longrangehunterII
Well-Known Member
So I've had the Sako for a few weeks now, and have 50 plus rounds down the barrel. My thoughts about the gun are like most Sako's, they're very well made, and tend to shoot very well.
My first unlikely event was having the Factory epoxy their picatinny base to the action! Wow, what were they thinking, a flat/zero slope base glued down? But the answer is Yes they do, and highly likely that the owner will strip the screws not knowing this bit of information. Had they put some small note attached to the trigger guard or something would have saved me a real head ache.
About the gun itself, the barrel cleans up super fast after the first two cleanings and from there it's almost never needing to be cleaned any length of time. The chamber and magazine box are both designed to work together for accurate loads since the throat is cut for that cartridge to either touch the lands or move off them within the magazine box. No worries there. The trigger is a two-stage type and breaks clean. The 60 degree bolt, although long, moves smoothly and leaves plenty of room for the shooters hand next to the scope. My is wearing a 34mm three ring Sako Tactical with 30 moa of slope built into the removable ring base. It's very robust and mounts very low compared standard picatinny base and ring setups. I have a Premier Heritage Tactical 3-15x50 mounted on the rifle. The muzzle brake helps with keeping your shoulder glued to the gun and sight picture although with heavy 300 grain projectiles it does still kick! I keep to less then 15 rounds fired per day just to save myself from abuse. The gun weights 14.25 lbs w/the scope and 15.25 w/the Sako bipod attached, so it's a little heavy but that keeps it on track for prone shooting situations.
About how well this gun shoots...... right from the beginning every round I fired produced groups well under an inch whether up or down charges were fed into the case using 300 gr. Sierra MatchKings. I broke in the barrel using IMR 4350, and then did some load work w/H1000 and ended up trying out the new Reloader 33 which it seemed to really like.
Here's the quick work up for yesterday and today. When I mean quick I mean I fired five rounds with 1 grain increases (92.5-97.5), which you'll see on the left side of the target. On the right is a five shot group off the bench at 100 yards, it measures just over a 1/2 inch.
I've shot this gun at a steel target using a different load consisting of H1000 at 600 yards using the 300 SMK and the same seating depth as below and shot a 2 1/2" group, (last photo) so the gun is accurate using different loads.
I'll keep this thread going with more updates as I work with the gun more, all I can say is thank God for the Finnish and their fine work making these guns and the Swedish for the excellent powder for the 338 Lapua Magnum.
My first unlikely event was having the Factory epoxy their picatinny base to the action! Wow, what were they thinking, a flat/zero slope base glued down? But the answer is Yes they do, and highly likely that the owner will strip the screws not knowing this bit of information. Had they put some small note attached to the trigger guard or something would have saved me a real head ache.
About the gun itself, the barrel cleans up super fast after the first two cleanings and from there it's almost never needing to be cleaned any length of time. The chamber and magazine box are both designed to work together for accurate loads since the throat is cut for that cartridge to either touch the lands or move off them within the magazine box. No worries there. The trigger is a two-stage type and breaks clean. The 60 degree bolt, although long, moves smoothly and leaves plenty of room for the shooters hand next to the scope. My is wearing a 34mm three ring Sako Tactical with 30 moa of slope built into the removable ring base. It's very robust and mounts very low compared standard picatinny base and ring setups. I have a Premier Heritage Tactical 3-15x50 mounted on the rifle. The muzzle brake helps with keeping your shoulder glued to the gun and sight picture although with heavy 300 grain projectiles it does still kick! I keep to less then 15 rounds fired per day just to save myself from abuse. The gun weights 14.25 lbs w/the scope and 15.25 w/the Sako bipod attached, so it's a little heavy but that keeps it on track for prone shooting situations.
About how well this gun shoots...... right from the beginning every round I fired produced groups well under an inch whether up or down charges were fed into the case using 300 gr. Sierra MatchKings. I broke in the barrel using IMR 4350, and then did some load work w/H1000 and ended up trying out the new Reloader 33 which it seemed to really like.
Here's the quick work up for yesterday and today. When I mean quick I mean I fired five rounds with 1 grain increases (92.5-97.5), which you'll see on the left side of the target. On the right is a five shot group off the bench at 100 yards, it measures just over a 1/2 inch.
I've shot this gun at a steel target using a different load consisting of H1000 at 600 yards using the 300 SMK and the same seating depth as below and shot a 2 1/2" group, (last photo) so the gun is accurate using different loads.
I'll keep this thread going with more updates as I work with the gun more, all I can say is thank God for the Finnish and their fine work making these guns and the Swedish for the excellent powder for the 338 Lapua Magnum.
