• 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

New-to-me Sako AV in 25-06

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

I thought AV rifles were factory floated. Shows what I know. I'd put my money on a loose screw or 2 in the scope mounting apparatus
 
I thought AV rifles were factory floated. Shows what I know. I'd put my money on a loose screw or 2 in the scope mounting apparatus
Maybe they are - I thought they were bedded the same as the L-series. I'll check one of mine.
 
I thought AV rifles were factory floated. Shows what I know. I'd put my money on a loose screw or 2 in the scope mounting apparatus

I have only owned 2 AV’s and both of them are freefloated. This does not mean that all of them are and I don’t mean to imply that.

Sako rifles are well known for accuracy, so much in fact that maybe one could expect too much.
For me , the 25-06 Remington has been the most aggravating chambering I’ve ever messed with. I’ve had 3 different models in my life and could never get them to shoot as good as my other rifles of different calibers. I’m assuming it has to be me. No other reason for it. When it comes to shooting groups on paper and spending unnecessary funds while chasing one hole goals from every gun I own , I don’t get too tore up about it. Especially with factory ammo, where I do feel things should improve, my rifles shoot handloads better , once I find the right combination. Some rifles are less persnickety and some don’t even care ,they just shoot everything good!
I shoot as much as I can , but I’m a hunter, so all I need is a rifle (or rifles) that shoots where I want it to when I want it to. If one of those rifles shoots one hole groups in the .3’s , it’s a blessing to own. If it shoots exactly where it should from a cold bore each time …another blessing to own.
Give the rifle some time, try some handloads if you like, but the starting point is really not bad.

Good luck!

edit: as recently noted, your scope and mounting system are a weak link to consider.
 
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I thought AV rifles were factory floated. Shows what I know. I'd put my money on a loose screw or 2 in the scope mounting apparatus
I just checked my AV in 7x64 Brenneke and the barrel floats clean down to the last half-inch at the tip of the stock, where there is contact and light upward pressure. The rifle shoots consistently to 1-1.5 MOA with factory ammo. Many gun designers and builders prefer this system because it damps out vibration. My personal view is that floating a lightweight barrel is a crapshoot - sometimes it works great, sometimes the vibrations are not consistent and accuracy suffers. The heavier the barrel, the smaller the amplitude of its vibration and the likelier it is to work well if it's floated. I don't know if Sako switched to fully floated barrels later in the AV production run or not.

That said, I definitely agree that the tightness of the scope mounts and rings should be checked.
 
I've had extraordinarily good accuracy with three Sako .25-06's -- but I only ever tried a single load in them: Nosler 115 gr Ballistic Tip over "50 somethingish" grains of IMR7828SSC (I don't like to state the exact load which is a working maximum lest someone simply use it without first working up to it in their particular rifle) for about 3125 fps. All were three-lug L61R's with SN's under 100,000, and unusually, each would accept brass fired in the others.

On the other hand, I have never had any accuracy luck with any Sako in 7mm Rem Mag. I'm sure that both the good luck with the .25-06 and the poor luck with the 7mm RM was "luck of the draw" and unrelated to the specific chambering, but it certainly creates a prejudice with me regarding those particular calibers.
 
Hi Fellow Sako people,
I just restocked my AV 30/06. When I looked at the original stock there is a carved out section about 3/32" deep located approx 2-1/2" from the end of the stock,( muzzle) It is a rectangle with rounded corners, 1-1/2" long & about 1/2 wide.
Is this where Sako normally placed a uplifting shim for barrel support? The new stock is not so configured and is barrel floated. The shim as we shall call it was not in the stock when I took it apart, and I did buy the rifle used ! The comment when I got the rifle was the previous owner said "it was not accurate"? Do you recommend floating Sako barrels in aftermarket stocks?
B/T
 

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I'm having trouble understanding the first photo, which I assume is the "carved out section." Does it by any chance correspond to the location of the sling swivel? There would have to be a recess in the stock for the stud and nut for the sling attachment. Maybe the piece of wood in the photo is to cover the opening? In any case, that is NOT where a barrel shim would go. The proper place for a barrel shim is at the tip of the stock. I've never seen a factory installed barrel shim on a Sako. They machined the barrel channel to its final contour, including the upward pressure at the tip. I would guess that a bit of hand finishing was required to get it just right.

As to fitting the barrel in an aftermarket stock, it kind of depends what sort of stock we are dealing with: semi-finished or fully finished. If you're installing a fully finished stock, such as a molded one, the first thing I would do is see how the stock was designed, floated or with contact. I'd verify that there was no side pressure or contact in the wrong places, then test fire it as received and see what happens. From there, if the results are unsatisfactory, you could experiment with floating or shimming. If you're installing a semi-finished stock, I'd float the barrel and shim it later if it wasn't shooting well as built. I'd say an A-series Sako barrel is heavy enough that it should shoot well if floated. It's mostly lighter barrels that don't respond well to floating. I am currently building a Ruger 10/22 with a heavy barrel and a semi-finished Fajen walnut stock. I have floated the barrel and I anticipate it will shoot well floated, as a .22 doesn't generate a lot of high-amplitude vibration.

A barrel shim can be made from wood veneer or even thin cardboard. I like the veneer edge tape that is made for the edges of veneered plywood shelves. It's thin, flexible, can easily be cut to size, and sometimes even comes with adhesive backing.
 
Hi Icebear,
The carved out section that you see is at tip end of the stock as described about 2-1/2" from the end. It is not any way connected to the swivel post for the sling. I have opened the barrel channel on the new after market stock & will take it to the range when & if the rain and excessive heat relent. Want to get it zeroed in with a new load I want to try. The new stock is heavy and I believe it helps steady the rifle when shooting. At my age I need all the help I can get! The new stock is a Richards 95% inletted and if you believe 95% I will sell you the bridge to SC on lay-away. Albiet the stock is nicely figured, but I think it was made on a Friday or Monday during the Christmas holidays. The inletting was quite poor.
 
Hi Icebear,
The carved out section that you see is at tip end of the stock as described about 2-1/2" from the end. It is not any way connected to the swivel post for the sling. I have opened the barrel channel on the new after market stock & will take it to the range when & if the rain and excessive heat relent. Want to get it zeroed in with a new load I want to try. The new stock is heavy and I believe it helps steady the rifle when shooting. At my age I need all the help I can get! The new stock is a Richards 95% inletted and if you believe 95% I will sell you the bridge to SC on lay-away. Albiet the stock is nicely figured, but I think it was made on a Friday or Monday during the Christmas holidays. The inletting was quite poor.
Well then, I haven't got a clue what that cutout is about. It doesn't make any sense to me and I don't recall ever seeing anything like it on any of the dozens of rifles I've taken apart. Maybe if I had it in hand I could think of something, but that isn't going to happen, so I'm stumped.

Your description of the Richards stock fits with most of the other things I've heard about Richards over the years. Nice wood, lousy inletting. The term "Micro-Fit" is either a lie or a fantasy, depending on how you want to play it. Fajen was better - not great, but better - but of course they are long gone. I still have a few Fajen stocks left: one for a Tikka M55, one for a Ruger Number One, one for a Mauser, and the one on the .22 Ruger I'm building. Plus two for Sako, which I had professionally inletted and bedded to a pair of Deluxe barreled actions, one in .308 and one in .270. I think one is English walnut and the other Circassian. Both these guns are stashed in my workshop awaiting final shaping, checkering, and finishing whenever I get the time. Ah yes, the time.

Do post a pic of your rifle with the Richards stock. I'm always up to look at nice wood.

And I'll swap you that bridge to SC for a nice piece of beachfront land in Yuma. Value will skyrocket when the Big One hits and California drops into the Pacific.
 
Hi Icebear,
The pic. is of my AV & Forester. The Richards stock is exhibition grade walnut, Which had a gummy feeling wood, but finished nicely. & my fondest hope is that Nancy & her group are at home when the big one hits!!! Before pic. (lower) is before finishing& checkering.
B/T
 

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Feather crotch? Is that something you get, something you buy, or something you do?


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Bernie's Dad ! see feather crotch !! Enough ???
 

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see feather crotch !!

There are many names for that beautiful Squiggly wood that we Sako Folks and Fanatics find so fabulous! Some will say Feather Crotch,or maybe feel Fiddleback more fitting..For others, possibly fundamentalists, feel Flame and Figure is fine ,and fitting for firearm furniture!
In final..whether you’re a Farmer, a fireman or Philanthropist, it’s still fabulous to find such figured features!

brought to you by the letter F … bloo
 
There are many names for that beautiful Squiggly wood that we Sako Folks and Fanatics find so fabulous! Some will say Feather Crotch,or maybe feel Fiddleback more fitting..For others, possibly fundamentalists, feel Flame and Figure is fine ,and fitting for firearm furniture!
In final..whether you’re a Farmer, a fireman or Philanthropist, it’s still fabulous to find such figured features!

brought to you by the letter F … bloo


Did someone say......Squiggly??.........

I seem to recall an old thread...........
 
I will fully and finally phase out my fantasies once and for all.


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Great,
From fine fat fellow, Fred's favorate friend from far flung Florida forests formally found , following fantasticly fast flowing foamy flooded flat food farms. Enough !!
 
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