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L61R 338 Win Mag new acquisition

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

That's an early 338. I had one very similar that wasn't as nice as yours. Very few around with the grip cap and Bofors barrel in pristine condition. If you're thinking about a new pad a Pachmayr F325 is very close in appearance to the Sako pad and is probably better at soaking up recoil. Good luck with it! Bill
 
Thank you for the comments, and advice. I'll consider the Pachmayr But may just bite the bullet and order 4 of the Sako pads from the money hungry guy.

I am considering getting a good cast bullet for 338, I have a bunch of line-0-type metal and a Lyman lubrasizer. So it wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg to get started with shooting light loads and enjoying my new big bore SAKO.

I'm too old to go hunting big game, and likely the only North American game requiring the power of the 338 would be Grizzly Bear or Moose. I have a pretty good collection of SAKO rifles, and in recent years have upgraded some of the guns I bought new in the 70's to older models in good condition. Luckily few who hunt with them shoot a lot. So bores are generally good, and have a lot of high accuracy life left in them.

I have a 22-250 Garcia that I'm holding as a hedge against inflation. Seems 22-250's are a rare animal in SAKO land. I've seen few Bofors with white outline pistol grip cap and no recoil pad. That's the ones I want.

Does your 338 have the same 12 groove rifling ???

Dave
 
I no longer have the gun but I never noticed anything unique about the rifling. I agree, the price of those pads makes my stomach churn. If he paid to have a special run made up for him maybe he's not making much on them.
 
Fact is that the factory found a bunch of these that had been stored, and he bought a lot of them. No one knows if he bought all or just a bunch. Even with cost of shipping from Finland and a nice markup, I can't imagine ripping people off for the price he's asking. If I could find someone who speaks the language, I'd have them call and inquire. Supposedly the factory doesn't return email requests...
 
Those pads deteriorated from age, not use, so the story that the factory found them "stored" is suspect to me as they would show signs of deterioration from exposure to air alone. Story I heard was Beretta had a run made & I remember when Brownell's was selling them. Then the guy from MT bought the whole lot & has the market to himself. If I remember correctly he's not selling them for much more than Brownell's was. Doesn't do any good to cry & moan. The market is what the market is! He hasn't lowered his price, so he must be selling them.
 
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The replacement pads don't look the same as the pads I've seen on pre-Garcia Sako's and the early Garcia era guns. They all have a black plastic spacer, some have a white line spacer as well but the replacement pads have a black base that is part of the pad like a Pachmayr.

The top pad is on an early L579. The bottom is a Pachmayr F325



Replacement pad

 
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Taking a look at my collection http://24.172.105.90/guns/sakos/ only the rifles without any pad have a white outline spacer for the butt plate. All of the others with pads... most all are pre-garcia early as indicated by white outline pistol grip cap... have black spacers. For the $100 difference between the authentic SAKO pad and the after market... I'm tempted to have my gunsmith install a set of the Pachmayr's. I have probably one that is not collapsed... the rest are safe queens with the sagging top caused by years of being locked up in the safe with no food or water... :eek:
 
If the price of replacement pads turns you off. Just take a look at any the final selling price of Sako that is being sold on the net that has a non-factory style pad.

You will quickly find out the selling price is much lower, in fact more than the $129.00 the pads are selling for now.
 
If the price of replacement pads turns you off. Just take a look at any the final selling price of Sako that is being sold on the net that has a non-factory style pad.

You will quickly find out the selling price is much lower, in fact more than the $129.00 the pads are selling for now.
I don't think that is accurate. A replacement professionally done like the one in Sakodeluxe's photo above won't impact the price of a Sako much, and usually not at all. However, an amateurish job using a pad which is very different from the original can and will significantly impact a Sako's price. Such amateur jobs are often coupled with cutting the wood, which is of much greater detriment to the price than simply having a replacement pad.

So I think it is much more reasonable to say that a poor replacement may hurt a gun, while an well-done replacement has a fairly negligible impact. And certainly a replacement the quality that Sakodeluxe illustrates improves the value of a Sako over that of one with an original, but badly crushed pad.

By the way, although the Sako "waffle" pad was the most common, Sako also used pads from Pachmayr which were essentially identical to the one on Sakodeluxe's rifle -- the only difference being that the ones Pachmayr made for Sako had Sako's name on them.
 
I don't know about you, but I use a professional gunsmith shop with a proven reputation for great workmanship. I hear you about the value being lower for after market pads, but quite frankly I don't plan on selling my SAKO collection, but will pass it on to my daughter who runs a Pawn Shop and is already pretty knowledgeable about firearms.

I generally don't customize my firearms, however occasionally I buy one that may be difficult to obtain that has a botch job of sorts. I fix em up to look much better than before. ie the pad put on this Remington shotgun http://24.172.105.90/guns/remington/1100 20ga sporting G3/index.html. I personally don't need an adjustable LOP, but this will be a good one for my wife and daughter with a simple adjustment. Pad... Remington done by my gunsmith.

How much do you think the spread is between a mint rifle without and a mint rifle with the correct pad. If it's more than $200 I'd be surprised.
 
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How much do you think the spread is between a mint rifle without and a mint rifle with the correct pad.
I think it depends largely on the rifle and whether it is purchased as a hunter or a collector. Of course, the vast majority of Sakos are purchased as hunters.

To a hunter a Sako with a good pad is much more important than having an original pad. So the answer to the "how much spread" question in this instance is probably negative -- that is, having a good replacement (as compared to a deteriorated original) makes the gun more valuable if it is primarily to be used for hunting.

"Collectors" are a different kettle of fish. What one "collector" looks for may be very different from what another looks for. Some might not discount a nice replacement pad much, while others might not even consider buying a Sako which has a replacement pad. I suspect that most people who consider themselves Sako "collectors" fall somewhere in between these two extremes. But I will say this: If a collector is so rigid in his standards that he won't buy a Sako with a replacement pad, then it stands to reason that he wouldn't buy it even if it was replaced with a genuine Sako pad. After all, it is still a replacement and not original to the gun.

So from a market standpoint it is virtually impossible to justify putting $200 or more into a "genuine" Sako pad and professional installation since some very picky collectors would continue to discount it, anyway. It is justifiable to put a couple of hundred dollars into it if that's what you want to do for your own enjoyment.
 
Personally I have used the rifles with the collapsed pads and they shoot just fine... I buy SAKO rifles because they are accurate and made better than most of the alternatives. If I could replace the 4 or 5 pads including installation for $150 each, I'd consider it. I've gone to storing my guns on horizontal racks or muzzle down in a bag.

Like Stonecreek, I would pass on any modification if an other rifles are available. However my latest quest is for a pre-Garcia 22-250 with white outline pistol grip cap and original sights. I prefer the Standard model, but will consider a Deluxe. I have a couple Deluxe's and they ARE nice. But dark wood with good figure is more attractive to me.

Dave
 
eGood discussion. I've replaced a couple of crushed pads with these Pachmayrs and they look fine. I wish I could find a real Sako replacement pad to maintain the original look but they don't exist. The replacment pad pictured above is a reasonable facsimile I suppose but it's not a real Sako pad IMO despite the fact that it says Sako on it.
 
The REAL pads ARE available for $129 ea. + installation cost ? Is it worth it to have the words Riihimaki on it? Maybe... ? I figure it would cost me over $800 to replace the ones I need to with original factory pads.
 
Where are these REAL pads available? If it's the one I posted the pic of above it looks like a repro to me. Just the name of the vendor makes me think it's a fake.
 
I've had a dozen or so old Sako's. None of them had a pad with a black base integral to the pad. It's a separate black plastic spacer on all the rifles I've had. I spent about an hour the other night looking at old Sako's online. Didn't see a pad with a black base. Maybe someone else has but I haven't seen it.
 
Spoke to a fellow member this morning who helped connect the dots on the history of these pads. I was comparing them to what I've seen on pre-Garcia guns not the recent retro Sako's.
 
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