Fullstock accuracy

[waterwolf]

I have often heard (generally from people that don't and won't own them) that fullstock "Mannlicher-style" hunting rifles are not as accurate as half-stock rifles.
I recently obtained an excellent condition Sako L579 Forester fullstock in .243 (made in 1966). I mounted an old Swarovski 4X using low original Sako rings so that the scope just barely cleared the bolt handle. Yesterday was its first outing at the range. Using the cheapest hunting ammunition I could find (Federal 100 gr. softpoints), it consistently shot 5/8 inch groups @ 100 yards.
The same afternoon my new Sako 85 Bavar fullstock carbine in 6.5x55 with an old Swarovski 1.5-4.5 shot discount brand factory ammo (Fiocchi 140 gr SST) into 3/4 inch groups @ 100 yards.
There is also a myth that relatively cheap discount brand hunting ammo is necessarily inaccurate.

 

[deersako]

Hey Robin, how about some pics of your new acquaintance ?

 

[waterwolf]

I'll take a picture of it with the scope. Its the lowest mount I have ever achieved on a rifle and the view through the scope is immediate when you shoulder the rifle.

 

[deersako]

Thanks Robin, another beauty to the fullstock collection.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

I have a L579 Mann in 243 Win that shoots very well, also. It is ,however, more picky about the loads it prefers. Mine is about 3 years earlier and has the white spacers in the buttplate & grip cap. Does anyone know the year the white spacers were dropped & can this feature be used to help date a rifle?

 

[stonecreek]

Well, you won't see any benchrest rifles with full stocks, but when properly put together the Mannlichers will shoot right along with most other hunting rifles. I own Sako full stocks in .222, .243, and .308 and they shoot, on average, with very close to the same accuracy as their counterparts I own in Sako sporters.

They all have short barrels and don't deliver the velocity that their longer-barreled sporter counterparts do, so I don't consider them as "long range" guns. But the Mannlicher carbine design is intended as a handy, shorter range rifle to begin with, which is the type situation I use them in.

I've had little experience with Sako Mannlichers with a full length barrel (although my favorite dealer, Rodger at www.SakoSource.com, has an L579 23" .243 in stock which is sorely tempting!) My guess is that the shorter barrel tends to be less impacted by the presence of the wood than would be a longer barrel. Maybe someone who owns one of the rifle-length full stocks could comment on this?

 

[misako50]

I have a L579 Mann in 243 Win that shoots very well, also. It is ,however, more picky about the loads it prefers. Mine is about 3 years earlier and has the white spacers in the buttplate & grip cap. Does anyone know the year the white spacers were dropped & can this feature be used to help date a rifle?

Paulson- I think the whitelines started being left off the later A series rifles and the deluxe stocks started a bit before that. There was a time back in the early 70s that the spacers were considered tacky by many gunbuffs and taken off their rifles. Some look good without them but I don't get too excited if that's what they like. Today we don't see many unless it is a collector.-Misako