• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

What year is my L579 Forester?

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

Hello all,
I just pulled the trigger on my first L579 Forester, the rifle has not arrived yet but I was wondering if somebody could help me with the year it was made. The barrel has "Garcia Sporting Arms Washington DC" on the bottom. Serial number 378 39. "Forester .243 Made in Finland" on the side of the barrel. Sako's Website seems to jump around a bit with the Serial Numbers?
 
Our Factory Records Service has data for L579's up to serial number 115,300. Just click on it in the black bar at the top of this page. The serial number you give doesn't seem to fit with a Garcia import, but with Sako you never know. Sako did not build rifles in sequential order, so the Sako website data is not useful for precisely dating a rifle. Only factory records or hang tag can confirm a rifles birthday.
 
As Paulson points out, the serial number you gave is probably a typo since it would not be within the range typically associated with the Garcia era. Garcia was the importer from late 1971 to ~1978.
 
Gotcha,
I am new to this, you must purchase the service records? Here are some pics if anyone has a guess as to the general era it was made. Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Sako Forester 1.jpg
    Sako Forester 1.jpg
    40.6 KB · Views: 77
  • Sako Forester 2.jpg
    Sako Forester 2.jpg
    39.8 KB · Views: 81
  • Sako Forester 3.jpg
    Sako Forester 3.jpg
    19.5 KB · Views: 74
  • Sako Forester 4.jpg
    Sako Forester 4.jpg
    16.9 KB · Views: 81
Never seen anything like this one. The receiver must have been used as a paper weight for 8 years or so, then they used it to build a rifle in the early '70s !

Sako-ism at its finest here. Nice rifle !
DeerGoose
 
Never seen anything like this one. The receiver must have been used as a paper weight for 8 years or so, then they used it to build a rifle in the early '70s !

Sako-ism at its finest here. Nice rifle !
DeerGoose
"Sako-ism", I like that! Thanks, I have wanted a vintage Sako for a very long time. Closest I was able to find at a local shop over the years is a AV heavy barrel 25-06 which also seems to be an odd build from what I can tell when trying to research that one as well. So the receiver markings may indicate that it may be older then the rest of the rifle? I wonder in that case if it was rebarreled. I'm kind of a stickler for keeping my rifles period correct so also try and stick scopes of that period on them.
 
If the OP doesn't pay the research fee to get the factory records, I will. Curiosity of how a serial number that low ended up as a Garcia import is killing me. It may not even be in the records if it was made past the date records are available. If it is in the records it has to be the all time record for time between when the action was machined & stamped & when it was used to build a rifle!
 
It could be that somebody put the rifle together with all original Sako components, but the receiver is the only thing that's older than the rest of the rifle, judging by the pics. The rest of the rifle says model 72 or model 74 Super Sporter, but that dang receiver is too early. Note finely checkered scope blocks.....I'm curious too, and believe this was a leftover receiver lost in stock that was put to use many years after it was made. Cool and nice rifle !!!

DeerGoose
 
It could be that somebody put the rifle together with all original Sako components, but the receiver is the only thing that's older than the rest of the rifle, judging by the pics. The rest of the rifle says model 72 or model 74 Super Sporter, but that dang receiver is too early. Note finely checkered scope blocks.....I'm curious too, and believe this was a leftover receiver lost in stock that was put to use many years after it was made. Cool and nice rifle !!!

DeerGoose

I have over 40 pics and am picking the rifle up Monday, I will post more pics!
 
If the OP doesn't pay the research fee to get the factory records, I will. Curiosity of how a serial number that low ended up as a Garcia import is killing me. It may not even be in the records if it was made past the date records are available. If it is in the records it has to be the all time record for time between when the action was machined & stamped & when it was used to build a rifle!
Got a bit going on today but I will look into the research records later if you guys think it may yield some answers.
 
The rifle is what our Australian friends call a "bitsa" -- put together from various parts, but in this instance all Sako. The stock has the high comb of an early A-series gun. The barrel, of course, is a Garcia import, and it appears to have come from a Model 72 due to its open sights.

The original rifle was a .243 inspected in May of 1964 and shipped to Firearms International that same month and was a complete rifle, not an action.
 
The rifle is what our Australian friends call a "bitsa" -- put together from various parts, but in this instance all Sako. The stock has the high comb of an early A-series gun. The barrel, of course, is a Garcia import, and it appears to have come from a Model 72 due to its open sights.

The original rifle was a .243 inspected in May of 1964 and shipped to Firearms International that same month and was a complete rifle, not an action.

Wow! So it it is likely that Sako assembled this rifle in such a configuration of NOS parts or more likely somebody else did once it was in the states? I hope I didn't get myself into some trouble with this one.
 
Wow! So it it is likely that Sako assembled this rifle in such a configuration of NOS parts or more likely somebody else did once it was in the states? I hope I didn't get myself into some trouble with this one.
No one is going to arrest you. The rifle will work fine & be a nice hunting rifle for you. It's just that the stock, barrel & action are from three distinct eras of production covering approximately 20 years. Only people knowledgeable about Sakos would notice that it is not a factory original gun but, as stonecreek said, "it's a bitsa". If you gave market value for a true factory original Sako, you paid too much. If your intent was to own an original factory produced Sako, then I would confront the seller & request my money back. If you just wanted a nice hunting rifle & can live with what you paid, then I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Last edited:
No one is going to arrest you. The rifle will work fine & be a nice hunting rifle for you. It's just that the stock, barrel & action are for three distinct eras of production covering approximately 20 years. Only people knowledgeable about Sakos would notice that it is not a factory original gun but, as stonecreek said, "it's a bitsa". If you gave market value for a true factory original Sako, you paid too much. If your intent was to own an original factory produced Sako, then I would confront the seller & request my money back. If you just wanted a nice hunting rifle & can live with what you paid, then I wouldn't worry about it.
Yeah, you're right, It was under market value for today's market if that means anything. I do plan to shoot it and I do hunt some varmint and whitetail. Wether I send it back at this point depends I guess of the condition and the rifling left. I am going to look it over as best I can before I take possession. Will send pics and update you guys next week. Thank you guys for you knowledge and help!
 
Last edited:
I’m having a hard time with this one, I’m not at all sure what to think. I suppose the theories could be correct. But it would be the prefect storm for all that to happen after that rifle left the factory. To bad there’s no way to prove it one way or the other.
 
Well "it's a bitsa" for sure, Timney trigger that doesn't fit the stock correctly. Crappy glass job that I am going to have to fix as well. Why do people replace the Sako triggers with these Timneys? I honestly see no fault with the sako/tikka trigger...some of the best I've ever shot besides a CZ single set maybe. Well the metals pretty darn good, bore is good so it looks like I've got a little project now.
 
Not good on tech stuff having hard time finding out when my sako deluxe 270. Serial number av618170 was made. Help!
 
Well "it's a bitsa" for sure, Timney trigger that doesn't fit the stock correctly. Crappy glass job that I am going to have to fix as well. Why do people replace the Sako triggers with these Timneys? I honestly see no fault with the sako/tikka trigger...some of the best I've ever shot besides a CZ single set maybe. Well the metals pretty darn good, bore is good so it looks like I've got a little project now.
Enjoy the journey. It might end up being a good shooter! Sako #4 triggers can be found. I think Rodger at Sakosource has one for sale. Good Luck!!
 
Back
Top