Pictures of my finnbear sako l61r 300 h&h magnum

[bloorooster]

Agreed on wiki knowledge, some stuff is worth reading but it can be walked on. I do know this, there are pre-garcia 300 win mags out there, from as early as the '64-'65 period as I see it. Stonecreek has one here that fits the description. I personally have never had one in hand (yet), but I do believe they where around before '72~Bloo

 

[deergoose]

I have a couple 'o three Win Mags from the '60s w/ Bofors barrells. One is from 1964 or '65, so they did make them in pre-Garcia.

DeerGoose

 

[eddsako]

That is a great looking gun I love it great get.

 

[JIA's Dad]

Thanks guys, I trust your opinions more everyday. This site rocks!!!

 

[stonecreek]

As Jim pointed out, the Wiki article has some errors. However, it is much less objectionable to find errors about Sakos in an informal free online encyclopedia than the outrageous errors that have been printed about Sakos in the "authoritative" $40 Fjestad Blue Book! (Did you know that according to the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Fjestad BB, "Rymac" -- a corruption of "Rihiimaki" -- was once the U.S. importer of Sakos?)

But more to the point: The .300 Winchester Magnum was introduced by Winchester in 1963. Other manufacturers began chambering it around 1964 or shortly thereafter. Up until the .300 Winchester arrived, all Sako ".300 Magnums" were the original H&H chambering, in other words, those made in 1961, 1962, 1963, and probably much of 1964. When Sako began chambering the .300 Winchester the phased out the .300 H&H very quickly. There have been a couple of "high number" .300 H&H examples found, but they were most likely made from left-over barrels some years after Sako "quit" making the H&H chambering. So yes, there were many Sako .300 Winchesters made from perhaps as early as 1964 through the final batch of F.I. imports sometime in 1971. The .300 Winchester L61R I have for sale is in the 18,000's, and the one I am keeping for my collection is in the 12,000's -- both Bofors Steel and well prior to 1972.

 

[JIA's Dad]

Has anyone seen a 300 Win Mag with a four digit serial number? Or did they start with 5 digits. I agree now that they were made before 1972, some are listed on the old list.

 

[bloorooster]

Dad...I would speculate to guess that you're going to find most L61R's in 300win to have 5 digit serial numbers, taking into concideration the time line of that cartridge. The L61R was introduced in 1961 and the cartridge came out in 1963~Bloo

 

[stonecreek]

I haven't seen a four digit .300 Winchester, but I own a four digit .300 H&H (11,000s).

I started a thread a while back on this subject and asked folks to post the lowest SN's of .300 Winchesters that the own/have knowledge of along with the highest SN's on .300 H&H Finnbears. Didn't get too much response. It would be interesting to see how much the numbers overlap (except for a couple of oddball H&H's in the 40,000's). Due to the way Sako tended to use their factory inventory of actions somewhat randomly as they made up finished rifles, there may be some overlap in serial numbers, but not necessarily in actual chronology of time.

 

[deergoose]

Pretty sure that SC's WinMag pre-dates the earliest one I have. As I recall, mine is in the 12,xxx range, but I'll need to look at my listing. This is a good topic here, and should be interesting to find out the cutover date. At one time I had 4 H&H rifles, but I traded one off for another Riihimaki and Leupold scope and some other boy-toy goodies.

DeerGoose

 

[JIA's Dad]

I would also like to know if any of the early 300 WIN Mags had the Bofores Marked barrels? Just for curiosity sake...Like your 12,xxx ss, Deergoose.
And Thanks guys for the responses.

 

[stonecreek]

I would also like to know if any of the early 300 WIN Mags had the Bofores Marked barrels? Just for curiosity sake...Like your 12,xxx ss, Deergoose.
And Thanks guys for the responses.

All calibers should have had a Bofors marked barrel if made prior to sometime in 1968 or so.

 

[ram511]

Stonecreek: Trying to send a PM but your space quota is maxxed out..........

ram511

 

[douglastwo]

Dad, your L61R is real early because it has the white spacer. The 1961 FI catalog shows a standard sporter finnbear with a white and black spacer, but the FI 1962 and later catalogs I have show only the black spacer. Also most of the white spacers I've seen are between the pad and the black spacer, but I've seen a few with the white spacer between the wood and the black spacer. Jim's link to sakoparaphernalia under sako then ammunition catalogs shows an ammo catalog with a deluxe sporter that has the white spacer between the wood and the black spacer like yours. Your rifle is a great find!

 

[deergoose]

Yes. Bofors for my WinMags that are before 1968. I've got a Mannlicher built in 1971 without the Bofors marking. 1968 seems to be the accepted cutoff date for the markings, but all of that is debatable as there are a few "oddball" rifles that may have it (along with other Sako anomalies). I know of a few of these........We've talked about the Bofors stuff to death...but I never get tired of it.

and as SC has identified an "oddball" Sako.....well that is why a lot of us are in this game....to find the stuff that we haven't ever seen before ! thanks.
DeerGoose

 

[cmjr]

Nice rifle, that B&L base should come right off once the set screws are backed off and you take a block of wood and hammer to it. I would take it out of the stock, let it soak with some Kroil for a couple hours and support it correctly before you start flailing at it, should pop right off. As for being an original 300 H&H that definitely gives it an uptick in value. I sold what I thought was a 300WinMag a couple years ago off my table for 600.00 at the Market Hall gunshow in Dallas, carried it around for a couple years trying to sell it. The new owner returned an hour later huffin and puffin, "this ain't no 300 Win Mag", he was correct, I refunded his money and apologized. Marked it up to 800.00 with "Original 300 Holand & Holand" in big block letters and sold it.