Finnbear Stock Without Checkering

[sakolou]

My buddy just acquired an L61R in 270. The stock appears to be original with Sako recoil pad, but there is no checkering. Did they make such a beast? I have seen thousands of Sako, but never seen one that's not checkered.

 

[stonecreek]

Well, sort of.

H&R made some of its model 330's on the Sako L61R action (most of them were on the FN Mauser.) This stock was uncheckered. However, it would not have had a Sako buttplate as H&R used its own proprietary buttplate. It could be an H&R stock with the buttplate replaced with a Sako. Or (stranger things have happened), it could have come from H&R that way. That is, provided it is an H&R -- should be so marked on the barrel.

Offhand, the H&R 330 is the only "Sako" I can think of that came originally with an uncheckered stock. Excepting, of course, some early birch L46's.

 

[misako50]

sakolou- I haven't seen a bonafide factory Sako stock in the sporter lines, that had no checkering. I can attest to there being the possibility that there was a duplicator in play and the owner decided to forego the checkering,.-Misako

 

[Anonymous]

sakolou,
Well, on the plus side, you could put your own personalized checkering on the stock:bigsmile3:. I have seen a few around where an owner will re-finish the stock and sand the checkering right off of it.
S-A

 

[sakolou]

As always, thanks for the great info. Something doesn't smell right with this rifle. I'll know more when I see it later today. He may be sending it back to the seller.

Lou

 

[Anonymous]

Lou,
Let us know how it turns out. Good luck!
S-A

 

[cmjr]

Not sure this is relevant I just sold a A1 in 222 with no checkering. It was a dead ringer for a factory stock, even had the little red inset for the safety. I thought it had the checkering sanded off but measuring the wrist and forearm thickness it was actually a little larger than my other factory unmodified A1 Sporters. That doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't sanded off, just that it had to be quite a bit larger than most. LOP was 14" with the red Sako pad. Comparing the inletting side to side with an original it looked identical. It's the only non checkered Sako stock I've seen that I couldn't tell why it was missing the checkering. I just chalked it up to another Sako mystery.

 

[Anonymous]

ccmjr,
Hmmm. Maybe the extra thickness means your stock may have been intended to be checkered, but for some reason wasn't. Yes, Sako has done some off the wall things. Doesn't surprise me.
S-A

 

[sakolou]

My buddy's gun arrived yesterday. The stock definitely looks factory and it has a Sako Riimahki recoil pad. Also the receiver has turned plum, which I have seen on a L579. For $525, he's happy with it as a solid hunting rifle that he's not afraid of abusing.

Thanks for sharing your collective knowledge.

Lou

 

[Arian]

probably a dead thread by now but figured id throw in my 2 cents. Here in Finland I run into many variations of rifles that dont seem to fit what this forum considers standard Sako rifles. I suspect this may be an importer thing in other countries. I have seen the l61r without checkering, with hand stamped barrel markings and intricate engravings on The floor plate. Also an extra long stock in it (about to purchase it but paperwork around here can take ages).

In short it seems to me that for the domestic market Sako (and Tikka) produced a great number of wildcat configurations as opposed to the standardisation an importer may want.

You should see all the varieties of Sakos around Finland and surounding countries that just scream "after market" or "custom" that Sako assured me are just the product of one of their gunsmiths feeling creative one day (this used to be accepted behavior until the entire factory modernised)

 

[bloorooster]

You should see all the varieties of Sakos around Finland and surounding countries that just scream "after market" or "custom" that Sako assured me are just the product of one of their gunsmiths feeling creative one day (this used to be accepted behavior until the entire factory modernised)

I have often wondered about this … recently with the new wave of imports showing up here in the US , I have seen some very different variations of Sako rifles. Combs can be higher .. bolt handles extended .. Sako Dovetail blocks mounted on round top P54’s . It’s been rather interesting yet difficult to have confidence of authenticity as being pure Sako built….

I recently came across this example of Sako creativity…


7x33 Sako chambered … as far as I can tell, it’s all Sako except the Carcano action and it’s trigger. A single shot with solid bottom metal. The stock inlet is also solid as one would expect to find with a single shot rifle. The action feels slick as any military rifle and the trigger has been worked up nicely to a clean break.
The birch stock has some wonderful figure and color shifting, buried under that ugly brown varnish. I plan to refinish it someday…I may even shoot it!

 

[stonecreek]

I suspect that Arian is correct about some number of "one-offs" coming out of the factory. Just as we know that there were a number of very, very scarce floorplate engravings which were produced as one or another workman's interpretation, there were probably other variations. Rifles made for export would have needed consistency. But for those sold through Sako's factory outlet or small local retailers, variations would have made them more attractive to a wider variety of buyers. Everything from very Plain Jane for economy to super-fancy for those who favored such might have been marketed "locally" (meaning Finland and neighboring countries.)

I'm sure that the numbers of these "non-conforming" factory products were very limited, but several hundred unique Sakos scattered across Scandinavia would have one of them turning up with some frequency.

 

[Arian]

Sako at one point reworked surplus actions into sporters, 40s ad 50s era if remember right.

During the the civil war many Arisakas ended up in Finnish hands through Russia who aquired them in the Russo-Japanese war. Then during the Talvisota Swedish volunteers brought piles of m96 mausers to our country wich they conveniently left behind, piles of Carcano rifles where also sent in aid but those arrived late for the war and where not very well liked by the troops and even less by logistics officers, by now we where juggling 6 cartidges between all the old stock, captured and donated rifles.

Then germany joined for the continuation war and the K98k entered the mix, long boring history lesson short: a metric f*ckton of milsurp and a population of eager hunters paired with a prohibition on military rifles for civilians. And Sako started life mostly as a conversion and repair facility (Tikka made sewing machines actually)

In short as promised: to this day gunsmiths are cranking out sporter rifles built on all these actions. Finding a "Sako" Carcano, Mauser, M91 or Arisaka is not crazy.

Finding one outside of Finland is something I would not expect tho. And by my knowledge Sako stopped doing it once they developed their own action, but iam not knowledgable enough yet on Sako to tell you the exact timeline. However they absolutely converted various military actions for a while.

When it comes to the stocks, all that i have seen in Finland come numbered in some place as thet where handbedded to their respective actions. But I gather that Sako numbering can be very random and my mileage may not represent the whole picture.


As some extra trivia, converted guns often will have weird calibers like 8.2x57r due to laws prohibiting civilians from having military calibers in the past. Altho this may already be common knowledge around here.

Actually this practise wasnt uncommon in general, i have a Husqvarna in 9.3x62 built on a m96 action and i passed up a parker hale K98 recently (bore was more pitted than my 100 year old iron plumbing)

 

[bloorooster]

Thanks Arian for chiming in, and Welcome to the Club! I always appreciate the Finnish members and their input. Being in the motherland allows one to be in access to and knowledgeable of so much more. Your contributions are highly appreciated.

 

[stonecreek]

Over the years we've been able to identify Sako re-works of the Arisaka, Carcano, Russian Winchester 95, and even a Savage .25-20. I'm sure there may have been small batches of other rifles/actions since during many lean years the factory was looking for work to do to keep it in business.

And you're correct: Very few of those re-works make it across the pond to the U.S. or anywhere else other than Finland and perhaps neighboring countries.

 

[bloorooster]

And you're correct: Very few of those re-works make it across the pond to the U.S. or anywhere else other than Finland and perhaps neighboring countries.

An important factor I’ve recently learned of is the fact the because of the Finnish laws of gun ownership are restricted to a certain number of firearms, many of these recently imported Sako’s (amongst others I’m sure) are actually guns that have been thinned from Finnish personal collections to add to or upgrade to something new or more desirable

 

[Arian]

I moved to Finland years ago from the Netherlands so iam not as in the loop as some others,people here take their guns very seriously! (i live in a rural area) Iam still new to Sako being a Husky fanboy (their shotguns are just to drool over imo). But my A3 carbine convinced me to get an L61r, and iam looking into the earlier Sako mausers(in house actions) and iam sure you guys know where this is going.

 

[Arian]

An important factor I’ve recently learned of is the fact the because of the Finnish laws of gun ownership are restricted to a certain number of firearms, many of these recently imported Sako’s (amongst others I’m sure) are actually guns that have been thinned from Finnish personal collections to add to or upgrade to something new or more desirable

They arent really restricted, thats more a swedish thing. A hunting buddy owns 19 firearms including a fully automatic AK variant. Its just that at about 5 guns they become more demanding about how you keep them and at 10 the police Will be very sceptical. But permits are entirely based on acceptable purpose. Someone who is a dedicated hunter, long term military reservist and competition shooter could justify for instance 3 shotguns, 5 differenr hunting rifles, a military rifle, military handguns, and several precision rifles.

This is not common tho

 

[bloorooster]

(Tikka made sewing machines actually)

 

[HelSako]

There is no hard limit in law, but practical limit is 5 rifles + shotgun -no more! (New licences). Game animals has divided to 5 groups and there is minimun energy and bullets requirements. So you can have 5 rifles -no more. We have also collector licence, but it is much more difficult to get and those guns are for collection -not allowed to shoot!