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Sako Enfields

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

IMG_1598C.JPG IMG_1597C.JPG IMG_1598C.JPG IMG_1597C.JPG IMG_1598C.JPG IMG_1597C.JPG I have just seen one of these rifles at my local gun dealer and it appears to be a deluxe version in .243 with the scope mount (no scope) and top wood in place. Serial is SE10XX and it appears to be in very good condition and has possibly not been shot much at all. Dealer has replaced the recoil pad with a new one.
The only markings on the barrel are the calibre designation and adjacent stamps.

Can post more photos.
 
SO far all the rifles have looked like this, bridge removed and ladder sight. Mine's the latest in the production run and so far is the only one with the bridge still present and a rear peep sight.

Curious!

Cheers: Mark
 
and it appears to be a deluxe version in .243 with the scope mount (no scope) and top wood in place

I think that's just the standard version with a non-sako rear stock. The deluxe version shown in the add has checkering and also doesn't have any topwood. Very nice find TwoFourThree. Will you buy it?
It also still has the front site hood too!
 
TwoFourThree, if I may ask, what did they want for it? I do not want to buy it, but I am interested in the price.

Going to the range this weekend to sight in the new scope on mine, will do a bit of a report on how she shoots.

Cheers: mark
 
That looks very much like a buttstock that Fajen used to sell. (Fajen was a prominent but now defunct supplier of pre-inletted walnut stocks from Missouri, USA.)
 
Hi guys,

Sorry about the delay but here's some pics of the stock prior to me dissembling it.

SMLE 243.jpg IMG_0350.JPG 20150113_063614.jpg

P.S "Bofors Steel" is not stamped on the barrel.

Cheers
Peter
 
Hi Peter

Really interesting pictures of your stock. Can you take some photos of your grip cap and recoil pad for us please? Interested to see what these look like. I.e. Are they Sako?

Cheers John
 
John,

Surprise surprise... they are Fajen. 10 points to Stonecreek!

2016-02-10 22.08.21.jpg 2016-02-10 22.05.30.jpg

Funfact: Mine is registered as a Lithgow SMLE Sporter. It was unregistered when it came into my possession and the guy at the LGS had no idea what it was so decided that a Lithgow would be the most likely.

Cheers
Peter
 
Thanks Peter. I thought for a minute there with the white line spacer they may have been Sako.

The Sako Enfields certainly are cool rifles. Hopefully out of the 500 odd made there is still a few more kicking around out there apart from the 5 in this thread.
 
This is a very cool thread guys.
I'd never given the old SMLE clunkers a second look until a month or so back when my son and I visited the Small Arms Factory museum in Lithgow.
(NSW Australia for our foreign correspondents)
A great few hours if your ever passing through.
Anyway, I'd started developing a bit of admiration for the tried and true Enfields, then John, you come up with something that is quite sensational !
I need another gun not, though I've got my eyes peeled.
One day there may be a cure.

Cheers for all the great pics fellas, big thumbs up.
 
I have seen another rifle that had the same magazine (I assume made by Sako when they did the conversions) that was in a SMLE No1 mk3 that had been fitted with a rebored and rechambered (SMLE) barrel in .350 Myra calibre. (An Aust. wildcat round based on a .308 case necked up to .35 cal with the shoulder set back (so a 308 or .358 would not chamber)) so I assume the mag came from a Sako Enfield as I doubt they would have made extra magazines as spares.
 
I'm pretty sure that Arthur Langsford did those magazine conversions. He would have made the magazines himself as he was quiet capable of this. Out of interest Myra was his wife's name hence the .350 Myra etc.

I'm on the lookout for an early L461 .250 Myra. Would be a nice piece of Australian history!
 
IMG_1279C.JPG IMG_1224C.JPG IMG_1279C.JPG IMG_1224C.JPG I would have thought that Sako would have provided a functioning magazine with the rifles they re-barreled. The rear if the magazine insert looks a lot like the base of a 3 shot Tikka magazine. At least, that is what it reminds me of.

Photos are of the .350 myra magazine.
 
Yes the magazines in the Sako Enfield are made by Sako.

However the one you have in a .350 Myra was probably made by Arthur Langsford, not Sako.
 
Firing report.


Took the .303/.243 to the range, complete with shiny new Redfield Revolution 4-12 x 40 mounted in the old rings. Factory ammo was used. There was a strong wind, variable but mostly from behind - strong enough to blow some targets over.


Previous firing had shown that the old Nikki Stirling scope was beyond redemption as it could not be centred and was at best grouping at grapefruit sizes at 50m. That was 8 shots wasted, with one quite heavy jam.


Enter the new scope.


A standard six-ring paper taget was set up at each of 25m, 450m and 100m. Obviously, with a new scope mounted, the first shot aims just to get it on paper even at 25 yards. During this process bolt action was as smooth as glass and there were zero issues feeding or chambering. The rifle was allowed to cool between each shot and was not allowed to get over 'luke-warm to touch'. Trigger action is quite heavy, recoil is at standard .303 levels and the aged solidity of the old recoil pad.


First shot put the round on paper about 6" from the aim point. After that, the fall of shot was walked to a target centre dot, and coarse adjustment done at 25m, the actual centring (50m then 100m to follow) started.


Five shots were expended to walk the rounds to the aim point at 50m, but two of these were quite wild, 3" or so, which was odd. I put that down to a combination of slightly unfamiliar eye relief and one where I know I jerked the trigger. Of more concern was the two difficult extractions. One ejected casing went forward of the firing line, the second showed an odd crinkling of the casing wall. The RSO (a very experienced shooter) was called over and thought it was a fault in the brass.


Hmm. And the wind was worsening (and again each ejected casing was blown off the stand an forward of the firing line).


So with the last round exactly at target centre I did a standard 5 round grouping fire at 50m before looking through the big sighting monocular. There were two difficult extractions. 3 rounds were in a thumbnail cloverleaf, two were 1-1.5" out.


Hmm.


At this point there was clearly something amiss, so I stopped. At the next break the target was recovered, then the brass. There was no reason for the two wild shots, but I had two difficult extractions. Were these related? Two rounds of the 5 showed very strange extraction scratches which indicated that the scratched occurred inside the chamber as the rounds were being extrached. What the heck, said I. Then I looked at all the cases and closer inspecting of the brass showed 'crinkling' on all of them. There's something odd going on in that chamber, said I. So I stopped, put her away and went on to sight in and centre the old Krico .22 with its nice new TASCO. It all went well (despite the worsening wind).


Once I got home it was time to really look at the casings. After 20 minutes of examination (including full 10x magnification work), it was apparent that the 'crinkling' was nothing of the sort. They were stamps - they were identical on every round fired! There's a rough spot, probably corrosion related, in the chamber. I had not reloaded the other brass fired, and aside from two rounds they all show the same stamping when examined. Next step is to take her to a gunsmith for an expert examination of chamber, throat and crown, and the heck with it, I might as well get the headspacing checked as well. I do not have a borescope.


Overall, this is a very nice shooter for a big, fairly fit man like me (recoil does not worry me). It is comfortable, quite light and has the promise of good accuracy. It promises to be an excellent medium game rifle for goats, chitral deer and pigs below 40kg. Of note, swapping out the scopes on the same old mounts shows that they were of very good quality. A swap and the fall of shot before any adjustment was only 6" off the aim point? That's not bad.

Cheers: mark
 
Well I finally got around to re finishing my stock and putting the SE back together. I sanded both the front (cut down original?) and butt (Fajen) stocks back to bare wood. The butt stock was poorly finished from the factory and had to be sanded down significantly to remove the original tooling marks. I applied four coats of pressure pack Gloss Polyurethane (24hrs and a light sand between coats) and left it to sit for 2 weeks after the final coat. I then used 0000 grade steel wood to dull the gloss shine down and applied a coat of bees wax to finish it off. I cleaned up the butt stock end caps (pictured a few post above) and added some modern swivel studs prior to putting it all back together. Personally think it has come up pretty good.

2016-04-03 17.07.43-1.jpg 2016-04-03 17.04.29-1.jpg 2016-04-03 17.05.13-1.jpg

I also replaced the 4x40 Nikko Stirling with a New Tasco World Class 3-9x40 I had lying around (I purchased a rifle package and upgraded the scope). The old Nikko held it's zero well but lacked zoom and the glass was a little hazy so no good for low light situations. I hope to get it down to the range shortly to see if it shoots any better than with the old scope. The best previously was 2" @100m w/ 3 shoot groups so it wasn't too shabby to start with. Hopefully by dissembling it I didn't mess with the bedding.

No more bouncing around in the Ute tray for this old beauty!
 
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