• 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

Sako L61R Deluxe Heavy Barrel

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

Deluxe 25/06 arrived !
Thursday was a day for arrivals, I Received an AV in 25/06 deluxe in excellent condition & some pristine 25/06 once fired casings , rifle S/N 6324XX
(Casings a gift from one of our members) Upon getting the rifle I cannot find any evedence of the rifle being used! No dents anywhere, high gloss finish, bright rifeling & black/blue steel. Also I find that a new 20 dollar bill will only pass between the barrel & stock about 2" from the muzzle, is this the normal barrel/stock configuration? I will be trying to fit the rings & scope today & send pics. when complete.The barrel looks thinner than my other AV rifle, but I haven't measured it ? Comments welcome. B/T
 
S/N 6324XX
Check your SN again, Bucktote. I think that either the first number should be a "5", not a "6", or there should only be one "X" at the end -- or both. In other words, it should go like this: 5324XX, 6324X, or 5324X.

If it is actually "6324XX" then that would be an unusual serial number for an AV. But Sako has done stranger things. Does it have the early "triangular" fore end like the L61R & AIII, or the "Hunter-style" rounded fore end? Is it a 24.4" barrel or the later 23-incher?

Regardless, a Deluxe .25-06 is a real prize to be proud of. I foolishly let mine go when I popped off a ridiculous price to a nagging would-be buyer and the underhanded SOB paid it!
 
Thank You Mr. Paulson.
I can always count on you to give good advice! As for Mr. Stonecreek, the S/N is as I described ( 6324xx) seems like another SAKO Anomaly!! The barrel is
23" and the stock fore end is round. I have mounted the Leupold Vari X III 3.5 X 10 X
50 mm AO lens with Leupold/Sako high rings. The 50mm bell is about 1/16" above the barrel & I have bore sighted it with a colometer, to be varified at my range
as soon as I repair the concrete shootong table acciently damaged while collecting pine straw & I get some ammo loaded. I will have an extra set of full length RCBS 25/06 dies if anyone needs some, PM me. Can't send Pics. I am computer challanged, wait for kids to get here later. Sorry! B/T

Edit #1. Pic. included after much effort!! thanks kids & wife.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6235.jpg
    IMG_6235.jpg
    52.8 KB · Views: 23
Last edited:
Bucktote, you said- The barrel is 23" and the fore end is round. Were you referring to the barrel muzzle or the stock fore end? Please correct me if I am wrong, but I do not ever recall having a original Sako with a round barrel muzzle. They all seem to have a flat (square finished) or a slightly concave muzzle surface. Some barrel muzzle outer edges are relieved (rounded) slightly more than others. The stock fore ends did seem to have many variations of shape over the years. That being said, I believe that some of the anomalies found in Sako rifles may have been caused by individual preference and freedom of expression by the factory craftsmen. These variations do make collecting much more interesting. Cheers. Sakojim.
 
Dear Jim,
Sorry for the confusion, The barrel is squared off and the stock fore end is rounded. The Pics that I cannot seem to get on the post would have cleared that up, sorry, I seem to be having a BIDEN moment!!! B/T
 
Check your SN again, Bucktote. I think that either the first number should be a "5", not a "6", or there should only be one "X" at the end -- or both. In other words, it should go like this: 5324XX, 6324X, or 5324X.

If it is actually "6324XX" then that would be an unusual serial number for an AV. But Sako has done stranger things. Does it have the early "triangular" fore end like the L61R & AIII, or the "Hunter-style" rounded fore end? Is it a 24.4" barrel or the later 23-incher?

Regardless, a Deluxe .25-06 is a real prize to be proud of. I foolishly let mine go when I popped off a ridiculous price to a nagging would-be buyer and the underhanded SOB paid it!
Thank You Mr. Paulson.
I can always count on you to give good advice! As for Mr. Stonecreek, the S/N is as I described ( 6324xx) seems like another SAKO Anomaly!! The barrel is
23" and the fore end is round. I have mounted the Leupold Vari X III 3.5 X 10 X
50 mm AO lens with Leupold/Sako high rings. The 50mm bell is about 1/8" above the barrel & I have bore sighted it with a colometer, to be varified at my range
as soon as I repair the concrete shootong table acciently damaged while collecting pine straw & I get some ammo loaded. I will have an extra set of full length RCBS 25/06 dies if anyone needs some, PM me. Can't send Pics. I am
computer challanged, wait for kids to get here later. Sorry! B/T
The barrel, stock configuration & serial number all point to this rifle being made very late in the AV model period. What documentation I have seen indicates serial numbers in the 600,000's were reached in the very late 1980's , say around 1988-89 & were still being used when the AV was discontinued in 1991. So, if I had to guess, I would say the rifle was made in 1990 give or take a year! With Sako dates & serial numbers being notoriously unreliable, that's about as far out on a limb as I will go.
 
Information sharing!
For Mr. Stonecreek: & others that my be looking for 25/06. There are two in Guns International & one on Gunbrokers that are deluxe models.
About leupold / Sako rings, the high style worked for my AV when mounting a 50mm AO scope with about a 1/16" clearence bell/barrel(actually .062) Caution read the assy.instructions on the ring package. Much to my gardian angles hard work, I inadverdently chose the proper ring to install foward on the dovetails. The instructions indicate the wider base ring goes on the foward dovetail & you should wipe any oil from the rings inner surface with a cleaning solvent.I DIDN'T!! Also when using a colometer to bore sight, you may need an extra set of hands. I found that the bronze spring on the mandrel can slip on the lands of the barrel and make it difficult to center the screen on the colometer. Hope this helps!! B/T
 
Last edited:
Hi again Mr. Paulson'
The first AV I have is a 30/06 and it has a much heavier barrel than the 25/06 I just aquired. I have restocked the 30/06 and the original stock, it's an average plain wooden stock with the Herringbone checkering pattern. I have also floated the barrel on the 30/06 & it shoots better than I can hold it! You are very kind to do the research for me and I am happy that the 25/o6 is the latest of that model & likely has the benefit of the improvments derived thru the AV.s mfg. cycle. I am looking forward to shooting a left hand rifle for the first time!! Pics= Top Pic. Top rifle 30/06 RH action LH stock by me. Bottom picture = 25/06 " left handy hitter" .
Keep well & many thanks for your input. B/T

Edit #1. Out of 53 once fired brass casings givin to me by a generous member of our group, 48 of them chambered in the 25/06 Sako AV without any resizing. I will however neck size them as bullets slip in the necks. When they arrived they were clean, pockets cleaned & polished!
Also for information: the 50mm A.O. bell, clears the barrel at the barrel chamber bell @ .062
using the Leupold/ Sako high rings.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6235.jpg
    IMG_6235.jpg
    52.8 KB · Views: 33
  • IMG_6241.jpg
    IMG_6241.jpg
    60 KB · Views: 21
  • IMG_6237.jpg
    IMG_6237.jpg
    44.8 KB · Views: 19
Last edited:
Reloading dies arrived!!
Must have been via "Kamakazi Air" went to store 15 min. they were on the porch when I got home!! Their pilots will land anywhere!! Will start reloading about 20 ea. Will try 117 grain Sierra BT, with 49.2 Gr. IMR 4350, my "go to powder". Also have some 120 grain Remington cartridges
on the way to try & salvage brass. Thanks to all that helped. B/T
 
Last edited:
Danger averted !!
To all my Sako friends, If you have followed the above post , yesterday a dangerous situation was averted by the intervention of my "Gardian Angel".
Who ever that might be!! While I loaded cartridges for my newly aquired Sako 25/06 AV according to the Sierra Manual ( 2nd Edition) I chanced a call to Gunner620, as he was loading for his 25/06. We talked about velosity, powder selection & bullets used. Here is where it gets interesting! The danger for me is " I don't know what I don't know? When we talked about powder weights I discovered that His Sierra manual # 5, showed a 3 grain difference from my manual in the max load. I loaded according to my manual that is outdated & upon calling Sierra tech. I found that due to Dupont selling the powder mfg. to another company, the formula for the IMR 4350 was changed, & I was loading 3 gains higher than max!! what the end result would have been is any ones guess?? I now will pull the bullets, resize the necks, measure length, clean casings & reload to the new specs. LESSON learned = do not use older manuals, but how do you know it's too old??
B/T
 
Back
Top