FN-Sako Deluxe for Sale

[stonecreek]

Well, one of our old "friends" (a former member of the SCC forums who was banned for inflammatory postings) is offering a rare one: A genuine Sako built on an FN Mauser action in the Deluxe grade. He only wants $25,500 for it: https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...-hi-power-270-winchester.cfm?gun_id=101577761

I'll give him that it is rare. I own one in .30-06, which is the ONLY other one I've ever seen (although there surely must be more out there). Mine's not for sale, but if anyone would like to offer something on the order of, say, on-eighth of the price on GI, well, it WILL be for sale.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

As we all know, he doesn't call himself "angrygod" for nothing. Are these Deluxe FN Sakos from fairly late in their run? Possibly even from after the intro of the L61R?

 

[stonecreek]

Are these Deluxe FN Sakos from fairly late in their run?

Well, they are "late" in that they have the Sako trigger, but mine was shipped in December of 1959, so it was about 18 months prior to the first L61R's.

 

[L61R]

Nice looking gun for sure, but if the price doesn’t turn you off, the rantings in the end of the ad surely should!

Jim

 

[icebear]

A posting on this forum a few years ago suggested that this guy posts various items for sale at prices he knows perfectly well are absurd, with no intention of actually selling. Perhaps some sort of ego gratification? In any case, it's a neat rifle, but I'm not in the market at that price. I also note that it has a flaw common to many deluxe Sakos - relatively plain wood that doesn't really live up to the idea of a deluxe rifle.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

A posting on this forum a few years ago suggested that this guy posts various items for sale at prices he knows perfectly well are absurd, with no intention of actually selling. Perhaps some sort of ego gratification? In any case, it's a neat rifle, but I'm not in the market at that price. I also note that it has a flaw common to many deluxe Sakos - relatively plain wood that doesn't really live up to the idea of a deluxe rifle.

I agree. Nicely figured wood that one would expect to find on a Deluxe grade rifle was purely an accidental, random occurrence with Sako prior to the mid-1980's. I guess they figured if it was "blonde" it would be consider "deluxe". It's one of the reasons it's hard to "value" the early Deluxe Sakos, as some are just down right butt ugly & some people just go Ga-Ga over. Stoeger probably had more positive influence over Sako aesthetics than any importer, IMHO. The late AV Deluxes were very pretty rifles.

 

[stonecreek]

Nicely figured wood that one would expect to find on a Deluxe grade rifle was purely an accidental, random occurrence with Sako prior to the mid-1980's.

Agreed! The one incremental change that came with the change to Garcia as the U.S. importer seems to have been paying more attention to the wood on Deluxes. I can't say whether this had to do with Garcia or was coincidental with internal changes at the factory.

Anyway, the trend toward reserving the better wood for Deluxes seems to have continued such that more recent Deluxes have markedly nicer figuring than standards. I have a couple of "standard" grade Sakos from the late 50's/early 60's that have some striking wood, and a Deluxe from that era which might as well be made from Southern Pine as far as coloration is concerned. I've also seen a couple of early Sakos on which the checkering exhibited strong indications of a Monday morning hangover.

 

[icebear]

The AIII and AV Classics mostly have very nice wood, better on average than the Deluxes, and it's typically darker. The photo below shows the buttstock of an AV Classic in 6.5x55. One of our members in Sweden has one in the same caliber that's even better, with a fantastic piece of feathercrotch.

I've also seen a couple of early Sakos on which the checkering exhibited strong indications of a Monday morning hangover.

From photos I've seen, the earliest L46 rifles were not built to the same standard of finish as later ones. In the immediate postwar period, Sako was used to building rifles for the military and did not have the skill set to produce finely-finished sporting arms. They also were concerned about getting rifles out the door to keep afloat financially. This was when the Finnish Red Cross owned Sako. They had it sorted out by the early 50's; the checkering on my 1951 model is superb, much better than on the later L461, etc. rifles. IMHO the 1950's were the golden age for Sako workmanship. The quality of checkering on Deluxe and Classic models is quite a bit better than the normal L461/L579/L51R rifles.

Sako Classic buttstock:

 

[Bottom Gun]

and a Deluxe from that era which might as well be made from Southern Pine as far as coloration is concerned.

I like your comparison. I've only had two deluxe Sakos but both have had wood that would fit your description. I still like them though.

 

[stonecreek]

The AIII and AV Classics mostly have very nice wood, better on average than the Deluxes, and it's typically darker.

The Deluxes are European or "French" Walnut and the Classics are American Walnut (or a variation thereof, perhaps Claro, Black, or whatever). I've seen some fairly plain Classics, and some spectacular Deluxes, so it pretty much depends on the individual wood. There was a period in the early 1980's when many of the Deluxes showed some fantastic fiddleback -- so much so that I've had people swear that one I have has to be quilted maple instead of Walnut. And every once in a while you'll come across a Classic which shows outstanding figure. It's kinda luck of the draw, which is why a nicely figured stock on a Sako will sometimes bring a huge premium. Just look at this P94 which just sold on GB: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/887684093

 

[icebear]

Good grief, Charlie Brown! You had a perfect storm there - a fairly scarce variant (heavy barrel P94), spectacular wood, and two determined bidders with very, very deep pockets. I think I recognize the second-place bidder as someone who has been in the mix on some rare Sakos that I have bid on. I've been known to spend a dollar or two on a nice rifle, but over 3 grand for a .22 is out of my league.

I've also seen some Deluxes with exhibition grade wood, spectacular feathercrotch, etc., but most of them don't have a lot of figure. I still think that, on average, the Classics have better wood (although I've seen several that I would barely rate above a good hunter grade).

 

[stonecreek]

Being an HB might add some amount to the selling price over and above the typical sporter, but I think that virtually all of the several thousand dollars of premium this one brought was due to the quality of the wood.

Then there is always the possibility of the whole thing being a scam, which I'm certainly not saying that this is the case in this instance.

The scam works like this: Charlie goes into the gun shop and sees a this fantastic rifle priced at a patently ridiculous $4,000. Charlie makes an offer of $2,000. The shop owner counters that it really is worth the asking price and says "Tell you what: I'll put it on Gunbroker and have my buddy Joe outbid the high bidder. You just pay me whatever the next lower bid to Joe's was." Charlie wants the rifle, so agrees to this and the shop lists it on GB for a 1 cent starting price. As bids accumulate Joe, as agreed, outbids each bidder by the minimum amount. But near the end an accomplice (or just Joe's illegal second registered account) starts bidding and Joe and the mystery bidder run the price up to whatever price the shop owner thinks he can get out of Charlie.

The shop has to pay the GB commissions, but it has sold Charlie a $2,000 rifle for a net of $3500.

I'm sure that this scam is far from common, but I'm equally sure that it, or very similar things, happen.