• 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

Short Actions Old girl (L461) still has it!

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

caberslash

Active Member
20201226_142516.jpg

Some might say my L461 Sako has been desecrated because someone saw fit to rechamber it from .222 to .223, and many on the internet rushed to inform me that a 1:14 twist barrel would not shoot well.

How wrong they were! (Zeroed for 200m)

20210429_150244.jpg

Thankfully it escaped the fate of the 'chopper' a common process in the UK where a rifle of particularly good vintage is sent into a 'gunsmith' by a misguided owner to have it's iron sights torn off and the barrel chopped and threaded.

I managed to acquire an aperture sight and decided to try out the irons. Very impressed (high shot is the '200' setting, other two are '100')

20210430_181548.jpg 20210430_181558.jpg 20210430_181640.jpg 20210613_102054.jpg 20210613_102832.jpg

Returns to zero with the original Sako roll off mounts too!

All shot with Sako 55 grain .223 factory ammo. Can't wait to get out with it for some foxes and Roe. Only trouble is the 6+1 capacity and it being an inherently sweet shooting rifle means it is easy to plough through 60 rounds in quick succession. I'll try and reign this in as I don't want to burn the original barrel out too quickly, but the contour seems well judged and not too slim!

Don't make 'em like they used to, light, practical, fast handling and good looking too!

The old girl still has it!
 
Fine shooting. I will say watch that bi pod. I left a Harris bi pod on my 222 for a little longer than I should have and the rubber pads 'got into' the finish just a tad.
 
Hello Caberstash,
Yes I agree that there is an obsession by Rifle Smiths in the UK to cut off front sights and thread for sound moderators. This of coarse ruins the re - sale value by up to 50%. The number of Brno No. 1's & 2's that have be ruined in the UK is frightening! I have a similar L461 HB in .222 Rem. which came out of production in April 1978. One of the last L461 Vixen's as the A1 came out in 1979!
Blackjack
 
Hello Caberstash,
Yes I agree that there is an obsession by Rifle Smiths in the UK to cut off front sights and thread for sound moderators. This of coarse ruins the re - sale value by up to 50%.

No one seems to have told the dealers listing on Guntrader...
 
Hello Caberslash,
I see by your target & post that you zero @ 3" high @ 100 meters.
I too like to zero 3" high @ 100 and have been doing that for many years. You seem to be an excellent marksman as your groups are tight & consistant. In my case good groups are the product of the Sako's craftsmanship. This forum has been a great help to me as I was a babe in the woods about many things related to shooting well, like the tightness of the action screws, scope choices,zeroing advice etc. Thanks for sharing & keep well, Your friends accross the pond B/T
 
Last edited:
Hello Caberslash,
I see by your target & post that you zero @ 3" high @ 100 meters.
I too like to zero 3" high @ 100 and have been doing that for many years. You seem to be an excellent marksman as your groups are tight & consistant. In my case good groups are the product of the Sako's craftsmanship. This forum has been a great help to me as I was a babe in the woods about many things related to shooting well, like the tightness of the action screws, scope choices,zeroing advice etc. Thanks for sharing & keep well, Your friends accross the pond B/T

Hi there B/T, many thanks for the kind words. I think the quality of the rifle and ease of shooting it will be noticed by any shooter. Shame to see that modern rifles are becoming heavier with less and less emphasis on practicality... most seem to be designed for bench shooting and not hunting, yet the old Sako does both just fine!

The .223's ballistics (as in the older 50-55grain loadings) make it such as sweet cartridge for those mid range shots. I'd be very comfortable shooting this rifle out to about 250 meters, but not too much more.

The reticle in the Pecar 6X45 scope (think a 4a but with thicker posts which converge to leave a small, fine crosshair at centre) also assists with this.

Hard to believe such a combo would have been around in the 60's and 70's, way ahead of it's time! The memoirs of deer cullers in New Zealand sing unanimous praise for Sako L461 .222's, now I see why!
 
Hi again caberslash,
I have hunted in Argentina for Red Stag & Russian Boar/ mix, but what is
a Deer culler ? Certianly they don't use that cal. rifle to cull Red Stags in
New Zealand ? Are the deer cullers a paid group that kill Deer to eliminate crop damage? is the meat salvaged for people ? Here in the USA farmers can get a permit from the DNR to rid their farms of over abundant deer, but they are private farmers & land owners.
Pic = ( Sako AV 30/06 Red Stag Hunt in Argentina)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5691Argenyinanhunt.jpg
    IMG_5691Argenyinanhunt.jpg
    62.8 KB · Views: 7
Last edited:
Hi again caberslash,
I have hunted in Argentina for Red Stag & Russian Boar/ mix, but what is
a Deer culler ? Certianly they don't use that cal. rifle to cull Red Stags in
New Zealand ? Are the deer cullers a paid group that kill Deer to eliminate crop damage? is the meat salvaged for people ? Here in the USA farmers can get a permit from the DNR to rid their farms of over abundant deer, but they are private farmers & land owners. ( Sako AV 30/06 in Argentina)

After WWII (well before as well, but it really took off after WWII), the Kiwi government decided to ramp up formal efforts to bring wild deer under control. Shooters were hired and their surplus .303 Lee Enfield was usually ditched once contemporary sporting rifles from Europe came to NZ. Both BSA and Sako made small action .222's which would become a favourite of cullers due to the smaller and lighter rounds being easier to tote about the back-country (think 250-300 rounds of .222 vs 150 odd rounds of .303/30-06/.270).

From what I have heard, a culler was given a base wage, but the real incentive was from bounties on tails (although there was a monthly limit on claims) plus three rounds of .222 per deer. The good shots soon had a surplus of ammo and decent cash, but it wasn't long before the choppers came and the days of ground hunters were numbered.

The .222 is still the minimum calibre allowed on Department of Conservation land in NZ.
 
Back
Top