• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

My 7x33 Mannlicher

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

stonecreek

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Here is my "Holy Grail": A Sako L46 Mannlicher, full 23.5" barrel, in 7x33.

As you can see, the gun has a walnut stock and the left-hand wing safety and is in very nice condition for a 63 year-old gun. Since the rear sight was missing out of its frame, I mounted a period Weaver K-3 on it. I was able to find a hundred rounds of factory ammunition, plus another three boxes of mixed factory and reloads, so I'm pretty well set for brass. Now I am working on modifying bullets for it. The lightest 7mm bullets available are 100 grain Hornady or Sierra hollow points. While they seem to shoot accurately enough in the rifle, I can't make the short enough to work through the magazine, so they have to be single-loaded. I'm experimenting with ways to trim the noses back, which would make them both short enough, and a bit closer to matching the factory 78 grain weight.

Anyone else out there have experience with the 7x33?
 
Stonecreek- That "old" Sako looks incredible for being my age. I see quite a few with that block just in front of the objective. Is that a rear sight or a scope mt. base of some sort.? If you get some time I wish you would post a picture of the 7x33 cartridge next to a .308 or .243. It would help with perspective for me, at least.-Mike
 
Here ya go, Mike: The center cartridge is, of course, the 7x33 Sako. It was developed from a stretched 9mm Luger and uses the same shellholder. From left to right, the cartridges are: .243, 7.62x39, 7x33, .223, .30-06. This will give you some idea of its relative size.

It seems that it was developed for small game hunting, particularly the Capracellae (sp?), a large, turkey-sized bird found in the Scandanavian forests. It seems they are extremely wary and are best taken with a non-expanding rifle bullet from a hundred or so yards away. After the 7x33 was invented, seal hunters found it to be ideal for head shots on fur seals. The factory loads I've chronographed run around 2600 fps with their 78 grain bullet. This puts the cartridge more or less in the same class as the .30 Carbine.

Oh, yes. What you see just in front of the scope objective is the frame for the rear sight. The sight leaf itself has been removed, presumably not to obstruct the scope. It was missing when I purchased it. There happens to be a complete rear sight like this one for sale on ebay right now. I would buy it, but I really don't see much chance that I'll be using the irons on this gun, anyway. If I did, it would be with a dual-range peep sight.
 
Speaking of looking good for its age, I was able to buy a very nice L46 .222 a year or so ago that from its serial number appears to be a 1950 model -- the year of my birth. I'll have to admit that its appearance has held up much better than that of its owner. We won't even mention its function.
[SakoCollectors.com] My 7x33 Mannlicher
 
Sorry- I had to step away when this was getting real interesting. Now I understand the bullet dillema. I had envisioned something like a 6mm BR. I haven't been paying much attention to the bullets from the "old country" but I don't think there was a 7mm pistol that ever caught on. I hear you loud and clear on the age related performance factors. Poor trajectory and very mild loads. It gets worse so chin up (instead).- Mike
 
I've been told that you can use pistol bullets made for the 7mm Nambu. But that's a little like saying that you need a Tyrannasaurus, but if they're hard to find, not to worry because a Wooly Mammoth will do. I actually did find some cast bullets for the 7mm Nambu, but they are only 60 grains and have a diameter of .280", so I don't think they would be what I'm looking for.

I've also been told that it wouldn't be that hard to "bump up" a smaller bullet to .284" with the right dies. I suppose that Corbin might make a die for this, but I haven't enquired with them. The 100 grain Hornady's do fine if I can just find a way to consistently trim about an eighth-inch uniformly off of their noses.

Jim (L61R) tells me that there are actually some factory bullets floating around in Europe. He said he would watch for some for me.
 
Wow - what an excellent and unique little rifle. It seems like every one of these older L-46s is packed with anomolies. Truely, each one is a bit of a custom. Real neat to see yours is stamped 1946 on the receiver. It suprises me some that it carries as high a s/n as it does... Either they really made a lot of them in '46, or I wonder if they might have run that 1946 stamping on for a bit. Guess we'll likely never know for sure.

Your rear sight is interesting too. Seems quite short, and appears to not have the " ears" at the rear of the base like most.

The nice walnut stock on yours kind of dispells the notion that all the early ones were flamed birch. You may have noticed a sort of high priced Hornet on GB a couple weeks ago that claimed to be s/n 46, and it also had a nice walnut stock. (not sure about that rifle - pics weren't quite clear enough to read the stampings, but didn't appear to have the 1946 postfix, and clarification didn't come...) Anyway, I wonder if the birch may have been something like the standards later became and the walnuts might have been an unofficial deluxe?

Seems to have been some variation with the size and location of the circular L-46 stamping on the front pad too.

I recently had the good fortune to aquire what must have been one of the last of the left wing safety rifles in 222 sporter. It carries s/n 6413. One of it's more interesting anomolies is the bolt release. It's a long sucker - hangs out past the receiver nearly 3/8". Just being chambered in 222 is sort of a tight squeeze with the wing safety timeline. One other interesting thing is the "pluming". In good natural light the barrel shows a touch of plum, but the receiver doesn't show any at all. Admittedly, my experience is limited, but I had thought most Sakos were the other way around. As I think you suggested before, it does carry a 1:16 twist. Don't know if you've had a chance to peek in your bore with a scope or not, but mine is amazing. Looks like the finish of a Kreiger or Bartlein. I'm sure it's been lapped, and I can't detect any wallowing at the muzzle at all, so I'm wondering if it might be possible that Sako did that at the factory on the early rifles?

I only wish I had loading experience with the 7x33. Hopefully Jim can scare up a few hundred bullets for you. If not, I'll bet Mike is on the right track with the idea of modifying a Forster trimmer. It would be great if you have a buddy with a lathe to make you a modified collet. I'm picturing one with the same base, but with a snoot that sticks out far enough to grasp the whole bearing surface of the bullet. No steps or anything, just drilled .284 deep enough to grab all the bearing surface. Probably the hardest part would be to figure how to hold it to make the relief cuts with a bandsaw. You might need to relocate the collet clamp in a little so you have enough throw, but it's just a single screw holding it. The cutter may be a little harder... You might even ask Forster about it - they're good folks.

Anyway, congrats on a really great rifle. Thanks for shareing. Dick
 
I also have a 7x33, a normal half stock, not a full stock (mannlicher as you call them). Finding ammo in Sweden is no big problem, they made new ammo until recently. Finding bullets is nog big problem either. I found 800 factory ammo FMJ and SP, as well as the same number of bullets, both FMJ and SP.
 
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