25-20 deluxe

[scottbitterman]

this just showed up on gunbroker. i would think this has to be a rare rifle but the strting bid is way out of my price range right now
https://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=131653588

 

[hayseed51]

Thanks for the heads up Scott. Don't know how I missed it last night, but I did. You're sure right - 25-20 is rare in a std rifle, but in a Deluxe? Holy Smokes! Never mind that it's about 4 times as expensive as I could possibly afford either...

However, the more I look at it, the fishier things start to smell... Photos are not great, and no shots of the markings, but from the s/n given rifle probably dates to late 55 - early 56. Some things that bother me are -

Lack of engraving on triggerguard, clip and tangs.

Vixen on gripcap - both my L-46 D and L-57D (both about 1960) have diamond inlet.

Slant of forend cap - both of my early Ds have the forend cap slanting opposite. My understanding is that Weatherby griped or sued about it and that somewhere around 1960 Sako reversed their slant...

White line on buttpad - both mine have the white spacer between the black spacer and pad.

Clip well in bottom metal. It sure looks like this rifle is fitted with a standard 222 length clip, rather than the much shorter Bee/25-20 clip... Hard to tell, but I don't see the caliber stamped on the clip either.

I'd love to hear what some of you might think about the rifle. Almost looks like a 461D stock might have been fitted to take a clip? While I would really, really love to have a 25-20, don't think this is it - for more reasons than one.

Dick

 

[stonecreek]

The same questions occured to me, particularly the lack of engraving on the underside. I wrote the seller about this. The seller replied that he had contacted a Sako "expert" (who he named) and that the "expert" had opined that it was original. This response in and of itself begs the question of why did the seller contact an "expert" unless he had questions about its originality. Also, the "expert" (who is known to me and who, in my experience, is long on opinion and short on knowledge) is in another part of the country from the seller, so presumably has not examined the gun in person. This particular "expert" is one who has perpetuated the myth of the Phillips vs. cross slot screw heads in grip caps -- a baseless myth if ever there were one.

I would dearly love to own a Sako .25-20, deluxe or otherwise. However, even if this gun were original, it is significantly overpriced (in one man's opinion). If it were not original, it would still be well worth owning, and still command a high price. I think the seller should represent it as "believed to be original, but not guaranteed", cut his asking price in half, and it would sell to a satisfied buyer.

 

[deergoose]

I had a retired Master Chief tell me once that opinions are just like assholes....everybody has one, but some stink more than others. For what it's worth, chances are good that the barrelled action is factory original, and the stock is factory original, just not factory original together. Perhaps a sporter barreled action in a late L46 Deluxe stock?

My $.02 worth,

DeerGoose

 

[emmerth]

deergoose,

I got mine (opinion) and will keep it to myself

 

[nisl579]

I had a guy call me about this gun after he had looked at it. He had ?'s about the many thing that don't
seem original with this gun. He also said that he never seen a Sako with depth of the trigger guard so deep.
After looking at the picture on GB I understand. Also the reserve may a lot higher the starting bid.
Ps Sure would be nice to have a original 25-20 !!!!

 

[hayseed51]

Ok, something half-remembered (not hard for me) has been nagging me about the 25-20D. Kept looking at what sure looked like a full sized (222) clip, and mag and receiver ports, thinking that sure can't be right. 25-20, being the parent case of the Bee, would use common clips - right?... Wrongo. I finally fumbled around and re-discovered the factoids that had been nagging at me.

Path starts at our catagory for photos -'Show us your beautiful Sakos'. There's a sticky post at the top that links to the archived photos from the old site. On page 7 of the archives, look for a block of 70 photos put up by icebear. Then, scroll way down to pics 51, 53, and 54. To sum it up, there's a side-by-side comparison of Bee and 25-20. Sako, for some unknown reason, chose to use full length clip and ports on the 25-20. They use a block in the rear of the clip - not sure if they used a block on the bolt to limit the stroke or not. So that's cleared up.

Think Deergoose's assessment is probably right on. Guess if I knew the Vixen on gripcap showed up before Vixen as a model, I forgot that too.

nisl579 - Good point about the depth of the bottom metal - I hadn't noticed that. Probably just what you would expect if you use the early stamped bottom in a stock inlet for the later cast version... You're also right about the reserve - fair to say it's a fishing expedition, and the seller is fishing for suckers.

While I don't believe for a minute the rifle is original, I do agree with Stonecreek that it's still a very neat rifle, and I too would love to have it. Should be able to find a way to shim that bottom metal out, and call it good. Like we used to say in high school, about a hunert years ago " I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers..."

 

[stonecreek]

" I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers..."

Me either, but I wouldn't pay $3500 just to get her into bed in the first place!

 

[sakoverein]

Those phots are mine. Indeed many of the .25-20s did have the larger blocked clips. I have only seen two that didn't. Both were in Finland and both had numbers below 6700. The gun that clip belongs to will go on auction along with many of my others later this week. Hope I don't get sniped for the price!