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Short Actions Early L46 with Wing Safety

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

icebear

Sako-addicted
I just picked up this L46 .222 with the Type 2 Mauser-style wing safety on the left of the bolt. It is an interesting gun for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it was one of the first 100 guns Sako built in .222 Remington. Completed in February 1951, it was originally exported to Ellwood Epps, a dealer and custom builder in Ontario, Canada. The seller knew very little about the rifle. He advertised it as an L61, and stated it was built in 1949 (before the .222 Remington was introduced).

For a 70-year-old rifle, it's in amazing condition. The stock has a few dings, but the finish appears to be original. The buttplate is not scratched up, the metal is in excellent condition, and the bolt looks like it's had maybe a box of ammo through it in the whole 70 years. Bolt operation is very stiff as there is no lubricant in it at all. Trigger is light, with no take-up, but with a slightly soft feel. I'll be pulling the action out of the stock and cleaning and lubricating everything before test firing.

Something that really impresses me about Sako rifles from the 1950's is the craftsmanship, especially the checkering, which is finer and better executed than on the later L461/L579/L61R rifles. I consider the L46 to be a better-made gun than its successors.

The odd thing about this rifle is the lack of a front sight. There is little if any sign of the factory sight being removed; if the sight was removed it was a very professional job. The upper part of the barrel where the sight would be does appear to be slightly less glossy than the rest of the barrel, so this could be evidence of removal. I'm guessing that since the original dealer was a custom builder, he might have removed the front sight at the request of the buyer. I e-mailed the Ellwood Epps company in Canada, which is still in business, but they do not have records going back that far.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of an L46 that left the factory without a front sight? I haven't, and I don't find any reference to such a thing in my Finnish-language reference sources. The front sight issue affects collector interest in the rifle, but I think the price I paid reflects the loss in value. I'm comfortable with it.

The scope and mount are Stith-Kollmorgen. The 6x Bear Cub and the Sako mount were a hot item in the early 1950's, so I am guessing they are probably original to the gun. The Kollmorgen scope is in excellent cosmetic and optical condition - bright, clear, and sharp (at least by the standards of 1951). The plain crosshair reticle is less prominent than the duplex most of us are used to, but it will work just fine. I plan to leave the scope and mount in place. As a side note, the Kollmorgen scope is 26mm, as are the Stith rings. This makes a vintage Stith mount a good option for anyone who wants to put a 26mm European scope on an L46.

Kollmorgen is a long-established, high-end optical company in the U.S. It has been manufacturing periscopes for the U.S. Navy since World War I, and still does. Kollmorgen sold its rifle scope business to Redfield; I don't recall when but I think it was in the late 1950's. The Kollmorgen Bear Cub formed the basis for Redfield's line of scopes; those familiar with Redfield will recognize the signature knurling on the ocular.

When Sako decided to chamber the L46 in the newly announced .222 Remington, it was necessary to lengthen the action by milling a longer feed opening on the bottom, lengthen the bolt travel by changing the bolt stop, and redesign the magazine for the longer cartridge. The basic dimensions of the action remained unchanged. The L46 had been made in 7x33, .25-20, .218 Bee, and .22 Hornet - all of which are much shorter than the .222.

Here are photos, some of which show this rifle next to a later L46 with the boxy-looking rotary safety on the right side of the bolt. There's also one photo with the two rifles and an L469 in .222 Magnum, which has the late style stock with the squared-off forend and Monte Carlo cheekpiece of the L461, which replaced the L46/L469 series.
L46 Pair 1.JPG L46 Pair 2.JPG l46 Trio 1.JPG
Buttstock of the 1951 rifle. Pretty tiger striping, but hard to capture an image because the striping is only visible with the light at certain angles. After that, the two L46 stocks compared.
1951 L46 Buttstock- L.JPG 1951 L46 Buttstock- R.JPG L46 Pair 3.JPG L46 Pair 4.JPG
Various details of the 1951 rifle
1951 L46 Action L.JPG 1951 L46 Action R.JPG 1951 L46 Bottom.JPG

Safety off
1951 L46 Safety Off.JPG
Safety on
1951 L46 Safety On.JPG
And finally, one shot of the muzzle area, taken from above. It doesn't really show much. My autofocus digital camera didn't want to give me a good image. I'll pull out the D750 and the Micro-Nikkor when I get time and take some better photos.
1951 L46 Barrel 1.JPG
 
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Steve Barnett has a deluxe L46 222 with no front sight on Guns International. Your rifle is a very nice piece. Congratulations. I also like the L46s. Especially the mannlichers.
 
Steve Barnett has a deluxe L46 222 with no front sight on Guns International. Your rifle is a very nice piece. Congratulations. I also like the L46s. Especially the mannlichers.
Thanks, I had forgotten about the Deluxe models, many if not most of which came from the factory without sights. I'm still wondering if any standard grade L46 rifles left Riihimäki with naked barrels.
 
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Great find, Icebear! It appears that Sako simply used their Hornet barrels on the earliest L46's, which had something in the neighborhood of a 1-16" twist. When you get around to checking your twist let us know what you find. The 1-16" twist does just fine with conventional bullets up to at least 55 grains (and might arguably be better than a faster twist with lighter bullets). I can't see why anyone would want to shoot a bullet heavier than 55 in a .222, anyway.

The Deluxe L46 didn't come along until the late 1950's and is something of a different animal to the early LH safety L46. The Deluxes will almost certainly have forged bottom metal, rolling safety, and a Monte Carlo stock. Deluxes in that era had front sights, but since we never say "never" with Sako, it is certainly possible that some came without.
 
Thanks, I had forgotten about the Deluxe models, many if not most of which came from the factory without sights. I'm still wondering if any standard grade L46 rifles left Riihimäki with naked barrels.
As we know anything is possible, but it's hard to imagine that any Sako L46 left the factory in 1951 without a front sight. Scopes of that day just didn't convey enough confidence to most shooters to not have a backup plan, so it would have been tougher to sell any rifle without sights. Now, would a member that has one please post a pic & show I'm wrong.
 
I suspect that the Barnett deluxe currently for sale has been modified and did not come originally without a front sight. I have owned at least a dozen of these Deluxe l46s and I've never seen one without a front sight. At least that has been my experience. By contrast, the l461 deluxe's are a mixed bag.
 
I suspect that the Barnett deluxe currently for sale has been modified and did not come originally without a front sight. I have owned at least a dozen of these Deluxe l46s and I've never seen one without a front sight. At least that has been my experience. By contrast, the l461 deluxe's are a mixed bag.
Concur. This is what my collection tells me as well.

DeerGoose
 
interesting gun for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it was one of the first 100 guns Sako built in .222 Remington. Completed in February 1951

I've got one of these early .222s wing safety as well. Simply fantastic !, so Congrats Icebear ! From the records service for my rifle:
L46 Mannlicher in .222Rem #4847: Inspected on 2/26/51, shipped on 3/29/51 and was one of thirty-two (32) .222 rifles in that shipment to FI. This rifle was included in only the second shipment of L46 .222s and was among the first 100 .222s ever shipped by Sako.

Assuming your rifle was included in the first shipment ? little nitnoids like this are really interesting to me !! thanks for the pics.

DeerGoose
 
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I've got one of these early .222s wing safety as well.
Cool! How about posting a photo?

.222Rem #4847: Inspected on 2/26/51,
Mine was inspected four days later, on 2/30/51. Serial numbers are 965 apart, once again underlining that Sako serial numbers were not issued in sequence. What I think happened is that actions were built and stacked on shelves, then the assemblers would just grab one from the pile when they went to build a gun. Curiously, this was not the case with the Sako military rifles, which were date-stamped. There was a definite serial number block for each year of production.

Just a sidebar - I see you are in Virginia. When I lived there between 1993 and 2003, I had a wing safety L46 for a while, but sold it when I needed the money for something else. I've always wanted another one, but didn't pull the trigger until this one came along. That rifle was a sporter, not a Mannlicher, so I am not a previous owner of your rifle.
 
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Hello Icebear,
I'm wondering why your L46 does not have a rear sight soldered on to the barrel. Both my 1953 L46 .22 Hornet and my 1949 6,3 X 33 R both have rear Barrel sights. Also my 1967 L461 .222 Rem. has a rear barrel sight.
Blackjack
 
Hello Icebear,
I'm wondering why your L46 does not have a rear sight soldered on to the barrel. Both my 1953 L46 .22 Hornet and my 1949 6,3 X 33 R both have rear Barrel sights. Also my 1967 L461 .222 Rem. has a rear barrel sight.
Blackjack
Most L46 rifles (as well as later L-series rifles) sold in the U.S. were equipped with only a front sight, the idea being that anyone who wanted iron sights would attach the Sako aperture sight. I believe this was done to eliminate interference between the scope and the rear sight, and also to save cost. I have four L46/L469 rifles (other than the one just acquired), three L461, and one each of L579 and L61R. None of these has a rear sight. All except one heavy barrel .222 have front sights. The later A-series rifles can be found with or without sights.
 
I spent most of the morning getting the "new" L46 ready for the range. Checked the twist (thanks Stonecreek) and got 15". There could be some measuring error there but it does tend to confirm that the barrel was originally intended for the .22 Hornet. I'll try it out with some 40-grain ammo I picked up at a gun show a while back (remember pre-pandemic gun shows?), as well as the usual 50-grain.

Close inspection confirms the initial impression - this is a rifle that has not been shot or carried in the field very much. Some lubrication improved the bolt and safety operation quite a bit, but as Stonecreek noted, the safety is still pretty stiff because of its geometry. Trigger pull tests out between 2 pounds and 2 pounds 4 ounces. The sear surfaces could maybe use a tiny touch of honing, but I didn't feel like taking the trigger mechanism apart and it's perfectly OK as is. For some reason, the bluing was gone from the head of the rear action screw, so I cold blued it while I had the gun apart. This is one of the few hunting rifles I've owned, Sako or otherwise, that didn't have buggered screws. Finally, I went over all the metal with Lucas Metal Polish and cleaned the wood with Birchwood Casey Stock Conditioner. While the gun looked pretty clean in the first place, I did find quite a bit of crud on the cloth and it looks even better than it did. It is all but impossible to see any difference in the bluing where a front sight was (probably) removed.

The scope merits a few more words. It's a 6x42mm on a 26mm tube, following contemporary European practice. It is amazingly bright, clear, and sharp for its age. The only areas where it suffers by comparison to a modern scope are contrast and flare, which have been much improved by later developments in lens coatings. I'd say Kollmorgen's glass has held up remarkably well. In contrast to many other older scopes I've owned or seen, it does not need an internal cleaning; the sealing must be excellent. I'm sure it was a very deluxe item in its time.

Can't wait to get it to the range, but I'm going to have to wait a while. Weather for this weekend is predicted to be windy, with a high of 105. Not auspicious for sighting in a rifle.
 
That your vintage Kollmorgen is clear indicates that it was probably never stored for extended periods in high heat conditions. The cement which held the lenses in place in the Kollmorgens and Stiths tended to deteriorate with heat (and time, I suppose) and migrate across the lenses creating a "fogged" condition. So, maybe it spent much of its life in Canada. By the way, what part of the U.S. was the seller you purchased from located?
 
By the way, what part of the U.S. was the seller you purchased from located?
The seller was in Illinois. He had only had the rifle for a few months and didn't know much about it. He said he had gotten it from his friendly local dealer, who was disposing of the collection of an elderly woman who, in her younger days, had traveled all over the world hunting with her father. That might explain how it got from Canada to the United States, and also why it never got any use.

You're right about the adhesives inside the scope. When heated, they will exude vapors that collect over time as a film on the lens elements inside the scope. The otherwise very nice 3x Weaver that arrived attached to my .22 Hornet P72 has a mild case of this, unfortunately. I'd like to get it cleaned but with prices being what they are, I'm not sure I could get it done at a reasonable price. From what I understand, all the remaining Weaver-El Paso parts were bought up by a guy who is now charging outrageous prices for parts and service. A while back I needed one of those plastic teardrop-shaped turret covers for an old Weaver .22 scope. They had them - for something like $15.00 apiece! I later found the same thing at a gun show - two for a buck. Do you know of anybody who does cleaning and repair of older Weaver scopes at a semi-reasonable price?
 
The seller was in Illinois. He had only had the rifle for a few months and didn't know much about it. He said he had gotten it from his friendly local dealer, who was disposing of the collection of an elderly woman who, in her younger days, had traveled all over the world hunting with her father. That might explain how it got from Canada to the United States, and also why it never got any use.

You're right about the adhesives inside the scope. When heated, they will exude vapors that collect over time as a film on the lens elements inside the scope. The otherwise very nice 3x Weaver that arrived attached to my .22 Hornet P72 has a mild case of this, unfortunately. I'd like to get it cleaned but with prices being what they are, I'm not sure I could get it done at a reasonable price. From what I understand, all the remaining Weaver-El Paso parts were bought up by a guy who is now charging outrageous prices for parts and service. A while back I needed one of those plastic teardrop-shaped turret covers for an old Weaver .22 scope. They had them - for something like $15.00 apiece! I later found the same thing at a gun show - two for a buck. Do you know of anybody who does cleaning and repair of older Weaver scopes at a semi-reasonable price?
Vintage Gun Scopes will refurbish a Weaver K Series scope for $100 + parts. That includes purging. nitrogen fill. resealing. glass relamination, & return shipping. Not sure what you consider reasonable, but they did one for me a few years ago & I was more than pleased. Will change reticle for $50. V Series scopes are $200. They also have refurbish scopes ready for sale. Just look for Vintagegunscopes.com
 
Vintage Gun Scopes will refurbish a Weaver K Series scope for $100 + parts. That includes purging. nitrogen fill. resealing. glass relamination, & return shipping. Not sure what you consider reasonable, but they did one for me a few years ago & I was more than pleased. Will change reticle for $50. V Series scopes are $200. They also have refurbish scopes ready for sale. Just look for Vintagegunscopes.com
Thanks for the recommendation. 100 bucks for labor, including nitrogen fill, etc. isn't unreasonable. However, God help you if you need parts. That's the outfit I mentioned above with the outrageous pricing on the plastic caps. My memory was off, though - the price for the little plastic slip-on caps is $20 new, $10 used.

The problem is that for something like a K3 or K4, the price of an overhaul is just about what it's worth at a gun show or on Gunbroker, so you really have to be sure you want that scope before you spend the money. A K12 with an adjustable objective is another matter; those can bring $200-300 so the economics of having it fixed are different. I like that K3; I might just spend $100 to get it cleaned if I don't run across a better one in the meantime. What would be even better is to find a 3x Leupold with clear optics and decent cosmetics.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. 100 bucks for labor, including nitrogen fill, etc. isn't unreasonable. However, God help you if you need parts. That's the outfit I mentioned above with the outrageous pricing on the plastic caps. My memory was off, though - the price for the little plastic slip-on caps is $20 new, $10 used.

The problem is that for something like a K3 or K4, the price of an overhaul is just about what it's worth at a gun show or on Gunbroker, so you really have to be sure you want that scope before you spend the money. A K12 with an adjustable objective is another matter; those can bring $200-300 so the economics of having it fixed are different. I like that K3; I might just spend $100 to get it cleaned if I don't run across a better one in the meantime. What would be even better is to find a 3x Leupold with clear optics and decent cosmetics.
Last I checked they had an older 3x Leupy, all cleaned & refurbished, for sale. They have the old Redfields, Lymans, Bushnells, & others from the 1940's to the 1980's for those looking for period scopes or for those that just think they look nicer on an older rifle. I agree some of their prices are a little high, but some of their older scopes are NIB so you have to look at collector value rather than utility. $100 to have the confidence your old Weaver is purged, filled with N, & sealed tight seems worth it to me, if you intend to hunt with it. I sent a 1.5 Weaver that fogged up on me to them & it has performed perfectly since.
 
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