Sako Deluxe in 264 Win mag...Dark wood?

[woodbutchertoo]

I just aquired a beatiful Sako Deluxe .264 Win Mag 3 lug with a 35xxx seial number in 98++% condition, Bofors. There is no blue wear what so ever.

I have a couple questions.

1st. The stock appears to be American black walnut and all my other deluxe Sakos are a "blonde" European walnut. How unusual is this?

2nd. The finish is "hand rubbed" or 30 sheen. Has anyone ever seen a 1961 Sako with this sheen and not a filled/gloss finish?

I build furniture for a living and know finishing/wood. It apears to be all original except for a White Line recoil pad,(we all have our "drooping" Sako orginal pad guns..).


Any tricks on sizing photos? It appears my files are too large to load as full field photos and are cropped.

 

[sakolou]

Is the barrel 24 or 26 inches?

 

[woodbutchertoo]

WOW....I really screwed up the photo thing....Sorry.

The barrel is 24"

 

[stonecreek]

First, congratulations on a great find. A .264 was my first Sako in 1965. I still own it, and it shoots the same place (twelve o'clock and two inches above the crosshair) every time I bring it out of the safe. Mine has taken countless whitetails, a couple of muleys and pronghorns, two elk, and too many feral hogs, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, badgers, and even rattlesnakes to count.

You might want to resize the photo as it doesn't all show (at least on my turn-of-the-century computer.)

I've run across a small handful of older Sakos with stocks like you describe. I believe that a previous owner did not care for the high gloss and carefully rubbed the stock down with a very fine grade of abrasive to drop the gloss to an eggshell luster. This would explain the appearance of a factory finish -- it is a factory finish, just that its surface has been re-buffed. Do you think this explains your stock?

You certainly know more about wood than I, but walnut varies in color and grain. I'm pretty sure that Sako never imported any American walnut for their stocks, but that the stock you have simply mimics American walnut's appearance. If you'll look at the "standard" grade sporters from the same era, they used the same wood, but were finished with a rather dark, slighly reddish stain that gives them more of an American walnut appearance.

Now a question for you: Some later (Garcia and Stoeger era) Sakos had a duller finish that many people refer to as "oil". However, rather than actual oil, I believe this finish is simply a flat lacquer that is chemically very similar to the gloss finish and is not an oil at all. Am I way off base?

 

[mcgrif2243]

Hello Woodbutchertoo,
Nice rifle! I also like the background set-up for the photo. Anyway, I am no "Deluxe" expert, but I can tell you if the SN is 35XXX, it was made in late 1967, not 1961. I would have to agree with you regarding the wood. I have never seen one that dark. The wood finish may not be any different from the light wood Deluxe models but looks that way because of the dark wood. Hell, I don't know. There are some very knowledgeable Deluxe guys here that should give you more help.
Regards, Will

 

[stonecreek]

I see you've already resized and reposted the photos while I was writing my response. Now that I see the whole stock, I don't think the wood is any different from other Sakos. All Sakos are (at least were) hand finished and Sven, the stock finisher, was probably down toward the bottom of the can of stain that hadn't been shaken too well where it just had a little more pigment in it. Or maybe Sven rubbed on the stain then "went for lunch" and it just soaked in a little deeper. At any rate, it does look 100% factory to me, and as I said above, likely the gloss was buffed down to match a previous owner's taste.

Lately, its been popular to make a bunch of hoopla over high gloss finishes on either wood or metal "spooking game". BS. The glossiest part of a gun which REALLY DOES make a highly visible glare is the scope lens, and nobody seems concerned about that. Last Saturday morning before dawn, I sat in a deer blind and watched a group of deer mill around a feeder where a trail cam was taking a flash photo every 60 seconds. They didn't even flinch, much less spook.

 

[woodbutchertoo]

Creek,

Indeed Sakos appear to have laquer finishes and the "hand rubbed" sheen is achieved by mixing a fattening agent. This agent is actaully a super fine talc like used in baby powder.

Thanks for you help....

This is my first 264 win mag and unfortunately it will probably not see much hunting. I have Sako 75s(22-250,308), 85s(338 fed,300wsm) and AII in 7mm-08 that are my "harvest" weapons. I live in South Texas, reload, hunt a lot, and collect rifles so it is reall hard not to scope this 264 win mag and shoot her.

 

[woodbutchertoo]

Dull finish/camo is not near as important as noise and movement....I sat in a big live oak last weekend, by a game trail, and had a doe come up and nudge my un-camoed leg and go back to foraging....red wing work boots,jeans, and beige wrangler work shirt are pretty much my camo.

I do not believe this stock was stained...It has the distinct black walnut color variations and grain. It si very very different than my blonde deluxe Sakos. I remeber reading about an older dark walnut Sako on this post a few months ago...I'll see if the topic is still active and chime in.

Thanks,

Herb

 

[wookie316]

That is a very nice rifle.

 

[hayseed51]

Yes, a really handsome rifle. Congrats on a great score.

A small detail to add to Stonecreek's contention that the finish has been 'massaged' a bit is that the crossbolt appears to have been replaced backwards.

Herb, you can't own a rifle like that without checking to confirm Sako's ledgendary accuracy. Scope it up, man! Dick

 

[misako50]

Herb- Deergoose has the other "dark stocked" deluxes that I have seen displayed on this forum. They are in a class by themselves when it comes to beauty and art form. I have had one dark stocked deluxe that I purchased some years ago but the wood was in such bad shape, it wasn't worthy of display. I wish the community would get past the recoil pad onus that sako has. Most of the replacement pad jobs are an asset to the rifles and look good too. Your pad looks like the perfect match for the wood on the rifle. Congrats on a real beauty. Also- I have noticed sheen differences on the deluxes that were not refinished. It seems to me that there were the very early deluxes with a sheen of their own. Then a glossier finish up until 1970, and then a little bit less gloss after that.. I know that there were different finishes applied to these over the years.- Hope you can put some meat on the table this year with the .264- Mike

 

[stonecreek]

A small detail to add to Stonecreek's contention that the finish has been 'massaged' a bit is that the crossbolt appears to have been replaced backwards.
Dick

Great catch, Hayseed! I've never had the cross bolt out of a stock, but I see no reason that it could not be inserted with the spanner nut on the right side rather than the left side. It would make sense that if you were rubbing a stock down you would remove the hardware in order not to damage it. When it was reassembled, the guy just didn't pay any attention and put it in backwards! I can't see that this hurts anything, but it sure is a compelling piece of evidence that there has been some kind of work done on the stock.
Woody, if you decide to shoot your .264, drop me a message and I'll give you a little help with reloading information. I own two Sako .264's and have worked with one owned by a friend, so I have a lot of loading data and experience with a wide range of bullets and powders.

 

[woodbutchertoo]

Thanks you ALL for the excellant info...I love being a member of the Forum,(since 2007 on original site), and plan to "get more involved" .

I'll pull the action again and inspect the crossbolt instal..Regarding to shoot or collect, that's a hard one with this gun.

When I initialy pulled the action to do a close inspection, I could not find any signs of a finish face lift. I have purchased guns with nice actions and abused or time worn stocks in order to refinish. So I know what to look for and the stock seems factory?? Makes no difference at this point...love my new girl.

I have Sakos that I want to shoot but know better and this one is on the fence. I have a first year import beatiful 22-250 L579 that appeared unused,(zero scratches/dings/blue wear). It came with a nice El Paso Weaver scope on it so I figured what the heck and took it to my shooting range. Chambered, aimed, and pulled trigger...nothing. I cringed thinking this must be why I got such a incredible deal at the estate sale. It turned out the firing pin was WAY out of adjustment. Adjusted it and it shoots as all Sakos should... I realized how rare the gun is, pulled the scope, oiled her metal, put a safe sock on her, and back in the vault she went.

The El Paso Weaver would be an appropriate piece of glass for this 264. I'll be in touch for that load data Creek.

Thanks

Herb

 

[powhatan42]

Hello guys,

I'm new to this forum, however I too like that 264. I found a very nice pre-Garcia Sako at my local gun store and picked it up.

I put a nice Leupold Vari X3 4.5-10 on it. All I need now is the ammo, which is not locally available, any suggestions?

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[misako50]

Welcome to the Sako Forums, Glenn. I am going to say try Midway for your cartridges or Black Hills. I did a search for components for some "Rare" rounds and found those to work for me. -Misako

 

[Anonymous]

Glenn, You may also try Graf & Sons. Welcome, as well.
S-A

 

[wookie316]

Reload if you have the equipment. Factroy ammunition selection for the 264 stinks.

Slow powder is the key. My pet load for the 264 is 74gr H870 & a 140gr accubond.

Good luck with the find.

 

[powhatan42]

Thanks guys for all the advice...I like Graf & sons, they don't kill you with shipping, and their pricing is good. Better yet they have the ammo. I can't wait for some nice weather to see how my new baby shoots.

I do handload, and I will get prepared to do so while we still can!

My serial Number is 243X....Low, and in excellent condition. Most of the newbies are into the "Black guns" I maybe old fashion but I still like nice wood and nice actions. My first Sako was a used 7MM Rem mag with a custom stock. I still have that Sako some 25 years later. I'll check the serial number for sure.

Glenn

 

[Anonymous]

Glenn,
Don't worry, there are lot's of "woodies" on this forum :bigsmile3:.You'll feel right at home! Sounds like you've got a couple goodies, there. How about a picture or two?
S-A

 

[stonecreek]

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