• 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

70 years anniversaryfull stock super deluxe Sako 30-06

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

Thanks Guys,

The whole point was about helping Finnwolff and others who may be fortunate enough to run across the path of one of these fine ladies. I try not to be a grand-stander or an in your face kind of guy. (not always successful in that department). I knew what this was and wanted to share with someone in Finnwolff's position. I now have been planning to write SAKO in Finland to see if there are any old-timers around who knew the pecking order on distribution. I still want to hear from anyone who can verify current ownership, #, and location. I will not divulge any information except to those who are verified owners who are also interested where they've gone. I want to hear from anyone via the PM system about these matters for privacy sake. BTW, Mine is NOT FOR SALE.

I talked to all my Finnish relatives and everyone I know who was at SAKO when these came out. Also to Swaro and Zeiss to verify they supplied scopes for the 70th. The only other thing I can say that the original SCA had wind of these based on a blurb in the FinnMark Newsletters, was proposed retail price (USD) would have been: $8,500 in 1991. This is not verified. I think they were all pre-spoken for before they were even built. Totally a European release, or to someone who knew someone high in the food chain.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Guess it was my turn. I've had it about a year and a half now. Its in amazing condition and the case was built in the town where my maternal grandfather was born.

I appreciate all the nice comments. I just took the pictures quick with the iPhone earlier, so sorry if they are not the best.

Regards,

S-A
 
Ok Jim then keep it and I hope you enjoy feeling her up, as I would sell the wife for that 70th Anniversary model only thing is no one would probably make the trade.
But if things get worse with regards to the U.S economy and things get tough you know where you have plenty of buyers just waiting to pounce on it.
Thanks for the pics!! They are truely beautiful. I am full of envy. I will be searching E.U gun sites for a while until I locate one. There has to be one out there somewhere looking for an australian home.
Well done great find.
regards
\*******
 
*******,

Good luck in your quest. Thanks for the kind words. Your first step is to find a local importer who can make the arrangements and get the permits on your side. Then a shipping and permit process will occur on the other side. Different laws and treaties will be in effect, but the arms traders know what they are. I almost didn't get the scope with mine, but since it was part of the "package" (complete product), that was allowed. Also, they did not send the actual ammo,but it's the boxes that are the important part. Lastly, it will take time and persistence.

Regards,

S-A
 
I have seen (on the web) one other...apparently belonging to another Finn, who coincidentally is a guitar affectionado as well...he states in a post that he refinished this one, also showing a Les Paul Guitar he refinished as well

Hello everyone, I had to register in this excellent forum after I found pictures of my very own rifle in here.

Yes, I'm a Finn, owner of several firearms, some of them Sako's and a guitar affectionado playing in a gigging band.

I bought this rifle (number 50 of 70) from a local gun dealer who had Sako dealership and therefore was given a chance to buy one of these beauties, so he bought it as an investment. He almost canceled the deal with me when I bought a few boxes of .30-06 hunting ammo with the rifle: "You gonna actually SHOOT this rifle?" He still calls me one crazy mofo. :smile:

The stock was bone dry and in a danger of cracking with recoil after sever years of keeping it in its case (it was taken out for re-oiling of metal parts once a year) inside a very dry-aired house, so I had to apply liberal amount of oil with vigorous hand buffing to revive the stock into its original condition. So, refinishing is maybe a tad too harsh word to describe what I actually did with the stock.

Since I was going to hunt moose with the rifle I changed the original scope rings into lower Sako Opti-Lock QR mounts for better cheek weld, other than that the rifle is in its original form.

The photo in Bloo's post is one of the pics taken for an article in a Finnish gun magazine Rekyyli. They were quite exited when they could actually shoot one of these rifles. I'll post some additional photos to the "Anniversary Model" thread. Btw, the photo in that thread is also taken from my rifle...
http://www.sakocollectors.com/forum/showthread.php?7303-Anniversary-Model&highlight=anniversary

Here's the rifle with it's first kill:
sako70-moose.jpg
 
I have seen (on the web) one other...apparently belonging to another Finn, who coincidentally is a guitar affectionado as well...he states in a post that he refinished this one, also showing a Les Paul Guitar he refinished as well...Not knowing why anyone would have to refinish such a rifle as the 70th Anni Mannlicher...so be advised!~Bloo
Hi gents!

I already sent a message here, but it disappeared into a digital event horizon or something...

I'm the owner of this very rifle (#50 of 70) and after accidentally finding this thread and pictures of her I thought I'd register here and tell the history of this beauty.

The original owner was a Sako dealer in Kirkkonummi, Finland and he bought it for himself as an investment. He sold it to me, because he knew I can appreciate the aesthetics and craftsmanship of the rifle. He almost canceled the deal when I bought a few boxes of .30-06 hunting ammo with the rifle :smile: After all, it is a firearm.

The picture on Bloo's post was taken during photo shoot session for Finnish gun magazine Rekyyli. They were quite exited to have a chance to actually shoot one these collectibles.

When I got the rifle, its stock was bone dry for being kept in it's case in a very dry-aired house, only being taken out of the gun case for annual re-oiling of the metal parts. Afraid of the stock cracking from recoil I applied a liberal amount of clear stock oil and vigorously hand buffed it to its original shine, so refinishing may be a tad too strong word for the operation. The stock looks like it would be lacquered but it isn't, just gun stock oil and a considerable amount of elbow grease.

I've been hunting moose with this rifle and it's a pretty good shooter: Norma 200 grain Oryx groups 1-1,5 MOA, accurate enough for its use.

I'll send some pictures after a while.

- Valdemar
 
Here cometh:

Sako%20kahva+liip.jpg


Sako%20laukussa.jpg


I replaced the original way too high scope mounts with these lower QR Opti-Locks.

Sako%20kiikarinjalka.jpg


- Valdemar
 
Valdemar,

I would not classify your "conditioning" of the 70th rifle stock as a full-blown re-finish. I think it looks great. and the premise of shooting this rifle to me shows the SAKO's combination of beauty and functionality. I believe it is an owner's right to shoot it if he sees fit. I have not fired mine, but I do have three other -06's so now I know from you that this weapon is effective! Nice Moose, by the way. And you are correct about the ring height issue. If I were shooting mine, lower rings would be much better. I'm sure you have saved the original ones.

This is a all great to know, and especially that two forum members actually own these 70th Anniversary treasures. I hope another member or someone just reading our forum may come forward with ownership information so we can see where some of these rifles went.

I know other members DO have some 50th Anniversary rifles. I will come out of the closet and say that I have 5, all under #500, and all with three-lug bolts. Some came out with two lug bolts. Not any functionality differences, but good talking points with the latter being somewhat less desirable for SOME people.

Anyone go for the 90th and buy one? Not me. I would wait for the 100th, as Im sure there will likely be one. I hope there are actually only 100 made.The price would be outrageous, of course.

If there is enough interest, we could possibly start a separate blog on the "Anniversary" rifles?

Thanks for sharing Valdemar. Finns with Finn rifles. What a concept!:eek:mg:
 

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Jim,

ditto on conditioning versus re-finishing and yes, I do have the original scope rings, so I can revert to original configuration. Nice rifle you got there... :smile: A tad darker than mine I suppose, but a real beauty. So, numbers 50 and 60 spotted here and number 1 at Sako museum...

Sako%20sarjanro.jpg
 
Valdemar,

The stocks on my 50th Anniversary rifles do vary in shade without too much contrast so one should expect that to some degree. Yours is great as far as I'm concerned. I still want to find out where others are located. I did not buy mine here in the US and no one has rebuked my statement that they were never imported here, so I think that's true based on the wealth of knowledge amongst our membership. The only people here that I think could have one would be someone in the now defunct SAKO club (SCA), as a couple of those members were close to the factory operations. I suspect if anyone here got one, it would be one of those guys. There are many of them here with us, so if any of you can shed any light on the Finnmark brief mention of the 70th in one of the editions, this a good time to start the rumors:drool:

Also, thank you for the information about the newspaper/magazine ad that Bloo posted. maybe we should check the classified section of the Helsinki Sanomat?:facepalm3:

S-A

P.S. I see your rifle has the Zeiss/Hensholt scope and mine has the Swaro/Habicht. I called both companies as well as SAKO and they used each of these scopes (basically the same thing, anyway)
 
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Jim,

as you stated, the scope is Zeiss Z 1,5-6x42T*; a high quality piece of glass, indeed. A few pieces of information from the research of the writer of the gun magazine article, Erkki Lahtinen: the wood used for these rifles is select high grade Turkish walnut and the engravings on the magazine floor plate and the trigger guard are hand made by master engraver Timo Tammi, so they are all more or less unique. Probably less :smile:

Sako%20lipas.jpg


Sako%20liipaisin.jpg
 
Well, let's see about the engraving. Thanks for that information. The scopes look nearly identical.

S-A
 

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I think your gold fill is a little crisper than mine. I'll check it. These pictures were made with my iPhone awhile back.

S-A

Update: I checked and although my gold fill is better than pictured (it is more like my avatar from the action), I think your rifle has definitely weathered the years better than mine.

S-A
 
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Jim,

Swarovski is an Austrian company and Zeiss German and to my knowledge they don't do any co-operation since they are direct competitors with their businesses. Similarities are coincidental and derived from similar technological approach to the construction of rifle scopes. The reason for Sako using two different types of scopes is probably the fact, that there wasn't 70 units of either scopes in Finland at the time of assembly of these rifles, or even available from the scope manufacturers. Small markets for high end scopes in Finland, especially 20 years ago.

The original owner of this rifle told me, that he was given a chance to buy one of these rifles because his company Kirkkonummen Erävaruste had Sako dealership. What he wanted, was an even ten number (i.e. 910010, 910020 etc) and the first available was 910050. To his information, none of the rifles were exported and practically all of them were spoken for even before they were assembled. This is the reason why its very hard to find any info about these guns, because they were practically shipped directly to their buyers, and locked into vaults. :smile:
 
Well, the site got me on my response. I don't know why it times out so fast. Again, I trusted it and didn't copy the message.

In essence, I believe all you say is true on the history. I very aptly put my foot in my mouth on the scopes, too. In fact, I was looking at Steiner and Hensholt scopes last week for one of my new "paper punchers".

So, as I suspected, none were imported. I'm glad they at least did only 100 of the 90th: 10 high-end, well embellished rifles; and 90 of the "regular" ones LOL. It keeps the spirit of the occasion and adds more fun to the hunt. The more elusive the game; the more coveted the prize.

Rumor has it that the going price was to be $8,500 in USD. Never heard anymore about the rifles. Now we know why. Great information.

Regards,

S-A
 
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Jim,

use the force, trust your feelings, not the forum software :smile:

I called the gun writer Erkki Lahtinen this morning and asked if he still got his research files on the 70th Anniversary model. He'll be calling me back, hopefully with more info to share. Erkki has written a tonne of articles on Sako rifles, so he is currently one of the best sources on the subject here in Finland. Unfortunately he doesn't speak or even read "The London dialect" as he says, so he can't himself participate the discussion on the forum.

I told him about the keen interest of the history of Sako rifles all around the world, so he'll probably update his articles and get them translated to english: maybe some gun magazine would be interested in publishing them, I think its worth a try. After all, he is officially retired, so all he's got is spare time :smile: ...yeah right...


Some additional eye candy of my rifle...

The lower QR Opti-Lock rings...
Sako%20kiikarinjalka.jpg


Sako%20laukussa.jpg


Sako%20pera.jpg


Sako%20kahva+liip.jpg


- Valdemar
 
Valdemar,

The stocks on my 50th Anniversary rifles do vary in shade without too much contrast so one should expect that to some degree. Yours is great as far as I'm concerned. I still want to find out where others are located. I did not buy mine here in the US and no one has rebuked my statement that they were never imported here, so I think that's true based on the wealth of knowledge amongst our membership. The only people here that I think could have one would be someone in the now defunct SAKO club (SCA), as a couple of those members were close to the factory operations. I suspect if anyone here got one, it would be one of those guys. There are many of them here with us, so if any of you can shed any light on the Finnmark brief mention of the 70th in one of the editions, this a good time to start the rumors:drool:

Also, thank you for the information about the newspaper/magazine ad that Bloo posted. maybe we should check the classified section of the Helsinki Sanomat?:facepalm3:

S-A

P.S. I see your rifle has the Zeiss/Hensholt scope and mine has the Swaro/Habicht. I called both companies as well as SAKO and they used each of these scopes (basically the same thing, anyway)


I'm very interested in purchasing sako 50th anniversary rifle if anyone is interested in selling one please call me at Edit by owner: No phone numbers, email addresses or other contact info in posts please. Use Conversations (PM) for messages! We do not know who is watching and you’ld be surprised how much info you can find from a phone number or email address etc.
 
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Hello everyone! Nice to see that there is som many people that likes the 70th anniversery rifle! I happen to be owning one myself. All thoe im thinking about selling it. But i cant find any prices.. I belive its a to rare gun to go hunt with so I have only used it a couple of times. My father had it out hunting but its i realy good shape! Maby some one in here can help me to set a price on it? I allso have The birch case, The sako ammo packs that came with it.
Best reguards M Nordöen
 
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