I recently purchased a L61R 338 win mag but the serial number on the rifle is far below the generally understood starting number for Sako's old 338 win mags. Specifcially, the serial number is 13644 - which matches the serial number on the bolt. It has "FINNBEAR made in Finland" with what I assume to be import markings on the left side of the barel and "Bofors Steel" on the right side. It also came with an old 2x7 redfield scope, which I'm kinda jazzed about, although I have no intention of using it; rather, I intend to send it off to one of those shops that refurbishes Redfields to see how much it will cost to get it up to snuff. The glass is clear and, magnification works well (a bit fuzzy at when maxed out at close range as all those old scopes were) at I have zero doubt it's been on the rifle since Christ was Corporal. Whomever owned it back in the day carved his hame inside the action along with what appears to be a phone number -albiet with letters as a prefex like it used to be back in the day.
Anyway, I'm just trying to get a sense of when this rifle was manfuactured. It has a few minor nicks and scraches on it (to be expected) although the photos I took make it look far more rough that it is. I haven't shot it yet but hope to do so this weekend - with 250 grain 338 ammo in short supply, i'm not going to go crazy with it but want to see if its worth hanging onto. Any info or advice would be much appreciated.
FYI - I know the white lettering isn't original but I'm pretty sure it can be removed easily enough.
Anyway, I'm just trying to get a sense of when this rifle was manfuactured. It has a few minor nicks and scraches on it (to be expected) although the photos I took make it look far more rough that it is. I haven't shot it yet but hope to do so this weekend - with 250 grain 338 ammo in short supply, i'm not going to go crazy with it but want to see if its worth hanging onto. Any info or advice would be much appreciated.
FYI - I know the white lettering isn't original but I'm pretty sure it can be removed easily enough.