Sako A7 accuracy issue

[kiwi22250]

that thought did occur to me. So I just ordered a new set of bases.

Combined with the S&B 8x56 that should arrive friday, I'm interested to see if there is any improvement. Too bad the excessive heat we have right now is going to infringe on my range time.

The fixed power scope is very under rated will suit this rifle down to a t. If you can get it to shoot. Also make sure you scrub it dead clean they tend to foul bad for the 1st couple of hundred rounds.

 

[ssineden]

The A7 comes with weaver style bases. They are Crap. Sako recommends gluing them to the receiver (in the fine print in the manual), Fat chance! Try Talley one piece aluminum base and ring combination. The next thing to do is have the stock/receiver pillar bedded. I have three A7's a 7mm Pro Hunter, and the 7mm heavier barreled rifle and the 300 Win mag in the heavier barrel. All shoot very well. All three have Vortex Viper HST scopes and Talley rings.

 

[Riflehunter1776]

I got the Sako a few years back, at the same time I ordered a virgin 700 action (which I had planned to use for my future 6.5-284). They came in, and just for the heck of it I rooted around in the back of the store for a 700 barrel. I found one in a big bin, same chambering as the A7, all beat up and scratched, sitting there for 30 years, so I blew out the spider webs, screwed it on and headspaced it, dropped it in a tupperware stock and took the 2 rifles out to shoot.

The first 3 shots (4895/150) out of the "FrankenRemington" all overlapped each other at 100. The second load out of the still hot barrel (varget/150) was a hair tighter. At that point I stopped and left it alone. Meanwhile I laboriously and slowly began breaking in the Sako. Eventually, after 2 trips to the range and countless shoot-clean-shoot procedures it was ready to try for accuracy. With high expectations I shot a 3" group. a 4" group. As the day went on and my expectations dropped, the 2.5" groups started looking good. Then I took out the Frankenremington again and shot another sub .5" group......

Two things I noticed about the Sako right away that I did not like were the flimsy forend, which could be pinched to the barrel with slight pressure, and the bases which seemed very cheap and slightly under spec. So we'll see how the new bases do.

But all things considered, I found it telling that this expensive Sako with a full barrel break in, carefully tailored ammo, trigger job, and kid - glove coddling could not get it's prissy self to shoot even close to a hacked together 700 with a bashed barrel dating to the Reagan years, a mismatched tupperware stock, and ammo generically loaded to book spec with nothing special done.

As far as I'm concerned, Beretta has changed the companies reputation from "Sako" to "Carcano".

 

[rick on a stick]

No, this dead horse is yet to be beaten enough.
I have a brand new Sako A7 in 25-06 which refuses to group better than 2 inches. This is with everything from Federal blue box to Sako brand. With 100 rounds down range and several cleanings, I'm at wits end.
Before I call Baretta USA and become one more schmuck that they treat poorly, does anyone have any insight or experience with this issue?

All action screws, rings and bases are torqued to Spec. Optic is a Bushnell LRHSi cortesy of GA Precision. Shooting from a front rest and rear bag.

I have another A7 in 270 that's shoots 3/4" groups and a .243 Finnlight that consistently shoots in the .3s with Fusion.

 

[rick on a stick]

No, this dead horse is yet to be beaten enough.
I have a brand new Sako A7 in 25-06 which refuses to group better than 2 inches. This is with everything from Federal blue box to Sako brand. With 100 rounds down range and several cleanings, I'm at wits end.
Before I call Baretta USA and become one more schmuck that they treat poorly, does anyone have any insight or experience with this issue?

All action screws, rings and bases are torqued to Spec. Optic is a Bushnell LRHSi cortesy of GA Precision. Shooting from a front rest and rear bag.

I have another A7 in 270 that's shoots 3/4" groups and a .243 Finnlight that consistently shoots in the .3s with Fusion.

So, you are tightening the barrel down to the stock, using factory ammo, and never took the action off the stock to adjust the trigger? You have a finer rifle that needs the proper adjustments. Take the action off of the stock,and cut an old plastic card in strips and put it under your front ring and in the locking lug slot, and free float the barrel, then while the stock is off, adjust the trigger down to about 2 pounds of pull or less if you can shoot with a trigger that light, finally, take some of the fired brass and weigh them and select 20 or 30 pieces that all weigh within .75 to 1 grain of each other and load them with a "Neck Die" and you rifle will shoot like you won't believe. If you don't understand the Jargon i just gave you, then you should move up to the next level. Don't rely on a production gun with factory ammo.

 

[rick on a stick]

I got the Sako a few years back, at the same time I ordered a virgin 700 action (which I had planned to use for my future 6.5-284). They came in, and just for the heck of it I rooted around in the back of the store for a 700 barrel. I found one in a big bin, same chambering as the A7, all beat up and scratched, sitting there for 30 years, so I blew out the spider webs, screwed it on and headspaced it, dropped it in a tupperware stock and took the 2 rifles out to shoot.

The first 3 shots (4895/150) out of the "FrankenRemington" all overlapped each other at 100. The second load out of the still hot barrel (varget/150) was a hair tighter. At that point I stopped and left it alone. Meanwhile I laboriously and slowly began breaking in the Sako. Eventually, after 2 trips to the range and countless shoot-clean-shoot procedures it was ready to try for accuracy. With high expectations I shot a 3" group. a 4" group. As the day went on and my expectations dropped, the 2.5" groups started looking good. Then I took out the Frankenremington again and shot another sub .5" group......

Two things I noticed about the Sako right away that I did not like were the flimsy forend, which could be pinched to the barrel with slight pressure, and the bases which seemed very cheap and slightly under spec. So we'll see how the new bases do.

But all things considered, I found it telling that this expensive Sako with a full barrel break in, carefully tailored ammo, trigger job, and kid - glove coddling could not get it's prissy self to shoot even close to a hacked together 700 with a bashed barrel dating to the Reagan years, a mismatched tupperware stock, and ammo generically loaded to book spec with nothing special done.

As far as I'm concerned, Beretta has changed the companies reputation from "Sako" to "Carcano".

you don't need a barrel break in, thats all stuff to make you buy more stuff. if your barrel was lapped properly, your first shot is your best one ,to quote Macmillan......and clean the copper fouling out about every 40-50 shots....

 

[Holycity73]

So, you are tightening the barrel down to the stock, using factory ammo, and never took the action off the stock to adjust the trigger? You have a finer rifle that needs the proper adjustments. Take the action off of the stock,and cut an old plastic card in strips and put it under your front ring and in the locking lug slot, and free float the barrel, then while the stock is off, adjust the trigger down to about 2 pounds of pull or less if you can shoot with a trigger that light, finally, take some of the fired brass and weigh them and select 20 or 30 pieces that all weigh within .75 to 1 grain of each other and load them with a "Neck Die" and you rifle will shoot like you won't believe. If you don't understand the Jargon i just gave you, then you should move up to the next level. Don't rely on a production gun with factory ammo.

I adjusted the trigger shortly after my first session at the range. I always give a stock rifle a fair chance. The barrel is free floated. I'm still waiting to hear back from Baretta. Before I have it bedded and void my warranty, I'd like to offer the imports a chance to make goodmon their guarantee.
I may just sell both of my a7s off and cut my losses. I'm scaling my collection down anyway. I would have liked to keep the two of them, but at this point, I prefer rifles that do what they claim to be capable of.

 

[Riflehunter1776]

you don't need a barrel break in, thats all stuff to make you buy more stuff. if your barrel was lapped properly, your first shot is your best one ,to quote Macmillan......and clean the copper fouling out about every 40-50 shots....

or....
https://kriegerbarrels.com/faq#breakin
With any premium barrel that has been finish lapped -- such as your Krieger Barrel --, the lay or direction of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, so fouling is minimal compared to a barrel with internal tooling marks. This is true of any properly finish-lapped barrel regardless of how it is rifled. If it is not finish-lapped, there will be reamer marks left in the bore that are directly across the direction of the bullet travel. This occurs even in a button-rifled barrel as the button cannot completely iron out these reamer marks.

Because the lay of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, very little is done to the bore during break-in, but the throat is another story. When your barrel is chambered, by necessity there are reamer marks left in the throat that are across the lands, i.e. across the direction of the bullet travel. In a new barrel they are very distinct; much like the teeth on a very fine file.

When the bullet is forced into the throat, copper dust is removed from the jacket material and released into the gas which at this temperature and pressure is actually a plasma. The copper dust is vaporized in this plasma and is carried down the barrel. As the gas expands and cools, the copper comes out of suspension and is deposited in the bore. This makes it appear as if the source of the fouling is the bore when it is actually for the most part the new throat.

If this copper is allowed to stay in the bore, and subsequent bullets and deposits are fired over it, copper which adheres well to itself, will build up quickly and may be difficult to remove later. So when we break in a barrel, our goal is to get the throat "polished without allowing copper to build up in the bore. This is the reasoning for the fire-one-shot-and-clean procedure.

Every barrel will vary slightly in how many rounds they take to break in For example a chrome moly barrel may take longer to break in than stainless steel because it is more abrasion resistant even though it is a similar hardness. Also chrome moly has a little more of an affinity for copper than stainless steel so it will usually show a little more color if you are using a chemical cleaner. Rim Fire barrels can take an extremely long time to break in, sometimes requiring several hundred rounds or more. But cleaning can be lengthened to every 25-50 rounds. The break-in procedure and the cleaning procedure are really the same except for the frequency. Remember the goal is to get or keep the barrel clean while breaking in the throat with bullets being fired over it.

Finally, the best way to tell if the barrel is broken in is to observe the patches; i.e. when the fouling is reduced. This is better than some set number of cycles of shoot and clean as many owners report practically no fouling after the first few shots, and more break-in would be pointless. Conversely, if more is required, a set number would not address that either. Besides, cleaning is not a completely benign procedure so it should be done carefully and no more than necessary.

 

[Holycity73]

I got the Sako a few years back, at the same time I ordered a virgin 700 action (which I had planned to use for my future 6.5-284). They came in, and just for the heck of it I rooted around in the back of the store for a 700 barrel. I found one in a big bin, same chambering as the A7, all beat up and scratched, sitting there for 30 years, so I blew out the spider webs, screwed it on and headspaced it, dropped it in a tupperware stock and took the 2 rifles out to shoot.

The first 3 shots (4895/150) out of the "FrankenRemington" all overlapped each other at 100. The second load out of the still hot barrel (varget/150) was a hair tighter. At that point I stopped and left it alone. Meanwhile I laboriously and slowly began breaking in the Sako. Eventually, after 2 trips to the range and countless shoot-clean-shoot procedures it was ready to try for accuracy. With high expectations I shot a 3" group. a 4" group. As the day went on and my expectations dropped, the 2.5" groups started looking good. Then I took out the Frankenremington again and shot another sub .5" group......

Two things I noticed about the Sako right away that I did not like were the flimsy forend, which could be pinched to the barrel with slight pressure, and the bases which seemed very cheap and slightly under spec. So we'll see how the new bases do.

But all things considered, I found it telling that this expensive Sako with a full barrel break in, carefully tailored ammo, trigger job, and kid - glove coddling could not get it's prissy self to shoot even close to a hacked together 700 with a bashed barrel dating to the Reagan years, a mismatched tupperware stock, and ammo generically loaded to book spec with nothing special done.

As far as I'm concerned, Beretta has changed the companies reputation from "Sako" to "Carcano".

Last year, I'd have argued this since my Finnlight that shoots sub .5" was my only experience with Sako. Now, I gotta admit, I know this song and I don't like it. If I did get a lemon, I'd love to see Baretta make it right, but from what I've heard and read, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[MAGA]

I have an A7 Rough Tech Pro (the stainless steel fluted barrel with B&C stock) chambered in 7mm Rem Mag and it's a solid rifle. It shoots sub-MOA and loves 168gr VLDs and 168gr Nosler Accubond Long Range.
Here are the rings I put on mine:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBYGHMI/?tag=lrhmag19-20

 

[MTGunner]

After approx. 100 rounds thru my Sako A7 Roughtech, 140 and 150 Nosler BT, the accuracy has gone to easily 2" groups. Out of the box it was shooting .5-1.0 groups. I took it out of the stock, cleaned around the bedding block, adjusted trigger to 2#. I torqued the front action screw to 40 inch pounds and rear to 35. Also, cleaned barrel meticulously. There was some copper fouling. I do like this rifle. A bit heavy and BTW have never blooded it as yet. I want to get this A7 to shoot with some confidence as I have been planning to take it to Spain on a hunt that we have scheduled for late Oct. 2022. Will be going to the range tomorrow. Will update. MTG

 

[Joefrazell]

Is this history repeating itself?

 

[MTGunner]

Could be poor accuracy history for the Sako A7. I am willing to work with this rifle to improve the accuracy....to a point. Had another poster detailing to bed the first three inches of the barrel. MTG

 

[tmanoid]

Have a A7 in the 308 with 24" barrel and have had good luck with it. I have only shot it at 100yds but with 150 Ballistic tips it will shoot .375 all day long. Only have about 80 rounds through it.