SAKO-50 Years of Rifle Accuracy

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Source: G&A

Too many companies just sell guns. From this old line Finnish manufacturer the product is accuracy. The package it comes in is quality workmanship, superior materials, detail techniques and a basic, proven design.

Back in the early 1950s I was putting in a solid 40 to 60 hours per week shooting guns and ammo at crows, woodchucks and sundry other varmints plus another 50 hours testing new varmint rifles, cartridges and loads hoping to find something really suitable. To be sure, I was getting excellent results, even by today's standards, but I never seemed to get the degree of accuracy, lightness and good looks I was looking for all in the same package.

So when word seeped into the Tennessee highlands that a little Finnish lightweight bearing the odd sounding name of Sako was available in .222 Remington chambering I ordered one without delay or further inquiry.

Information on the Sako was so scarce then that all I could learn was the rifle's weight, chambering and general dimensions. No one seemed to know if they would shoot well or not. In fact, I couldn't even find anyone who had the slightest idea of what a Sako looked like…

When the Sako arrived I could not have been more surprised or delighted with its appearance. The blueing had the deep richness of black Venetian glass, the Mannlicher style stock was of tight grained walnut--closely inletted, superbly finished and finely checkered. Best of all, however, was the action, an exquisite miniature Mauser with a delicacy of line that deceived its built-in ruggedness.

Not having a scope mount for the Sako's dovetailed bridge and ring but determined to shoot it anyway I slipped on the Sako two-position peep sight and gave it a whirl. At 85 yards I put ten shots in a cluster that measured just over an inch--I still have that target now some two decades later… Within a week I had fitted a 10X Lyman Wolverine scope and began discovering in earnest what thousands upon thousands of riflemen have learned since; that the Sako is one of the most accurate rifles ever produced.

That first Sako, the first of several that have since graced my rack, cost, as I recall, something like $125, which was pretty steep considering that a Remington M-722 in the same chambering cost about $75 at the time. However, I could not have been more delighted with my discovery. At six and a half pounds the rifle was a dream to carry up the chuck infested but awfully steep Tennessee ridges. It would reliably put five--or ten--shots inside an inch at 100 yards and was a steady attention getter in local shooting circles. I believe it was the first Sako to make its way into East Tennessee.

Despite its widespread acceptance as a sporting arm of exceptional beauty and accuracy, the Sako (pronounced Sock-O, not Say-Ko) has remained pretty much an enigma in the shooting world. The manufacturer's tongue twisting name, for example, Sako-Riihimaki is still regarded by some to be Japanese rather than Finnish, and very few folks on this side of the big pond are aware that Sako has been in business since 1921. That's right, Sako has just completed its 50th year! Let's go back to the beginning…

Back in 1919 a weapons repair and rebuilding shop was established in Helsinki, Finland, for the purpose of repairing rusty and battered Russian and Japanese military rifles, which had been obtained as war booty. The shop operated in a former brewery owned by Helsinki Tech and the rebuilt rifles were supplied to the Finnish Voluntary Guards. The name of the shop was (now try this on for size) Sujeluskuntien Ase-ja Konepaja (which translated means Weapons and Machine Shop of the Voluntary Guard). Fortunately for all, the title was abbreviated SAKO.

In April of 1921 the shop became independent of the Volunteer Guard and it is this date which is considered the firm's real beginning. By 1927 the firm had expanded its operation to the point that the brewery building was no longer big enough. New premises were found in Riihimaki, a village some twenty miles north of Helsinki. The company bought a defunct ammunition plant there, remolded the buildings and established the permanent home of Sako. At that time Sako also became a joint stock company.

It was in 1937 that the company took its present name, Oy Sako Ab. Too, by this time the number of Sako workers had increased to 230. In 1921 only 40 craftsmen had been employed.

In 1928 permission was granted by the Ministry of Defense to begin the production of ammunition and in 1931 they got their first government contract for military ammo. Production at that time was a surprisingly efficient 2500 rounds per hour. Since that time until now Sako has manufactured some six hundred million rounds of military and sporting ammo.

During the war years Sako not only continued its traditional operation of repairing captured weapons, but also designed and produced two weapons which have become well known by virtue of the unique source of their names one is the "Pystykorva," which is named after a Spitz dog because the front sight hood resembles the ears of that breed. The other, the "Ukko-Pekka," was named after a former president of Finland but I don't know if there were any physical features shared by the man and the gun.

Despite the relatively small size of the Sako factory, wartime production figures are high between 1941 and 1945 275 million rounds of pistol ammo were produced, plus four million hunting cartridges.

In November of 1944 Sako underwent what is very possibly the most unique transaction in arms manufacturing history. According to the harsh terms of the Moscow Peace Treaty of November 3, the activities of the Volunteer Guard were suspended and the whole Sako organization was to be dissolved in six days. But by means of quick thinking action by the Sako management and Finnish government the majority of Sako stock was donated to the Red Cross organization! The Red Cross, being a non-profit, non-political group, was outside the terms and jurisdiction of the Moscow Treaty as well as the Soviets, so the Sako works was saved. Had it not been for this remarkable bit of maneuvering, you wouldn't be reading this article because there wouldn't be any such thing as a Sako sporting rifle.

Immediately after the war there was the usual difficulty in adjusting to peacetime production. In order to maintain a high production level so that there would be no need to lay off workers, Sako was compelled to manufacture such odds and ends as cigarette lighters, textile machinery and even lipstick cartridges (actually a "natural" for ammo making machinery).

Firearms, however, was Sako's real business and they lost little time in designing a rifle for the sporting market. By 1946 a trim little rifle based on what was to become known as the L-46 action was on the European market. The world did not beat a path to their door, however, and it is almost by accident, plus a happy series of events, that the Sako ever gained a toehold on U.S. shores.

Sometime between 1946 and 1948 an American traveler in Europe picked up one of the new Sako rifles and brought it back to the U.S. Since the rifle was chambered for the 7x33 cartridge the owner quickly discovered that ammo simply wasn't to be had. So he left it at Abercrombie & Fitch to be sold. While in the A&F racks the unusual little rifle was spotted by one Jan Winter, a fancier of the guns who knew a good thing when he saw it. With nothing more than the name on the gun--Sako, Riihimaki--to guide him, Winter traced the rifle's origin and eventually contacted Col. E. Hyden, then president of the Sako works.

Winter then traveled to Finland, made some suggestions for redesigning the little rifle and became the American representative for Sako. The design changes that came about from Winter's suggestions resulted in the L-46 and Sako was almost on its way--but not quite…

For a time the L-46 was virtually a rifle without a cartridge. The 7x33 and other cartridges of such ilk were clearly out of the question so far as American tastes went. Existing U.S. cartridges suitable for the action included the .22 Hornet and .218 Bee. The rifle was made available in these chamberings but at that time the .220 Swift ruled supreme in varmint shooting circles. Folks weren't all that keen on buying a relatively expensive rifle when the same money would buy a Swift. Sako sales moved along anyway. Mainly, I suspect because then, as always, there was a market for a well-built good-looking gun, regardless of caliber.

The bombshell went off with Remington's introduction of their .222. Here was a marriage made in heaven. The .222 was bound for stardom and the L-46 was perfect for it. The rest is history.

Firearms International, the Sako importer, "capped the stack," so to speak by offering the L-46 action alone or as a barreled action. Do-it-yourself stock making was just getting big then and sportsmen everywhere were looking for something to make a stock for. Remington and Winchester, thinking they had a lock on the rifle market, didn't see fit to sell anything but finished the rifles. The boys at Firearms International, however, had their ears to the ground and the rumblings told them to sell actions and barreled actions. Sako action sales soared, much to the acute annoyance of domestic arms manufacturers who didn't commence the sale of barreled actions until years later--after it was much, much too late.

From a marketing standpoint, I've long suspected that the Finns underestimated the potential of their product. Even after the success of the L-46 they were totally unprepared for the rush of orders that greeted their second model, the medium length L-57. The demand was so great that for some time Sakos were quite hard to come by.

This remarkable success hasn't come about as a result of just having the right product at the right time. Sako rifles are superbly accurate because the Finns work hard at making them that way. It has been said that if a gun works in the harsh climate of Finland it will work anywhere, but Sako quality goes deeper than that. Take the barrels for instance they begin as chrome-molybdenum steel blanks specially forged for Sako by the famed Bofors Works in Sweden. At the Sako plant each individual barrel is checked for hardness after being heat treated. After being drilled the bores are diamond honed and lapped. This lapping operation may seem superfluous after the diamond honing process, but according to Sako technicians, this is the extra step that makes the big difference in accuracy.

After final lapping the barrel blank is passed over a mandrel, which bears the contours of a rifle barrel--lands, grooves proper rate of twist--all in reverse. A giant hammering machine presses the barrel blank around the mandrel and in doing so transfers the form of the mandrel to the inside of the barrel. The mandrel is then removed from the barrel and a near perfect bore remains. The barrels are then turned to their final shape, threaded, chambered and fitted to an action.

Before going further along the manufacturing route the barreled action is proofed and then accuracy tested with standard Sako commercial loads. If the barrel doesn't perform to Sako's standards it is removed and scrapped!

At present, Sako manufactures four basic designs the L-461 "Vixen," L-579 "Forester," L-61 "Finnbear" and VL-63 "Finnwolf." This latter was designed and manufactured in direct response to the American demand for a lever type rifle.

Interestingly, the names Vixen, Finnwolf, etc., were added to the number of designations of Sako rifles in an effort to "educate" Americans away from the apparently widespread notion that "Sako-Riihimaki" is somewhere in Japan.

Whatever the buyer's notions may be, however, there is no confusion over the fact that an awfully lot of sportsmen buy Sako rifles. In the past couple of decades Sako has made over 180,000 finished rifles plus another 50,000 barreled actions. Even with such success at this, plus the ever increasing demand for Sako rifles keeping manufacturing output at a top level, they are constantly exploring new ideas and developing new lines.

By the time you read this, for example, Sako will be celebrating their 50th anniversary by introducing a new line of rifles, plus a spectacular 50th Anniversary limited edition model. This "Golden Anniversary" model, of which only one thousand will be made, is based on the big Finnbear action and comes in 7mm Remington Magnum caliber only. Selling for about $750, this deluxe edition, as might be expected, has lots of floss and gloss. Fancy wood, lots of hand carving around the checkering, a gold monogram plate in the rosewood gripcap, gold filled embossing on the receiver and gold filled embossing on the floorplate proclaiming Sako's golden anniversary--as I said, very flossy but underneath it all a good solid Sako rifle.

Appealing to the more average sportsman is Sako's new Model-72 line. Available in medium and long action lengths and in most of the standard calibers, the Model-72s are Sakos all the way, but with a little less of the traditional Sako finish. The price range will be somewhere in the $175 bracket.

Fundamentally, the 72s are the same as the higher priced Sakos. They even come out of the same production line. Same lapped barrel, same action with integral dovetail bases, adjustable trigger, hinged floorplate, etc. The only difference, in fact, so far as the metal parts go, is a satin-like blue, rather than the high gloss of the more expensive models.

The Monte Carlo style stock has a cheekpiece, handcut skip-line checkering and quick detachable sling swivels. So far as the overall profile goes, the most apparent difference between the M-72 and the more costly models is that the M-72 has an adjustable rear sight mounted on the barrel.

Just what the Finns are planning next is difficult to imagine, but, judging from past performance, it's a sure bet that the design shops are tinkering with something that should titillate shooters' tastes. One such project I know of for sure is an International (Olympic) style smallbore target rifle based on a wholly new action design. The prototype they sent me sometime back is a remarkable combination of extreme accuracy and functional beauty. Whether or not they decide to produce this rifle for the market remains to be seen, but I know for a fact that they've already gone to a lot of trouble in that direction.

If they do there is no question but what it'll be among the very finest--because that's Sako's way of doing things.

Regards