisp as they come.

Just yesterday I was working with a high grade rifle built on an FN Mauser. Now, I know that the FN is a favorite of lots of shooters, but to me it just doesn't compare in user friendliness to a Sako L61R.
 
Yes, those Zastava Mini Mausers are great! I notice that the local Fleet Farm store had lots of new ones at a very tempting price point. Brand-new for under $500.00. Walnut stock. Metal work was probably a little less than refined. The wood had kind of a military finish, which I liked. .223 caliber.
 
You know.... it always feels so good being is the woods with a Sako. But I have a few peaches I "hate to love to" take to the field, because i spend more time making sure it stays a peach than hunting. That is why when I found one of the MR Mountian eagles in 270 cal., wearing a rugged BC stock. I found peace as a Sako hunter. All the safe Queens will stay in their seats at ease.

Of course, I have a few 700s I cut teeth on and they shoot great too. but you can't beat the balance, weight, and the pop of good optics mount tight to the bofors steal. The queens get there range trips, but I try to keep them out of the woods. Only for special occasions. Well back to work.

Lee
 
My go to gun is a SAVAGE 99 - 300 sav that I got for Christmas when I was 16 so I've had it now for 47 years now, it's like a part of me. Also use Win 71 348, and Win 94 in 7-30 waters, I try to cycle through the rifles altering which one I use from hunting trip to hunting trip.
 
The Savage 99 has been on many a farm for a lot of years. They remain among the favorites here in North Carolina. My daughter owns a Pawn Shop and she has a few on the rack from an estate we bought. One a 300 Savage, and a 284 Win. I recently bought a Remington model 8 in 35Remington. What a canon... I fired a few of those 200 gr slugs and immediately knew why they drop game in their tracks. I have become a Remington fan over the years. Fewer Winchesters made it to my must have list. I have always been interested in guns that shot accurately. I have a few that will never achieve collectable status... those will pass from my hands soon. More Sako's in my future I hope.
 
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