Finnwolf VL63 Wrong way safety Finnwolf

[Merrell]

Right, first post on this forum!
I´m not that good at english, but i hope that you could understand what I´m writing.

I´m from Sweden, love to hunt all our species and I´m in love with leveraction rifles! I got a Marlin 1895 XLR 45-70Gov. And have now bought a Sako Finnwolf VL63. The problem i have right now is that my Marlin safety is right. Push it to the left and it´s safety off and to the right it´s safe. My Finnwolf is the oposit... To the left and it´s safe and to the right and it´s safety off. That´s a problem for me because I´m right handed so I can´t put the safety off when I have the gun to my shoulder. I have been trying to take the safety appart and just put it the other way but I can´t get it away! Have anny of you guys ever done this and maby could tell me how?

With kind regards Hasse

 

[misako50]

Merrel- Welcome to the club. I will be down in my shop in a few hours and I will take a look at mine. I think they are all opposite of yours so someone possibly changed yours to a left hand function? I am not sure. I will get back to you before too much time has passed- In the mean time figure out how to post a picture of your "wolf" so we can ogle it- UPDATE! I got my wolves out and they are the same. When the rifle is upright and pointed away, the rifle is on safe when the button is pushed out to the right. Using the right hand you place the button to the fire position by pushing the button to the left. If yours differs from that then it has been changed or set for a left handed rifle. I think all the sakos were set up from the factory this same way. Yours has been switched--- IMHO- And, BTW, your English is great and please don't ask how my Swedish is:topic:-Misako

 

[Merrell]

Thank you for your answer misako50!
That´s what i was thinking aswell, somewone has been change it to a left handed. My wolf is the opposite to what you say. The problem is, how on earth could i change it!? I have been trying to turn the bigger knot on the safety and it didnt move at all! I even warm it up if it was stuck with some glue in the threads, I thought it was a screw that i could take away and then switch it. And when i took a closer look one side of the safety, one side is the same diameter as the "body" of the safety pin. Maby it´s possible to just push it out? It feels like something is locking it up from just fall out... In worst case i have to call my gunsmith and ask him if he knows how to switch it, but I prefer to do it my selfe.

Nah, don´t gonna ask about your Swedish.

 

[maxwatt]

It is NOT possible to switch it around and make a righthand into a lefthand.
Atleast not mine, and i doubt there are other versions of the safety on these guns.
I was intrigued by the idea and since i wasnt satisfied with the feel of my safety i dissected it.
i wil see if i can post som pics later.
To make the switch, you need to have a lefthand triggerguard, and the only way to get that is to find a righthanded gun owner with a lefthand gun who will exchange parts with you...or was it the other way you wanted it to switch. Good luck

 

[misako50]

Thanks, Maxwatt- I have no doubt what you say is true. All of mine are the same and don't look like a simple switch could be done. Since I don't have the "Left handed Finnwolf" in my collection, there is no way for me to tell what may or may not be needed for a safety change. Now I am wondering if it was a Winchester 88 that could be easily changed or an 870 Remington shotgun? I have had both and never cared to look at them with a safety change in mind.-Misako

 

[maxwatt]

On my righthand gun, this tiny safety guide screw is on the right side of the top of the trigger guard.

If it is on the left side on a lefthand gun, it means you will need to change the triggerguard to switch the safety.
If it is on the right, you can probably change the safety by getting the triggerbutton from a righthand gun.

 

[FarmerR]

Old thread but it's safety related.

I'm wondering if anyone has a tip or trick to make the safety less prone to change into fire? Mine is ridiculously easy to switch over and unfortunately I recently managed to shoot a hole in my cabin ceiling. Beside scaring the crap out of myself I had no hearing on my right ear for a couple of days. After that Ive been reluctant to use it. Did take it out a few days ago to check zero though. Any suggestions are very welcome. (No, I'm not selling it...)

 

[douglastwo]

I agree, I would not sell it. But, you should unload it before you go into the cabin. Shame on you.

 

[marlin92]

It may be an issue with one of 2 parts - I included a picture of the Finnwolf parts list so you can at least see what I am speaking of.
#529 safety spring and #530 safety spring button

The spring pushes the head of the button against the shaft of the the safety. It is possible the spring has compressed or gotten weak or the head small button has gotten worn or the last possibility is the raised area on the safety #527 has gotten worn (Not likely).

There are two flat spots on the safety that the head of the safety button rests against and when you push it from on to off it basically just slides over a ridge that divides the flat areas on the safety.

The only other REMOTE possibility and not sure if it is at all possible is that someone has rotated the safety 180 degrees so that the raised area between the flat areas on the safety in now not in the correct position. So that the safety button in on the flat area with no raised separator.

I have included pictures of the 3 parts involved.

If you find you need a part to correct the issue PM me I can probably help.

Hope this helps you - good luck

By the way I should have mentioned a GREAT thread that MAXWATT put together that shows a lot of information on the Finnwolf with pictures that also would be helpful for you. If you do a search for BELLY OF THE BEAST you should find it.

 

[FarmerR]

It may be an issue with one of 2 parts - I included a picture of the Finnwolf parts list so you can at least see what I am speaking of.
#529 safety spring and #530 safety spring button

The spring pushes the head of the button against the shaft of the the safety. It is possible the spring has compressed or gotten weak or the head small button has gotten worn or the last possibility is the raised area on the safety #527 has gotten worn (Not likely).

There are two flat spots on the safety that the head of the safety button rests against and when you push it from on to off it basically just slides over a ridge that divides the flat areas on the safety.

The only other REMOTE possibility and not sure if it is at all possible is that someone has rotated the safety 180 degrees so that the raised area between the flat areas on the safety in now not in the correct position. So that the safety button in on the flat area with no raised separator.

I have included pictures of the 3 parts involved.

If you find you need a part to correct the issue PM me I can probably help.

Hope this helps you - good luck

By the way I should have mentioned a GREAT thread that MAXWATT put together that shows a lot of information on the Finnwolf with pictures that also would be helpful for you. If you do a search for BELLY OF THE BEAST you should find it.

Thank you! Will look into this asap!

 

[FarmerR]

I agree, I would not sell it. But, you should unload it before you go into the cabin. Shame on you.

I had pigs outside the cabin a few nights and therefore spent one night in the window hoping they'd come back. Which they didn't and while pulling the rifle from the window I managed to push and pull with my glove and... Be careful around guns!!

 

[Trapper56]

On my Finnwolf I took it apart and did some judicious “grinding” with a dremel tool on my safety slide button. I basically ground out a “pocket” that the plunger sits in when it’s in the “safe” position. This in turn requires “more of a push” on the safety button to slide it to the fire position. Now, the spring loaded plunger is “deeper” in the pocket on the “safe” side. The safety being too “easy” to slide to the fire position was actually one of the reasons I sold my first Finnwolf. I didn’t feel safe hunting with it ! Waaaaay too easy to push it to the fire position . On the Finnwolf I own now, when it arrived it had the exact same problem !!! So, I “took the chance” and disassembled the lever assembly to get the safety button out so it could be worked on. I don’t recall exactly how I did it, but I do know that I had to do about 3 or 4 rounds of “grinding” and “testing” the safety before I got to an acceptable level of “push pressure”... Now, It’s good enough to where I will hunt with it ... So, it can be done...

 

[FarmerR]

On my Finnwolf I took it apart and did some judicious “grinding” with a dremel tool on my safety slide button. I basically ground out a “pocket” that the plunger sits in when it’s in the “safe” position. This in turn requires “more of a push” on the safety button to slide it to the fire position. Now, the spring loaded plunger is “deeper” in the pocket on the “safe” side. The safety being too “easy” to slide to the fire position was actually one of the reasons I sold my first Finnwolf. I didn’t feel safe hunting with it ! Waaaaay too easy to push it to the fire position . On the Finnwolf I own now, when it arrived it had the exact same problem !!! So, I “took the chance” and disassembled the lever assembly to get the safety button out so it could be worked on. I don’t recall exactly how I did it, but I do know that I had to do about 3 or 4 rounds of “grinding” and “testing” the safety before I got to an acceptable level of “push pressure”... Now, It’s good enough to where I will hunt with it ... So, it can be done...

Yeah, I need to do something. I went out last night looking for the piggie b*st*rds that dug up our fields. And again, it goes into fire just like that. Im not bringing it anywhere before it's fixed. Will see if I can do someone like you did. Gunsmith was backed up months. It's the season...