How A Rifle is Made | Hands-on Tour of the Sako & Tikka Firearms Factory

[fabtec]

Yes, "SAKO" is an acronym (a word made from initials). Acronyms tend to be pronounced under the rules of pronunciation of whatever language is being spoken. In most languages "sako" comes out with a soft "a" as "sahko" (or nearly the "sock-o" that has been described). However, in English the pronunciation rules make it a long "a" or "say-ko". So if it were purely an acronym then its pronunciation would be "acceptable" either way, depending on what language you are speaking. (However, I don't think anyone would accept the somewhat Cockney "sack-o" as anything other than grating to the ears.)

The rub is that "Sako" has long-since become a proper noun, not just an acronym. Proper nouns are pronounced appropriately as they are spoken by those to whom the name applies. Just as we wouldn't expect a speaker of various European languages to call the National Aeronautics and Space Administration "nahsa" while we call it "na-sah" with a short first "a" and a soft second "a", European speakers expect to hear "sahko" when the name "Sako" is spoken.

Regardless, I've never walked away from a good deal on either a "Sayko" or a "Sahko" and have no criticism of anyone who uses either pronunciation.

 

[icebear]

That sums it up rather nicely.

 

[bigcountry4me]

Turned out to be a pretty entertaining thread.

Whenever I see a Sahko in a gun shop, I like to have a little fun with the folks behind the counter. Typically, I’ll ask to see the Forrester, Vixen, or Finnbear length rifle. Then most often they start touching rifles until they arrive on the correct one. Rarely does the staff relate.

Then they’ll typically say, “oh you mean this Sayko”, or -once in a great while it’s “Sahko”.

You don’t have that problem when you ask to see the 700, the Model 70, the M77, or the Mark V. I still find it funny how little familiarity there is with such a fine rifle.

 

[icebear]

Let's face it, most Americans don't know one foreigner (person or product) from another, and aren't all that interested in learning. That's not necessarily a knock on Americans in particular, as the same thing is true in most of the 80 or 90 countries I've been to. Most people are content with the familiar.

 

[fabtec]

Ok, so if Seiko is pronounced well…Seiko then why on Earth is Geico pronounced….well you get the picture, and I thought it was I before E except after C.Hmmmm
Asking for a friend.
Wait a minute, what about friend, isn’t it pronounced…

 

[icebear]

Ok, so if Seiko is pronounced well…Seiko then why on Earth is Geico pronounced….well you get the picture, and I thought it was I before E except after C.Hmmmm
Asking for a friend.
Wait a minute, what about friend, isn’t it pronounced…

English is a synthesis of two major parent languages and many, many lesser influences. As a result, it is one of the least consistent in pronunciation of all the world's languages. Did you know that the U.S. Marines' famous rallying cry, "Gung Ho," is actually from a Chinese phrase meaning "Work Together"? Or that the Chinese parent phrase is part of the Chinese name for "People's Republic of China"?

 

[fabtec]

I mentioned previously a documentary at the Sako website. I highly recommend it. This is an hour long. The video does not have a share link, and Crapple products are resistant to downloading video’s. Here’s the link to the showroom https://showroom.sako.fi/
Move the POV to the right of the Moose! Click on Documentary. Have your popcorn and beer ready!!
BTW Does anyone remember the “Hi Bob” drinking game? You know, from College. When we were in our ‘utes. Excuse me, youououthththssss.
It went like this

Replace “Hi Bob” with Sako. And remember, you are not 20 years old!

 

[Deleted member 14372]

Makes me sad to see robots taking the jobs of humans. I think the humans who used to do this work on less advanced machines did a very good job.


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[sakojim]

When robots start building robots, we will all be out of a job. What then? Sakojim.

 

[Deleted member 14372]

Terminator.


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[icebear]

Makes me sad to see robots taking the jobs of humans. I think the humans who used to do this work on less advanced machines did a very good job.

I don't know about that. Many years ago, I dropped out of college for a while and got a job at Hydra-Matic. My particular task was machining clutch hubs. I picked a clutch hub out of a bin, put it on the spindle, put both hands on the switches to initiate the machining operation, then picked up the hub and put it on the conveyer to the next operation. That's exactly the sort of job done by that big yellow arm in the video. It was a nasty job - dirty, repetitive, boring, mildly hazardous, and I would get off shift with metal shavings all over me and my work boots soaked in cutting oil. The job sucked, and it motivated me to quit and go back to college. A robot can do that job better, faster, and cheaper than I can. I say, let the machines do what they can and upgrade our human skills for human jobs. There are still plenty of jobs for guys who didn't go to a university, but today's machinists have to be able to program an NC tool in addition to reading a micrometer. The community college where I sometimes teach specializes in training to upgrade skills for the modern job market.

It's true that skilled machinists built excellent firearms on manual or semi-automated machine tools. But it took a very, very high level of skill to do it, consistency was always an issue, and there was always Monday morning lurking in the background. I look at the intricate mechanism of my C96 Mauser "Broomhandle" and I cannot imagine what it would cost to build such a thing with today's labor costs. That gun is a jigsaw puzzle, and I am open-mouthed with amazement at the level of skill that the workers who built it must have had. I cannot imagine what it would cost to build such a thing today with traditional methods and today's cost of labor. $5,000? More?

When robots start building robots, we will all be out of a job. What then? Sakojim.

Good morning, Rip Van Winkle!

Robots have been building robots for years. You didn't really think that big yellow arm was built by human hands, did you?

We need to start worrying when the AI robots start designing new robots. And we REALLY need to worry when the AI robots start designing other AI robots!

 

[Deleted member 14372]

I don't know about that. Many years ago, I dropped out of college for a while and got a job at Hydra-Matic. My particular task was machining clutch hubs. I picked a clutch hub out of a bin, put it on the spindle, put both hands on the switches to initiate the machining operation, then picked up the hub and put it on the conveyer to the next operation. That's exactly the sort of job done by that big yellow arm in the video. It was a nasty job - dirty, repetitive, boring, mildly hazardous, and I would get off shift with metal shavings all over me and my work boots soaked in cutting oil. The job sucked, and it motivated me to quit and go back to college. A robot can do that job better, faster, and cheaper than I can. I say, let the machines do what they can and upgrade our human skills for human jobs. There are still plenty of jobs for guys who didn't go to a university, but today's machinists have to be able to program an NC tool in addition to reading a micrometer. The community college where I sometimes teach specializes in training to upgrade skills for the modern job market.

It's true that skilled machinists built excellent firearms on manual or semi-automated machine tools. But it took a very, very high level of skill to do it, consistency was always an issue, and there was always Monday morning lurking in the background. I look at the intricate mechanism of my C96 Mauser "Broomhandle" and I cannot imagine what it would cost to build such a thing with today's labor costs. That gun is a jigsaw puzzle, and I am open-mouthed with amazement at the level of skill that the workers who built it must have had. I cannot imagine what it would cost to build such a thing today with traditional methods and today's cost of labor. $5,000? More?


Good morning, Rip Van Winkle!

Robots have been building robots for years. You didn't really think that big yellow arm was built by human hands, did you?

We need to start worrying when the AI robots start designing new robots. And we REALLY need to worry when the AI robots start designing other AI robots!

Thank you. I guess I worry more generally that we are losing good paying manufacturing jobs to robots but I don’t have the experience you do. I am a labor lawyer and fight for workers’ rights every day. Seems like there are fewer good jobs out there for ordinary folk but maybe I just read too much progressive propaganda!


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[tilleyman]

~snip~
It's true that skilled machinists built excellent firearms on manual or semi-automated machine tools. But it took a very, very high level of skill to do it, consistency was always an issue, and there was always Monday morning lurking in the background. I look at the intricate mechanism of my C96 Mauser "Broomhandle" and I cannot imagine what it would cost to build such a thing with today's labor costs. That gun is a jigsaw puzzle, and I am open-mouthed with amazement at the level of skill that the workers who built it must have had. I cannot imagine what it would cost to build such a thing today with traditional methods and today's cost of labor. $5,000? More?

I was quite surprised at how few people seemed to be working at the Sako factory vs the numbers of highly skilled technicians needed back in the day. A bit heartened the Sako video still showed skilled hand finishing at 12.48, manual optical checking of the barrels at 13.15 and manual assembly and checking at 14.38.
I started 3D CAD modelling a couple of L579 parts... once you reverse engineer how it was made, even the front sight ramp has a quite astonishing level of machining steps, changes in axis and special tools required using an array of custom jigs and fixtures.
The L and A series Sako receiver and one-piece bolt are equally complex and would need a LOT of skilled hand finishing... only exceeded by the Brno ZKK 600 series action with the integral pop-up peep sight machined into the rear receiver bridge.

 

[icebear]

Thank you. I guess I worry more generally that we are losing good paying manufacturing jobs to robots but I don’t have the experience you do. I am a labor lawyer and fight for workers’ rights every day. Seems like there are fewer good jobs out there for ordinary folk but maybe I just read too much progressive propaganda!

Certainly you are right that there are fewer good-paying jobs around for an unskilled hight school graduate who expects to learn on the job. Growing up around Detroit in the 50's and 60's, there were big factories and strong unions and the factories were hiring most of the time. The working-class version of the American dream was you graduated from high school, did your time in the military, then got a factory job, joined the union, and got married and had a couple of kids. Houses were affordable, you could buy a little place in the suburbs not too far from the job, and by the time you were 35 or 40 if things went right you could have a boat or a cottage up North and things were pretty good. Those days are gone forever.

Young people today wouldn't believe how easy it was to get a job in the 60's. One time when I was in college I parted company with a car dealer where I had been working as a porter (cleaning cars, picking up parts, general helper) around lunch time. I actually didn't make it home unemployed. I stopped off for groceries on the way home. Next door to the supermarket, a gift shop had a Help Wanted sign in the window. I walked in and got hired on the spot to work the stockroom. I worked in bowling alleys, motorcycle shops, the college library - even spinning records on country radio. The radio station fired me because they thought I was a weirdo. I had long hair and a beard and rode a motorcycle to work. This was just a couple of years before Waylon, Willie, and everybody else in country became a long-haired, bearded, motorcycle-riding outlaw. I never had a day's worry about finding a job. Sad to say, that seems to be a thing of the past.

However, there's still hope for a smart, hard-working high school graduate. Plumbers and electricians are in high demand and make good money. Likewise heating and air conditioning techs. And the whole field of solar power is growing fast and generating a lot of jobs. I had solar put on my house a couple of years ago. It was expensive but my electric bill is now 20 bucks a month. In Arizona. In the summer.

Technology is like surfing. You catch a wave and ride it as long as you can. When it's finished, you have to paddle out and catch the next wave. The post-WWII industrial wave in the US lasted a couple of generations, but it's gone. There are other waves; whoever sees them and learns to ride them will be the Big Kahuna. The gremmies and the hodads will be working in fast-food joints. That's life.

To the rest of everybody: sorry for the off-topic diversion. This side discussion got kind of interesting, at least to Bernie's Dad and me.

 

[stonecreek]

Robots taking over repetitive human jobs makes us more affluent, not less. The fewer hours of human effort it takes to produce the necessities (and luxuries) of life then the more affluent we become.

Sure, there is displacement on the individual level when a human job is made obsolete by automation or economic advancement, but the automation creates more than enough economic benefit to compensate and re-integrate the displaced individuals -- if only the right economic redirection is made, which doesn't necessarily occur on its own. For example, there are coal miners, whose occupation is nearing the hospice stage. But the wind, solar, and battery industries are creating more jobs at better pay and better working conditions than are being lost by the fossil fuel industry.

Icebear's recollection of his days as a machinist in an auto factory remind me of the tour I took of the Volvo factory in Sweden a couple of years ago. It is probably one of the most automated car factories in the world. What the robots there can do is incredible -- the same machinery can build any of five or six very different car models, all coming down the line more or less randomly in the sequence they were ordered by the dealers. However, there are still plenty of people working with those machines and being paid twice what their predecessors were paid to do the same jobs manually. They are also working in a spotlessly clean and surprisingly quiet environment (no ear protection necessary). No one works for more than 1 hour at the same job to prevent repetitive damage to muscles or skeleton. They simple switch stations to do something that uses a little different set of muscles, or they sit in a bit different position. I happened to meet some of the Volvo factory workers randomly at other places in Gothenburg and they had high praises for their employer and their jobs.

So, my "beef" with Sako is not that they have adopted CNC machining or various other types of automation, but that they have succumbed to modern marketing psychology which says that you have to change your products in order to keep people coming back for more. Geez, how I miss products like the suave little L461!

 

[Deleted member 14372]

https://slate.com/technology/2021/03/job-loss-automation-robots-predictions.html

For what it’s worth.


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[icebear]

I happened to meet some of the Volvo factory workers randomly at other places in Gothenburg and they had high praises for their employer and their jobs.

A pity Volvo is now owned by Geely, a major Chinese auto manufacturer. So far they have let the Swedes run the company, but who knows how long that will last?

https://slate.com/technology/2021/03/job-loss-automation-robots-predictions.html

For what it’s worth.

The article makes a very good point about predictions, and especially about vaguely defined terms and parameters. Having spent a whole lot of years as a working international economist, I know from the inside how difficult it is to make predictions and how seldom even the best experts get it right.

Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, variously attributed to Niels Bohr and Yogi Berra: "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

 

[South Pender]

I'm persuaded by stonecreek's explanation of the pronunciation of SAKO. It is an acronym, and, as stonecreek notes, could be expected to be pronounced say'-ko by those speaking English, with the long a, just as we pronounce NATO as nay'-to. (To be sure, I don't know how a Finn or other European would pronounce NATO; perhaps nah'-to?) In any case, I think I will continue to pronounce it say'-ko, as I have for years.

I was impressed by the final shooting test in the manufacturing process. That test is carried out with the gun completely assembled and by a human shooter from a rest. I wonder how many 5-shot groups normally need to be fired to get the required MOA group, as it's doubtful that this MOA group occurs on the first and only group shot. Still, I'm impressed by this part of the process. Anschutz shoots test groups too (with the test target included with the rifle), but they do so with only the barreled action clamped in a machine rest.

 

[icebear]

(To be sure, I don't know how a Finn or other European would pronounce NATO; perhaps nah'-to?)

Depends on the language. In French and other Romance languages, it's OTAN (pronouced OH-tahn).

 

[fabtec]

Depends on the language. In French and other Romance languages, it's OTAN (pronouced OH-tahn).

They translated the organization “Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord”