Ilves My little litter of rescues

[Paul Red Rock]

Just wanted to share some pictures of some of the Sako Ilves rifles we have been able to rescue so far. I have truly fallen in love with the Sako rimfires and I hope that some of these more roughly treated little guys could maybe get the TLC that they deserve.

One of them is actually in pretty nice condition and one of them I am not even sure is an actual Sako. So I was hoping if someone with more knowledge about them could help me out a bit.



Apparently the Ilves rifles seem to have the rear diopter sight missing quite often as well.




Also one of them has what seems to be a Tikkakoski barrel as well, and a scope mount over the part that would say Sako on it.

Then this last one seems to have a very similar action as the rest but the rear sight is different. It is registered here in Finland as a Sako Ilves, so I don't know what it's story fully is yet.


Anyways, thought some of you might know something or have some insight on this topic, or if nothing else, at least enjoy seeing some fun little pieces of Sako history.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

I find the stocks on these rifles to be the most interesting aspect. No two seem to be the same on the couple dozen I have seen pictures of. It's like the owners carved on them for a "personal fit". I have little knowledge about their use, so anybody out there that does please ad your thoughts!

 

[bloorooster]

Interesting that the barrel contours vary as well. Some are rather light!
Light .. on the other hand..is not the category we are looking for in this application
An Ilves would be a super addition to anyone’s collection!

 

[Jeeps-And-Guns]

That is awesome!
I think the ilves is such a interesting little rifle.
I had never heard about them until I was working on importing some other Sako rimfire rifles from Finland and the seller mentioned it to me.
I still could not find much except for a few obscure websites and forum posts (mostly in Finnish) but was able to find it was one of the earliest serial numbered rifles built by Sako commercially and only 300 were made. Made for 50m competition.
I ended up buying it (along with several other rimfires).
It is a very interesting action design that I do not think I have seen anything else like it.
Mine was in kinda sad shape and had a lot of dust and some light rust. It looks like it set in a closet or storage for who knows how many years. The action was very sticky from all the old dried grease.
After lots of work and figuring out on my own how to completely disassembly it (and the bolt) to clean and re lube, I got it working butter smooth.

Mine is missing the weights in the front of the stock (it is just hollow). Yours all appear to still have them.
It is also missing the ball on the bottom of the stock. But lucky, it still has the rear sight. It was bent, but I was able to carefully straighten it and it works fine now.

Sako ilves (1930's 22lr target rifle)

Has anyone heard of these? I only just found out of their existence, and can not find hardly any info on them anywhere. Apparently they were made by Sako between 1931 and 1935. They are a bolt action heavy barrel target rifle in 22LR. Ilves in Finnish translates to Lynx (the large cat) The top...

sakocollectors.com

That very last one in your pictures is very interesting.
It looks like the ilves, but slightly different. The bolt body looks larger in diameter and the rear having the knurling and being longer makes me think it was either a gunsmith custom job, or some type of prototype?
It is definitely something interesting and I myself would love to know more about it.