Sako 75 action for LR project ? Advice Apreciated !

[NorthernSniper]

Well I bought a new Sako 75 finnlite in 300 WSM topped it off with a Leupold 4.5-14 and tried it out with some carefully built reloads. I have to tell you I'm dissapointed in rifle and scope, shoots about 1.25"-1.5" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I'm thinking I will have the lugs lapped and rebarrel with a cut rifled barrel and go with a minimum samii chamber. My Question is! is the Sako 75 short mag action going to produce a shooter? or would I be throwing good money after bad to try to build a shooter on this action. Any advice appreciated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[col48]

hi NorthernSniper

what hand loads have you tried with the 75 ???
have you tried different bullets and powder ????

the reason i ask is i have yet to see a 75 shoot poorly although there is always going to be the odd one.

anyway back to the question. probably one of the smiths are better placed to answer this than me,but i will have a go.

the way i see it is if you have your 75 trued properly and a custom barrel put on and bedded then it will shoot just as good as any custom rifle.

if you sell the rifle you are going to loose x amount of $
and this has to be put in to your calculations.
when or if you come to sell your 75 after you have had all the work done it will still be a 75 and in my opinion will never be worth as much as a custom rifle.

so at the end of the day it all depends on how much you have to put in to this rifle or a new custom rifle.
if i lived in the USA i would 100% have a full blown custom put together by Kirby or one of the other very respectable smiths on hear, as you will know one thing for sure,it will be put together correct and it Will be a shooter, and you will have a rifle that will last you a long time and will not let you down, if you do your part and shoot with in your own capability's, as the rifle will probably out shoot you (no disrespect to you implied)
its just they do build excellent rifles.

if you look at the development Kirby has done with his line of Allen magnums and the results people on this board are getting with them, then i think you will agree that his prices are very reasonable. the same goes for the other well known smiths on hear.if i am thinking of building my self a rifle i look at it as the action is the heart of the rifle,and will always be there, so i try to buy the best i can afford at the time. the barrel is a commodity and will be replaced many times in the rifles life,so any match grade barrel will do for the job. the stock will probably be on for the most of the rifles life as well so i get the best i can afford, or one i really like the looks of but is built to a good standard. then after this i only have to change barrels as and when they give up.

hope this makes sense to you

Colin

 

[longrangebo]

I have a custom rifle in the 7x300 it has a sako l61 witch is the same it shoots great,but the one thing is getting tapered scope bases to shoot long. You either have to get it drilled and tapped or get a custom rail.Other than that it will make a good shooter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[James Jones]

I agree with Colin ,their mush be a glitch in the system some place. Here is a quick check list of things I would run through and see if one or more is amiss

1) check all action and scope screws to make sure their all
tight
2) check to see if the barrel is making contact anywhere in
the stock , if it is a littl bit of sanding will releave
the contact and allow the barrel free float.
3) check the crown with a magnifing glass for any litte burs
the smallest little booger on the crown will totaly wreck
accuracy of the finest barrel put together by a great
smith.
4) don't take this the wrong way but are you a better
than 1.25"? I've built two guns for two differant guys
that couleden't get better than 2" groups after shipping
the gun back and forth several times I finaly ended up
driving out to watch them shoot the gun and their habits
were terrible. So some guys just need had a little
coaching to help their groups.

I have yet to see a factory gun that diden't benifit from a good bedding , trigger job and recrowing. After all this its still a turd then its a good canidate for a rebarrel. The only problem I can see is that some smiths don't like to rebarrel Sakos because they have a metric thread and its a pain in the pee-pee to get the threaded recut to non metric.
For the price you could sell that gun for you can buy a good custom action from Lawton or Borden and be way ahead for the game for a rebuild. But if you have a smith that'll rebarrel the action and thats the one you want to keep then yea it'll make a good shooter if the smith does his part.

 

[NorthernSniper]

I hear you when you say just take the short route and buy a shooter from Kirby probably cheaper in the long run and a better shooter for sure. The Sako and Tikka rifles I have seen and used in 300 WSM for starters have way to much free bore, I don't like the look of the crown or rifling but having said that lots of them still shoot decent groups. I will likely rebarrel the Sako but I'm mulling over trading this rifle in on a Browning mountain Titainium or checking up on what is happening with the Winchester M70. I would prefer by far a rifle produced in the U.S. as apposed to one produced in countries like Japan. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif