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Dating a Sako is a guess at best without factory documentation or a hang tag. Sako made a numbering change in 1974 that started with serial number 500001. The stamping change from L61R to AIII occurred in 1978 with serial number 530538. Yours could have been made any time between that period. Why would the barrel quality have changed? Do you know something the rest of us don't?
Thanks for posting the SN's that show numbers lower than what supposedly was when Sako made the stamping change to AIII. Just another example of Sako's erratic use of numbered actions during the manufacturing process. Makes one wonder how the SN of 530538 was chosen as the stamping change number on the Sako data that gets referenced so often. It is stated that "Please note that these old manufacturing dates are only indicative." NOTHING is certain with Sako, that's for sure. Did your born on dates come from hang tags or some other data source? Please let us know.I have been collecting Sakos for 46 years, and I've owned over 100. I don't own that many now, but I have kept some notes on those which have passed through my hands. Serial numbers are indeed tricky. Here are three examples:
Heavy Barrel .25-06, marked AIII, serial #524066
Sporter .338 Win. Mag., marked AIII, serial #527492, dated 31 March 1978
Sporter .270, marked AIII, serial #530110, dated 10 August 1978.
I regret that I can't say how I arrived at those dates, but I am not in the habit of plucking them out of the air.
I have been collecting Sakos for 46 years, and I've owned over 100. I don't own that many now, but I have kept some notes on those which have passed through my hands. Serial numbers are indeed tricky. Here are three examples:
Heavy Barrel .25-06, marked AIII, serial #524066
Sporter .338 Win. Mag., marked AIII, serial #527492, dated 31 March 1978
Sporter .270, marked AIII, serial #530110, dated 10 August 1978.
I regret that I can't say how I arrived at those dates, but I am not in the habit of plucking them out of the air.
I went to my records to answer your question. The dates listed below are those handwritten at the factory on the Stoeger manuals for the AIII. I have changed the European sequence of year/month/day to our system of notation. Out of the eleven AIII rifles I own or have owned, I have factory dates for six of them. With apologies for repeating some of my earlier post, here are six verified factory dates.Thanks for posting the SN's that show numbers lower than what supposedly was when Sako made the stamping change to AIII. Just another example of Sako's erratic use of numbered actions during the manufacturing process. Makes one wonder how the SN of 530538 was chosen as the stamping change number on the Sako data that gets referenced so often. It is stated that "Please note that these old manufacturing dates are only indicative." NOTHING is certain with Sako, that's for sure. Did your born on dates come from hang tags or some other data source? Please let us know.