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Getting an L57 ready

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

topgear

Sako-addicted
A little while back I picked up a nice original L57 in .243 - an original Australian import in serial no. 81XX range. Its seen a little use but not too much considering its age. Anyway tonight I spent some time getting it ready in the shed. When it came to me the trigger was around 5 pound so I spent some time changing springs, polishing parts and putting it all back together and now have it at 2 pounds with no creep and with the bolt safety working beautifully.
Next was to scope it. I picked up a nice used leupold x2.5-8 vxIII and wanted to mount this up in low mounts. I have the same scope on a L579 in mediums and knew from experience the lows are just a little too low. The x2-7 leupolds fit in lows but the x2.5-8 is just a bees dick too big. Anyway after some experimenting with shimming its looking great I think. I just love having the scopes mounted so low.
Now to bore sight it and see how it shoots:D
Low L57.JPG
 
It was made on the 8-8-1958 and shipped to Anthony Hordern and Sons in the same year along with 12 other rifles. Those SCC records certainly are great:D
 
Hello John,

Every time I see a L57 It is in .243 Win. calibre, and occasionally .308 Win. calibre. Was there any other calibres offered in the L57? Was there a .244 Rem. calibre?

Blackjack
 
Yes Blackjack there were a few .244's for sure in L57. I think Deergoose has them all though:D

There was also at least one .222 mag as well on the L57.

Like you I don't see many L57's in .308 in this part of the world. I think this could have had something to do with a law around that time they were imported that had bans on military calibres, but I could be wrong on this. Even early L579 bofors era .308's are very had to find here.

Cheers John
 
Yep, perfect mounting height there Johm. I too like to mount my scopes low, and have at times resorted to using shims between the scope tube and bottom half of the front ring. I haven't needed to try it on anything bigger than a .243. And not sure I would be comfortable to do so on a big kicker.

Of course scopes by Leupold, Lynx, Sightron, Pecar and the older Kahles models all have the smaller diameter ocular bells which help to get the mounting height as low as possible. It is a shame that there is not a current model 4-12x42 Ziess or Kahles with a small diameter ocular available - I would have one on nearly every rifle I own (eventually)!

Marcus
 
Nice rifle topgear. Love the nice trim feel to the L57's and have one in 243 ser. 21xx. inspected 19 Feb 58, also shipped to Anthony Horden [or Harden] and Sons 20 feb 58, as one of 8 in that shipment. At some time it went thru Bill Mardens shop and wears a Douglas barrel now. Yes 308 in L57 very scarce, and in fact I've never seen an Aussie delivered L57 in 308, [has anyone?] so after years of waiting for one to come, eventually got a 308 Deluxe imported in L579. In the barrel change the L57 243 lost its iron sights, but still has the older styled peep sight. Tho I wonder if this was original as most seem to come with the leaf sight? When the Sako peeps come on the scene I'm not sure, tho probably archived somewhere here. BTW anyone have happen to have its original 243 barrel lying around? OK OK. I know thats a big ask, so a 244 Rem will do........
 
Howdy L57 lovers. I enjoyed the comments on the old L57 rifles as I just happen to have one that Deergoose missed. I love it as it seems to be the lowest number Sako that I have ever seen or heard of. It is a L57, Serial #38x and also happens to be a pristine example in .244 Rem. Cheers. Sakojim.
 
Sako made a lot more .243's than .308's in the L57. I have to assume that reflects demand in the 1957-1960 time frame. In fact, .308's didn't start showing up in significant numbers until rather late in the L57 run. Far behind in numbers were the .244's. I've seen .244's in standard, deluxe, and HB, but not in Mannlicher (although I'm sure there were some.)

The records show just a few .222 Magnums, although I know of no one who's seen one. The handful of .222 Magnums were apparently produced prior to the modification of the L46 into the L469 with its longer magazine to handle the .222 Magnum.

L57 SN #1 was listed as "Kal .257". Years ago guys from the old Sako Collectors Association interpreted the first 50 L57's as being .257's, however, this was clearly a misinterpretation. Serial numbers 2 & 3 are blank, then SN's 4 - 50 simply have a check mark by them, while #51 is marked .308. If you look at how they are recorded in the inspection records it soon dawns on you that there are NO L57's marked ".243". Instead, since the preponderance of L57's were .243's, the .243's were simply marked with a check mark, while the .308's, .244's, and .222 Magnums had the caliber designation in the inspection record. Also, the roughly one-half of the L57's which left the factory as actions-only ("lukkolaite") were marked with a check mark (actions-only accounted for 23 of the first 50 serial numbers).

So, only one .257, SN #1, was ever recorded. What may have become of it is anyone's guess.
 
The records show just a few .222 Magnums, although I know of no one who's seen one.
Like you I've never seen one in the flesh. Only one I have ever seen a photo of was this one. interesting it has a soft pad and also one piece stock with no barrel band.
L57_222Mag.JPG

I've seen .244's in standard, deluxe, and HB, but not in Mannlicher (although I'm sure there were some.)
A mannlicher carbine in .244
L57_244_Carbine.JPG

This one was also a real ripper too. A Mannlicher HB !
L57_HB_Mann.JPG

Yes 308 in L57 very scarce, and in fact I've never seen an Aussie delivered L57 in 308, [has anyone?] so after years of waiting for one to come, eventually got a 308 Deluxe imported in L579. In the barrel change the L57 243 lost its iron sights, but still has the older styled peep sight. Tho I wonder if this was original as most seem to come with the leaf sight?
No I've never seen an aussie imported L57 in .308. In regards to your imported L579 very few if any US rifles got the rear ramp sites, were as rifles of the same time period exported directly to Australia did. So if your rifle was originally exported to the US then I wouldn't expect it to have the rear ramp site. You'll notice none of the above rifles have the rear ramp sites as all destined for export to the US.
 
I'm sure there was more than one Gander Mountain Heavy Barrel Mannlicher. Here's the ad for them. Notice how the B&L scope and mount cost about what the rifle did. Also, I haven't seen an example of the .222 anywhere, but I would assume there are some out there.

$_57.JPG
 
Topgear replied:-
No I've never seen an aussie imported L57 in .308. In regards to your imported L579 very few if any US rifles got the rear ramp sites, were as rifles of the same time period exported directly to Australia did. So if your rifle was originally exported to the US then I wouldn't expect it to have the rear ramp site. You'll notice none of the above rifles have the rear ramp sites as all destined for export to the US.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info.
Your pic 'A mannlicher carbine in .244 ' show the type of peep sight that my L57 has, so that also answers that question. Now curious to know when the Sako peeps changed versions, guessing that the earlier peep was with L46 and L57, and the later one below came in with the L461 L579? Perhaps thats already been covered elsewhere on the site. Sako peeps inc L57.jpg
 
Nice rifle, TopGear !!! and no, I don't have all the .244s out there. ha, ha. I am lucky enough to have a 57 in .308. Took me a while to find one in good collector condition. I'm still looking for a 57 deluxe in .308.

DeerGoose
 
Deergoose, There was a Deluxe 57 in 308 in 80% condition at a local gun show this spring. Single deer on floor-plate engraving. Only deluxe 57 I have seen, have .243 and 308 sporter. Price was high and firm, so passed. Happy Hunting .
 
Now curious to know when the Sako peeps changed versions, guessing that the earlier peep was with L46 and L57, and the later one below came in with the L461 L579? Perhaps thats already been covered elsewhere on the site.
http://sakocollectors.com/forum/threads/variations-in-peep-sights-sight-hoods-and-front-ramps.4084/
There are actually three styles of peep sights. I'm not sure that anyone has been able to put firm dates on any of them, but we do know which order they came in.
 
Steve, here is a 222 HB. When I started collecting Sako's a few years ago this was one of the first ones that I came across.

I guess if you've never seen one it must of been a lucky find.
 

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Steve, here is a 222 HB. When I started collecting Sako's a few years ago this was one of the first ones that I came across.

I guess if you've never seen one it must of been a lucky find.
How about that! What a great acquisition. I wonder how many Gander Mountain actually sold? The Sako records don't differentiate them from any other L57. They were shipped to FI, however, not directly to Gander Mountain.
 
Rocky's .222 HB full is the only one that I've ever seen. I've had .243s get away from me, so there are a few, they are scarce, but still a few out there.

In my opinion, these HB fullstocks are close to the top of the list for cool Sakos.

DeerGoose
 
Very nice rifle Rocky. We're the .222's on the L57 action as well or on an L46? The ad Steve posted doesn't mention and it's hard to tell scale from your photos.

Deergoose are there many deluxe L57's in the states? Not many over here.
 
Deergoose are there many deluxe L57's in the states? Not many over here.
Rumor has it that if Deergoose turned loose of his collection there would be a lot more!

But in reality, there were relatively very few Deluxe L57's built. Like any other Sako model, the preponderance of them were shipped to the U.S.
 
It is true that I have 3-4 L57 deluxe models. But they are all in .243. Still looking for one in .308 !

DeerGoose
 
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