• 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

Help in identifying- Sako high power magnum mauser?

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

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I bought this rifle at auction and need some help if anyone has any information on what it could be. It was advertised as a Sako .300 magnum but the only markings representative of this are on the barrel as shown in the photos. The action looks mauser/german as well as the stock with the side safety. The double set trigger hasn't provided me with much info either. Could this possibly be a sako high power magnum mauser or could it possibly be a sako barrel but on german action/stock. If so, it was very well done. Any information would be awesome! Thanks
 
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Looks like a customized FN-Sako from the 1950's. Commercial FN action, built by Sako with a Sako barrel, stock, and some miscellaneous parts. These were typically marked only on the barrel as shown in the photos. The bolt appears to be numbered to the barrel, as the Sako factory would have done. I just checked the two in my safe and the flat-bottomed bolt knob and the shape of the bolt safety on one of them match the gun in the photo. I don't think the double set trigger and German style trigger safety were Sako factory options. The gun in the photo also has a side scope mount, possibly a German Ajack. My guess is that the gun was customized at some point, either in Germany or by a German or German-trained gunsmith. The engine turning on the bolt also would have been custom work. The stock may be original, but I think the fore-end tip was probably added by the builder.

Nice rifle.

By the way, you have multiple iterations posted of your photos. Probably some sort of glitch when you were posting. It would be good for you to go back and delete the extra copies.

Late edit - looks like the photo glitch has been fixed.
 
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Looks like a customized FN-Sako from the 1950's. Commercial FN action, built by Sako with a Sako barrel, stock, and some miscellaneous parts. These were typically marked only on the barrel as shown in the photos. The bolt appears to be numbered to the barrel, as the Sako factory would have done. I just checked the two in my safe and the flat-bottomed bolt knob and the shape of the bolt safety on one of them match the gun in the photo. I don't think the double set trigger and German style trigger safety were Sako factory options. The gun in the photo also has a side scope mount, possibly a German Ajack. My guess is that the gun was customized at some point, either in Germany or by a German or German-trained gunsmith. The engine turning on the bolt also would have been custom work. The stock may be original, but I think the fore-end tip was probably added by the builder.

Nice rifle.

By the way, you have multiple iterations posted of your photos. Probably some sort of glitch when you were posting. It would be good for you to go back and delete the extra copies.

Late edit - looks like the photo glitch has been fixed.
Icebear, Thanks so much for the information! It is much appreciated. After reading other posts in the forum, would it be right of me to assume the caliber to be a .300 H & H Magnum? I at first wanted to say .300 win mag but that in particular wasn't designed until 1963. I have yet to fire the rifle but look forward to doing so. Thanks again for your expertise
 
Icebear, Thanks so much for the information! It is much appreciated. After reading other posts in the forum, would it be right of me to assume the caliber to be a .300 H & H Magnum? I at first wanted to say .300 win mag but that in particular wasn't designed until 1963. I have yet to fire the rifle but look forward to doing so. Thanks again for your expertise
That is correct, it should be a .300 H&H. The .300 H&H FN-Sakos were marked .300 Magnum because that was the only .300 Magnum commercially available at the time. The only fly in the ointment is that yours is a custom rifle, and there was for a while in the 1960's and 70's a fad for rechambering .300 H&H rifles in .300 Weatherby Magnum. I have seen examples that were rechambered and NOT restamped. However, this is rarely seen these days. Fortunately, there is no hazard even if the chamber has been reamed to .300 Weatherby. The Weatherby round is really a ".300 H&H Improved" with a sharper shoulder and less case taper to increase powder capacity. Firing a .300 H&H factory round in a Weatherby chamber will just fireform the case to the chamber. Back in the day, a lot of guys made .300 Weatherby ammo that way if they couldn't find correct factory ammo or didn't want to pay Weatherby's prices.

Let me say again, it is highly unlikely that your chamber has been recut and not stamped, but I have seen such rifles and thought I should at least flag the possibility.
 
The H&H chamber is easily identified - just remove the bolt and take a look, and if its noticeably 'conical' its more than likely the 300 H&H. Have a look as its really quite distinguishable - tho if in any doubt please make a chamber cast or have a gunsmith check it out.
 
Scoping out the chamber is a good idea - as noted, one can often tell what it is by looking. There's no need to cast the chamber. Chamber casting is a tricky business - you have to knock out the casting at the right time in the cooling cycle, and if you miss the window the casting will stick, leaving a messy and unpleasant job to melt it out. You can pay a gunsmith to do it, but why? The odds that the chamber isn't factory original are minuscule, and it's perfectly safe to fire .300 H&H ammo in a .300 Weatherby chamber anyway. Unmarked conversions are rare, and were done by low-end gunsmiths who cut corners to save a little time. Whoever did the work on the gun in the photos was no bottom-feeder, further reducing the odds that the chamber has been reamed out. I posted the information about .300 Weatherby conversions because it's an out of the way piece of information that any buyer of a custom .300 H&H should be aware of, but there's no reason to spend extra money on a superfluous trip to the gunsmith.
 
Awesome information everyone. Thanks again! I really appreciate any and all info. I bought this rifle at auction and it came with a fixed scope on the side scope mount. The scope is a B. Nickel Marburg /L. --Made in Germany. Trying to do a little research on this as well. Just thought someone might have some info as it seems to be produced around the same era. Although not one that I plan on shooting with, looks like somewhat of a collector's piece.

Also, Any idea if there's a way to find out more about the origin of this rifle in particular? I tried going the factory records service on this forum and it seems that the website is no longer functioning. Again, any info is much appreciated.
 
B. Nickel of Marburg made high quality scopes. I have one or two of them on rifles and they are clear and bright. No reason to replace it unless you want a different power or reticle. The B. Nickel scope would be a 26mm tube and the rings are undoubtedly 26mm as well. Accordingly, if you replace the scope with a 1" diameter scope, you will have to put thin shims in the rings to make it fit tightly.
 
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