What’s wrong with this picture

[bloorooster]

A gun buddy of mine got himself a nice L46, he’s had it for a while. He recently decided to get it out and shoot it, but he was having trouble with the scope mounts?!?

The Old Hippie

 

[stonecreek]

That reminds me of an old cartoon or spoof of a Western Movie where the greenhorn puts the saddle on the horse backwards and rides off that way.

 

[bloorooster]

The first thing I asked him was which way the scope was pointing!
Hippie

 

[paulsonconstruction]

Amazing!!! Where I'm from they call that "ass jack backwards".

 

[bloorooster]

Now in my buddy’s defense, he bought the gun this way. He didn’t notice it until he tried to mount his scope.
For the life of me...how could anyone think any of it was the way it should be? Nothing seems to me to be as simple as everything this guy overlooked!
He used grease inside the bases and beat those babies until they sprung and warped outward. Used the top side set screw to hold it in place. I was kind of surprised it didn’t mar the knurling on the dovetails.
Fully surprised he didn’t split the stock like firewood.


the old hippie

 

[kevinlg]

There's a first time for everything...........sadly.

But........I once bought an L461 actioned rifle from a "noted" gunwriter.

When I pulled the scope, with Conetrol rings, off of the bases.........the rear base actually FELL off of the receiver.

Note: This gunwriter had gotten much magazine print mileage, from the rifle, prior to selling to me. How he ever got it "on target/paper" is beyond me!!

 

[icebear]

As they say in Melanesia, "Disfala gun, him bagarap!"

 

[bloorooster]

If anyone has a similar story to relate, please feel free to chime in!
If anyone has a similar situation please remain calm and someone will be here shortly to help you.

I get stuff like this all the time. All my gun trading buddies have learned that I have Sako Rifles for a good reason. When someone acquires one around in proximity, I usually end up hearing from them to answer FAQ’s . I don’t mind but sometimes I have to laugh!

join in the fun!

The old hippie

 

[Chrisss31]

Those mounts with the set screws on top make me cringe... Even if the dimples were covered up by the mounts I'd still know they were there!

 

[bloorooster]

I’ve removed them from many rifles, believe it or not , the set screws had not left any damage. Redfield mounts are a decent mount and I’m not sure but I get the feeling that they may be ok to use without the set screws after a few shots to pound them into place. Some take a few good whacks to remove.
I never found out as I replace them all with Sako ring mounts

Hippie

 

[Chrisss31]

I would suspect you’re correct about not needing them. I’ve seen a few otherwise nice guns with little rings on the receiver from over tightening those set screws.

 

[icebear]

There has been a lot of discussion on this subject on the forum. Solutions include replacing the set screws with brass, putting a piece of lead birdshot under the screw to keep it from marring the surface. and locking the screw in place with Loctite so it can't be tightened against the base. Redfield rings don't have the set screws, except for maybe some very old ones. Many of the clones by Burris, Leupold, Buehler, etc. do have set screws, as is also the case with Conetrol, Stith, and B&L/Kuharsky setups.

I've been successful in cleaning up those round marks with brushes, scribers, fine files, and cold blue, but you you can only mitigate the damage, not fix it completely.

And if you want to see a Sako scope base that's really messed up, I found this hidden under the Sako rings on a custom L579 I got through Gunbroker. Some idiot had made a Mickey Mouse arrangement to lock the rings in place, permanently defacing the base. They drilled holes in the bases and put pins in the rings to match the holes. The pin in the rear ring replaced the existing pin, and they drilled a hole rather than use the existing recess. The whole thing was so sloppily done that the holes weren't even centered. You couldn't tell by looking at the gun because everything was hidden under the rings. I ground the new pins off the rings so they could be used, and by careful positioning I was able to hide the damage when I mounted a different scope. The custom gun had been built by Atkinson & Marquart, a top-tier custom builder of the 1970's, so obviously the damage was done after the gun left A&M. For the moment I have Sako rings on it; if I decide to sell it I'll replace them with Redfield bases that cover the damage. If I decide to keep it I'll probably install Conetrol rings and bases.

 

[bloorooster]

OMG

Hippie

 

[bloorooster]

Jeez!
We need a don’t like button! What a horrible thing to do..to any gun at all , let alone Sako!
My first L46 was kinda like that, it had Sako rings on it with an old Weaver K8. I won it on GB as well and didn’t pay much at all for it.. under $700. I broke it all down for a clean up and found it had been drilled and tapped, hidden under the ring mounts . I put it all back together and shot it for 2-3 years. It shot extremely well so I forgot about it. Traded it off later at a gun show, still not remembering!

Sometimes forgetful Hippie

 

[Deleted member 14372]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[icebear]

it had been drilled and tapped, hidden under the ring mounts .

That's nowhere near as bad. A 6-48 hole isn't huge, and you can put in a filler screw. If you're handy with a file and the hole and the checkering are oriented just right, you could even score the top of the filler screw to match the checkering, hit it with cold blue, and that would partially camouflage the damage. The value of the gun would still be affected, but maybe not too much. Not a thing you can do with the bridges on my custom, unless someone with advanced skills were to fill them in with silver solder and then finish them off to match the contour and checkering. Not a task I would take on.

 

[stonecreek]

One of the good things about the Redfield-type bases is that they can cover a multitude of sins which have been committed to the dovetails -- including the sins inflicted by their own set screws. By the way, when using the Redfield/Burris bases you can almost always use a ring one step lower than otherwise recommended since the rings sit atop the bases which sit atop the dovetails. I have a 40mm Leupold mounted on an L61R in the Redfield "extra low" rings and the objective sits beautifully just a hair off of the barrel.

One "legitimate" alteration to the Sako dovetails is drilling and tapping the front dovetail for an old-fashioned spring-style Unertl or B&L target scope base. Unfortunately, these rifles will also have two holes D&T on the barrel. Such a modification is not desirable in a used Sako, but it is at least understandable.

 

[gowyo]

Friends don't let friends gunsmith while drunk. This thread makes me want to hurl.

 

[icebear]

One of the good things about the Redfield-type bases is that they can cover a multitude of sins which have been committed to the dovetails -- including the sins inflicted by their own set screws.

The same could be said for B&L/Kuharsky, Stith, Conetrol, EAW, Australian Tasco, and Optilock mounts. For that matter, Weaver mounts also cover the damage, but I know that you and I are in agreement that the Weaver mounts for Sako are an abomination.

 

[bigcountry4me]

The same could be said for B&L/Kuharsky, Stith, Conetrol, EAW, Australian Tasco, and Optilock mounts. For that matter, Weaver mounts also cover the damage, but I know that you and I are in agreement that the Weaver mounts for Sako are an abomination.

Abomination - “ a thing that causes disgust or hatred”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

In fact, I just removed a pair of these abominable (causing moral revulsion) Weaver mounts off of an L579 I picked up. When I was driving home I kept looking over at the rifle and saying “I’m sorry, I will fix this as soon as I get home”.

As a joke I was going to offer these to any member free, postage paid. But I knew nobody, I mean nobody, would desecrate a Sako this way. Therefore, these will be forever sacrificed to the landfill. I don’t even want to recycle these as they don’t deserve such treatment. Thanks…..