My Sako L61R adventure(s)

[Manh3]

So I purchased my first sako rifle about a month ago and this is where my story begins.

The rifle is a 1967 finnbear, I paid for the rifle sight unseen and had it shipped to my local gun store to complete the transfer. After my 10 day wait I go to pick up the rifle and low and behold the gun shop loses the box that continued my rifle stock. I sit around the mad and anxious about the situation, after an hour later they find the box, I still don't know how they located the box but they did.

I go to scope the rifle since I bought the rifle with redfield bases and 1 inch rings already on the rifle. I go to turners another gun shop to pick up some 30mm leupold rings. The fronts are dovetails and rears are windage rings and turners the shop wanted and were kind enough to install the rings for me. They get the fronts on and when they went to install the rears they end up stripping and breaking on of the windage screws. I'm like wow, and I pick up my rifle and head home broken.

Thanks to Misako, he sent me some windage bases and i go to install the scope, then I realize that the rear base is different than my old redfield bases, the ones Misako sent me were taller and so I was left mounting the rings and bases on anyways onto my new scope, schimdt and bender 1.5-6x 42mm. Being that the fronts were shorter than the rear mounts it gave me more adjustment values similar to a 20 moa base.

I take the gun to my local 100 yard range and for the life of me I could not get the rifle to shoot well. I was getting 3 inch groupings. I noticed 3 things about the rifle. 1. The stock is too long for me. 2. The gun does not like 168gr, this was confirmed by the previous owner. 3. I don't like the trigger and the trigger angle as I'm use to my jewel on my 700p and 3lb trigger on my ar308. I can get both of the rifles above to shoot less than 1 moa. The best grouping of the day that I could get was about 1.5 inches.

So I go home and do the unthinkable, guys please don't look at me different. I went home and free floated the barrel, I cut the rear recoil pad down so that the rifle fits me comfortably. I noticed how dirty the trigger mech was and so I cleaned that up and filed the trigger itself to smooth it out, basically I shaved off the sharpe ridges and filed it smooth like more traditional triggers. I also noticed that the barrel was extremely foul with copper and the crown was rough. I redid the crown myself and sprayed some foam copper solvent into the barrel to allow it to break down the copper build up and there was blue all,over my towel and patches. The last thing I have done is buy 2 boxes of of 150gr 30-06.

I haven't had the chance to get back to the range but I will next week to see how the like bubba mods have affected the rifle, hopefully for the better and get it down to shooting around 1 moa. Thank you once again to Misako for helping me out along the way, I really appreciate it.

Once I get the chance I will post some before and after pictures of the rifle and how it shoots.

 

[stonecreek]

1. Float barrel
2. Recrown
3. Clean fouled barrel
4. Modified trigger
5. Changed ammunition

Maybe it will shoot and maybe it won't. If it does, you won't know which of the operations did the trick. If it doesn't, you won't know which of the operations screwed it up.

By the way, always start with cleaning a fouled barrel.

 

[Manh3]

I know what you mean, I'm use to long range shooting and I know that you change one factor at a time to then shoot. All my guns have been shooters with because I followed there rules but this gun has been the worst shooter that I have had and it bummed me out because I really like the gun and want it to shoot well so I can pass it on to my future kids. I guess I just went crazy one day and made all the changes in one day.

Worst case scenario I can have my gunsmith cut, crown and thread my barrel at 20 inches and add a muzzle break. As for the trigger if it doesn't work out I can get a timney replacement trigger. The sako trigger is really crisp but it's angle is what gets me, but since shortening the rear stock the trigger is easier to deal . I was dry firing with snap caps and I was gaining confidence and consistency on the trigger and gun itself.

 

[eddieE76]

I'm no expert, but doesn't this gun have some collector value and modifying it reduces the value? I don't think I would have the heart to modify a classic...

Hope you get the accuracy you are looking for. Looking forward to a range report...

 

[NOVA]

Your post is heartbreaking! I can only imagine the disappointment, but I am impressed you are not giving up and trying to make it right. The one mod I would have second thoughts about is chopping the stock. Maybe it would have been better to leave the stock uncut, make the other repairs and then sell the Finnbear to someone else better suited to a longer length of pull?

Redid the crown yourself? You used a crowning tool? 79 degree, aka 11 degree?

After reading your entire post it is understood you did have some communication with the seller, i.e., confirming the gun did not like 168 grain.

Would you buy another firearm from this same seller?

Was it sold at such a low price it was too tempting to pass up?

"... paid for the rifle sight unseen and had it shipped to my local gun store ..."

Would you ever buy another gun sight unseen? I admit I have bought guns from online auctions, but the items had (1) plenty of photos, (2) good descriptions on their condition and (3) the seller had a high satisfaction rating, otherwise I would not consider buying it.

Really looking forward to seeing your before and after pics and range report. Good luck

 

[cmjr]

I like others would have probably left the original stuff alone, replaced the stock and trigger, cleaned it well and gotten some matching rings, and then start testing. But at least the rifle you changed up was probably one of the least collectible models, a L61R 30-06. In hindsight what's done is done but I think with a good cleaning and some different ammo you could of got where you wanted, but the ergonomic issues with the stock and trigger still needed to be dealt with. For resale value an unmodified rifle is usual going to return the best price but I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Now, as I put on my flame suit, I bought a clean L61R last month at the Market Hall gunshow for 550 off a dealers table Friday night at setup, pulled the barrel off that night and sold the barrel and stock the next day so I could use the action on a custom. Point being there are a lot of parts for L61R's floating around and it's not like your grinding on a Deluxe L461 or rebarreling a L46 218 Bee, that would give us the shakes.

 

[Manh3]

 

[Manh3]

Posted are my best 3 shot group of the day on 1 inch grids, before I started my bubba process. I know that my sako is not a valuable collector to anyone but me so I am going to keep at it and make it become a shooter. If I wanted another guarantee shooter I would of gotten a Remington 700 5R in 300win or a Tikka T3 but those 2 rifles don't have any character to them, I'm a sucker for a good or a sob story. I got my sako for under 800 and its a pre garcia with a beautiful stock. Once I get this rifle to shoot i'm going to keep it in the family forever.

I will keep you guys up to date and show you some pictures of the bubba process and how it shoots.

 

[NOVA]

May I ask, what was the distance to your target?

 

[Manh3]

This was at 100 yards indoor. I won't be able to make it out to a 800 yard range till next month. As long as I can hit an 8x8 steel plate or even better 4x4 out to 500 yards consistently I will be more than happy with the rifle.

 

[Manh3]

Here is an update, it's been awhile. The fishing here got hot and been stocking the freezer with yellowtail and yellowfin tunas.

I went out to the range and re zeroed my rifle in at 100 yards, it grouped well but I forgot to take a picture of it. Then I moved out to the 200 yard to zero my rifle in as i always have a 200 yard zero on my hunting rifles and deer season is next saturday.

Attached are the 4 shots, first 2 were low but were stacked on top of each other. Made some elevation adjustments, 3rd shot hit dead on and then the 4th shot was about 1 inch high. I was done after that due to i had to help 2 of my other buddies rifle sight their rifle in also. This was shot off my hunting bag and at 6X magnification, excatly how I would shoot out in the field. I was bummed before as the rifle would not shoot well, after all my adjustments this rifle is now a shooter. At 100 it was sub or close to 1 MOA and at 200 it'll do the job, I should of shot another round as people always want to see 3 shot groups if I would have, I believe the gun would be sub MOA as it's about an inch apart at 200 yards.

Big thanks to Mike (Misako) for helping me along the way.

 

[Manh3]