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Interesting FN-Sako with unusual rings

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

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Banned
Went to the Arizona Arms Association gunshow in Tucson and picked up a very interesting old FN-Sako in .30-06. It appears to be all original except maybe the safety, which looks sort of like a Buehler. It could be original - I don't remember what the safeties looked like on those guns and my reference books are buried in a pile of boxes (just moved into my new house). The wood shows a fair amount of handling wear, little dings, etc.but the metal is pristine - it may even be unfired. It even has the sight hood and European style rear sight. The guy I got it from said he bought it in 1982 and never fired it. It is fitted with a beautiful Nickel-Marburg 2.5-6x scope, which is even mounted in the correct size 26mm rings. (I've seen a lot of old 26mm scopes stuffed into 1" rings (25.4mm), which is NOT good for the scope!)

The real interesting part is the bases and rings. It has what appear to be factory Sako dovetail mounts that screw onto the mounting holes in the Mauser action. Oddly, the rear mount is checkered on top like a regular Sako mount but the front one is plain. I've never seen Sako dovetail mounts for the FN action before, but it makes sense that Sako would have made them. The rings are unique. They look just like regular old-style Sako rings, except that instead of the usual click stops on the windage nuts on the left side,. the nuts have a flange which is held in place by a set screw. Also, where the old Sako rings usually have a line scribed on one side to indicate the right way to set the top half on the bottom, these have a circle on each piece to indicate orientation. They do not bear any Sako marking - the only mark is the number 26 on the bottom of each ring. It occurred to me that these might be some kind of copy, but the only copy of Sako rings I am familiar with is the Spanish one, and the finish on these is way better than any Spanish copy I have seen. Brilliant polish, deep blue, and the knurling on the knobs is clean.

Have any of you guys seen rings like this before? Any further information would be welcome. Sorry I can't post a picture, but most of my computer stuff is still packed away, including the bit I need to transfer a picture from my digital camera. I will post a picture when I can.

On another note, I really enjoyed talking to the guy who sold me the gun. He was a B-25 gunner in the Pacific theater during WWII. He also very kindly sponsored me for membership to the Arizona Arms Association, so I am now a member. Hope I run into him again - I bet he has some interesting stories.
 
Icebear,

I think that the safety is original. I have only seen one old FN Sako in my days and it had the rather large looing Beuhler style safety as well. I have seen three others in various pictures, and they all seemed to have the same style safety.

Nice find and happy New Year!

SakoVerein
 
Thanks. I should find my Finnish reference books within the next few days of unpacking so hopefully I'll be able to tell for sure. The only other FN-Sako I own has been messed with so I have no way of knowing if the safety is original.
 
Icebear,

I just rembered where I had seen a very good picture of a Sako FN. Ludwig Olson's Mauser Bolt Rifles p. 280...

SakoVerein
 
Just a few days ago a guy showed up at the range with a Mauser (I believe it was Interarms) that had Sako rings on it. Upon inspection I did see that it had the Sako type dovetail mounts screwed to the top of the action. I had never seen or heard of it before. Learn something new every day!
 
There was a set shown on here or one of the auction sites. They are similar to the Finnwolf dovetail "plates", with the major difference in the rear plate. It was much taller and had a smaller hole spacing. I didn't know for sure until I saw the deluxe FN sako about a week or so ago, featured on here.-Misako !CBlYoh!Bmk~$(KGrHqYOKjIE0eGNUfzRBNISG,uk9g~~_12.jpg
 
I have seen these bases on the Colt Sako rifle that was sold in Canada.
This was after Colt sold these rifles and possibly a clean up of the rest of the specific Colt parts.

Standard old style Sako rings were used on this 30-06.

Glenn
 
Went to the Arizona Arms Association gunshow in Tucson and picked up a very interesting old FN-Sako in .30-06. It appears to be all original except maybe the safety, which looks sort of like a Buehler. It could be original - I don't remember what the safeties looked like on those guns and my reference books are buried in a pile of boxes (just moved into my new house). The wood shows a fair amount of handling wear, little dings, etc.but the metal is pristine - it may even be unfired. It even has the sight hood and European style rear sight. The guy I got it from said he bought it in 1982 and never fired it. It is fitted with a beautiful Nickel-Marburg 2.5-6x scope, which is even mounted in the correct size 26mm rings. (I've seen a lot of old 26mm scopes stuffed into 1" rings (25.4mm), which is NOT good for the scope!)

The real interesting part is the bases and rings. It has what appear to be factory Sako dovetail mounts that screw onto the mounting holes in the Mauser action. Oddly, the rear mount is checkered on top like a regular Sako mount but the front one is plain. I've never seen Sako dovetail mounts for the FN action before, but it makes sense that Sako would have made them. The rings are unique. They look just like regular old-style Sako rings, except that instead of the usual click stops on the windage nuts on the left side,. the nuts have a flange which is held in place by a set screw. Also, where the old Sako rings usually have a line scribed on one side to indicate the right way to set the top half on the bottom, these have a circle on each piece to indicate orientation. They do not bear any Sako marking - the only mark is the number 26 on the bottom of each ring. It occurred to me that these might be some kind of copy, but the only copy of Sako rings I am familiar with is the Spanish one, and the finish on these is way better than any Spanish copy I have seen. Brilliant polish, deep blue, and the knurling on the knobs is clean.

Have any of you guys seen rings like this before? Any further information would be welcome. Sorry I can't post a picture, but most of my computer stuff is still packed away, including the bit I need to transfer a picture from my digital camera. I will post a picture when I can.

On another note, I really enjoyed talking to the guy who sold me the gun. He was a B-25 gunner in the Pacific theater during WWII. He also very kindly sponsored me for membership to the Arizona Arms Association, so I am now a member. Hope I run into him again - I bet he has some interesting stories.
You can always send a text with the photo attached from your cell phone to your e-mail.
 
You can always send a text with the photo attached from your cell phone to your e-mail.

First, the post quoted was written in 2003, four years before the introduction of the iPhone. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but there was no such thing as a smartphone at the time.

That aside, your post assumes that I have a smartphone (which I now do, an iPhone that lives in a drawer most of the time), that I carry it with me at all times, which I don't, and that I use the phone for photography, which I do only occasionally. I never cease to be amazed by some people's assumption that because they live their life on their phones, everybody does. I'm not on Facebook, either.

As noted in my post immediately above, this thread is resurrected from the old Sako Collectors site. Also as noted, photos of the rifle and its unusual scope rings are posted at https://sakocollectors.com/forum/threads/custom-fn-sako-300-h-h.13447/
 
No worries it took me two years to figure out how to send a photo to myself. no facebook twitter memes.
I enjoyed your post.
 

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