Short Actions An unbelievable tale - I went to a gun show and found a Sako!

[paulsonconstruction]

I'm blown away by the notion that a 65-year-old, 7/8" scope is supposedly worth $650.

I saw an Alaskan identical to yours sell for $800 about a month ago. Vintage Gun Scopes has "blemished" ones for $799 & restored ones are "out of stock". Go figure. Could have bought dozens of them 30 years a go for a song. They started making them in about 1937 0r 38 & IIRC stopped in the late fifties- early sixties.

 

[icebear]

I saw an Alaskan identical to yours sell for $800 about a month ago. Vintage Gun Scopes has "blemished" ones for $799 & restored ones are "out of stock". Go figure. Could have bought dozens of them 30 years a go for a song. They started making them in about 1937 0r 38 & IIRC stopped in the late fifties- early sixties.

Absolutely amazing. It's a much better scope than I was expecting, but that kind of money just makes no sense to me. It does actually provide a use for those old slip-over scope rings. I never thought I would ever own a pair of those! I had initially planned to replace the Alaskan with a 6x Kahles and 26mm Stith mount I have in my box of miscellaneous optics, but I think I'll leave it as is. Gotta check the zero with a laser before I test fire the rifle.

 

[clovis]

Thanks for the recommendations! Keep that Alaskan right where it is.

 

[stonecreek]

Leupold made an exact copy of the Alaskan for a while several years ago. Those tend to sell for even more money than the originals.

A few years back I demurred on the opportunity to buy a beautifully done custom L461 in a neat wildcat caliber (.25/.222, I think) with a 6x Alaskan mounted on it. The price was reasonable back then, but would be a huge bargain on today's market. "Woulda, shoulda, coulda".

However, a gun I inherited from my father-in-law (and passed on to my son) is a Remington Model 14 in .25 Remington with a 2.5 Alaskan mounted on it. It's a neat little rig which I keep intending to take out for a meat doe but just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[icebear]

The more I look at this rifle, the more I think it's what the Aussies call a "bitsa" - that is, a put-together. The serial number puts it at a relatively late date of manufacture, but the caliber stamping on the barrel is an early style. The stamping is not centered, as if the barrel had been removed from another gun and machined to headspace it on a different receiver. (See photo on previous page.) The stock is beautiful, but the tip appears to have been cut off, as if it was damaged or there was a defect in the wood. I am thinking that this might have been built by a gunsmith at the factory using parts out of the reject bin, then sold to an employee? Or it could have left the factory as a bare action and been put together later. I'm curious enough that I just sent in my 20 bucks for a serial number check.

As for the Alaskan, I checked out eBay and the values for an Alaskan are high, but not quite as extreme as suggested by some posts. I'd guess that the reported sales in the $600-800 range must have been mint, unused scopes in the original box. Prices on eBay started at around $150 for a well-worn example, going up to 2-3 times that for excellent to like new. Still quite a bit more than I expected, considering what other period scopes bring. It does seem to be a very good scope optically. I checked it with a laser and it appears to have a good zero. Haven't had a chance to get to the range with it, but hopefully this week.

 

[Branxhunter]

G'day Icebear.

That L46 might be a bitsa, but it's a beautiful bitsa.

Marcus

 

[icebear]

G'day Icebear.

That L46 might be a bitsa, but it's a beautiful bitsa.

Marcus

Thanks. That's kind of how I feel about it, and why I bought the gun. As nice as it looks, I don't think the odd discrepancies will affect the resale value much. I'll be very interested to see the results of the serial number check.

 

[icebear]

Just got back from a trip through Tucson and ate lunch at La Parrilla Suiza. Very good!


The Nosler outlet store has .222 Magnum ammunition at a very attractive price (for the times, anyway): https://www.shootersproshop.com/222...llistic-tip-varmint-ammunition-50ct-blem.html

I just ordered 100 rounds. The ammo is "blemished" with dents at the shoulder. We'll see how it shoots. At a buck a round for Nosler ammo in a rare caliber, it's worth taking a shot on the "blems". As I've previously mentioned, I've found these rounds to be exceptionally consistent in all of my .222 Magnums.

And by the way, Midway has dropped its price on the 50-round box of Nosler .222M to $65. I still decided to save some money and try the blems.

Also ordered 100 rounds of Sierra 69-grain HPBT MatchKing .223 to try out in an AR-15 I built with a Faxon heavy fluted barrel and 8" twist. Should be ideal. Midway has them on sale at a buck a round. I've had good results with 77-grain Match Kings in the same rifle. 62-grain M855 doesn't do it - I'm informed by a police sniper friend that M855 will never give MOA accuracy because the penetrator cores aren't perfectly centered. Fine for its intended purpose, but not useful for testing the accuracy of a barrel!

 

[stonecreek]

Please report to us when you have fired some of the Nosler .222 Mag as to the results.

In my experience, so long as a dent in the case doesn't keep it from chambering smoothly the dent will have no impact on accuracy. It is sometimes difficult not to get oil dents on the shoulder when reforming brass to a smaller caliber, but I've never had such dents spoil accuracy. They iron out perfectly on the first firing.

 

[icebear]

Finally got the "new" L46 to the range. Shot it on the 50-yard range because I was zeroing the scope on a .22. Results were decent, and would undoubtedly have been better with a higher power scope, as I have some minor vision issues that make it harder to shoot with open sights or a low-power scope. The ancient scope responded well to one- or two-click adjustments. I did discover that the gun won't feed, but that will just require some opening up of the feed lips on the magazine. No real problem there, just an annoyance. On the whole, I'm quite pleased with my latest Sako.

Please report to us when you have fired some of the Nosler .222 Mag as to the results.

I received the blemished Nosler .222 Mag ammo. The blemish is quite uniform - a small dent, just below the shoulder. Not sure how that happens to so many cases and all in about the same place. Maybe one of the members who is an engineer can figure it out.

Haven't fired any of this ammo yet. Had other priorities at the range today. Hopefully I'll try it in 2 or 3 different rifles next week.