I bought a Sako 85 in 7mm-08 back in 2017 thinking that it would be nice to have a Sako just for the deer stand. Unfortunately it left a lot to be desired. I must have had one of the few Sakos in the world that "patterned" instead of grouped.
I thought about selling it but I wouldn't have felt good about passing a problem rifle off to somebody else. And I certainly did not want to deal with the joke that Beretta calls "warranty service".
So, I got bored late last spring and bought a barrel vise and pulled that sucker off.
I am not a gunsmith, and aside from building a few AR's I have never assembled a bolt action rifle before. Thankfully there are many great prefit options available now and it just so happens that Tikka threads are the exact same pitch as Sako which makes sense.
I ordered the barrel from Carbon Six and had it built in a magnum contour. (this is strictly a range rifle). 6mm Creedmoor, 1-8 twist, 25" tube. Took five months for the barrel to be built which was fine as it gave me time to get more components lined up.
I sent the action to Kampfeld Custom in Idaho (amazing work btw) to be cerakoted and given a new bolt knob. The tactical bolt knob really makes the bolt so much easier to turn, especially from the bench or prone position. No more torqueing the rifle trying to eject and chamber a new round.
In regards to a new stock... as far as I can tell absolutely nobody makes custom stocks for the Sako 85 anymore. I even called McMillan directly and they discontinued that years ago. Fortunately though, I have a Fierce Carbon Fury which is based off the Sako 85 action. I called up Fierce and sure enough they were able to sell me a stock directly and it was basically a drop-in fit. Not as heavy as I'd have liked but still a decent stock. I did have to remove some material out of the barrel channel with a dowl rod and some sand paper in order to get the barrel to free float properly before bedding the action and it came together nicely.
Topped it with a Zeiss Conquest V4 6-24x50. Definitely some of the clearest glass I have. I had to add an adjustable cheek rest from Forcewerx in order to get a proper cheek weld while looking through the scope.
I torqued the barrel on a few weeks ago and put it through a break- in procedure. Today I did some load workup and I am very impressed. Found a load that averaged .68" between three 5-shot groups...
Peterson brass
108gr ELD-M .050 off lands
40.6gr H4350 @3020 FPS
Being that this is my first bolt action build (assembly really) I am very very happy that everything came together. I cant wait to get this to the 600 meter range.
Special thanks to @WinkB for letting me borrow those headspace gauges
Before I stripped the rifle it began life as this:
Getting the action back from Kampfeld Custom:
I thought about selling it but I wouldn't have felt good about passing a problem rifle off to somebody else. And I certainly did not want to deal with the joke that Beretta calls "warranty service".
So, I got bored late last spring and bought a barrel vise and pulled that sucker off.
I am not a gunsmith, and aside from building a few AR's I have never assembled a bolt action rifle before. Thankfully there are many great prefit options available now and it just so happens that Tikka threads are the exact same pitch as Sako which makes sense.
I ordered the barrel from Carbon Six and had it built in a magnum contour. (this is strictly a range rifle). 6mm Creedmoor, 1-8 twist, 25" tube. Took five months for the barrel to be built which was fine as it gave me time to get more components lined up.
I sent the action to Kampfeld Custom in Idaho (amazing work btw) to be cerakoted and given a new bolt knob. The tactical bolt knob really makes the bolt so much easier to turn, especially from the bench or prone position. No more torqueing the rifle trying to eject and chamber a new round.
In regards to a new stock... as far as I can tell absolutely nobody makes custom stocks for the Sako 85 anymore. I even called McMillan directly and they discontinued that years ago. Fortunately though, I have a Fierce Carbon Fury which is based off the Sako 85 action. I called up Fierce and sure enough they were able to sell me a stock directly and it was basically a drop-in fit. Not as heavy as I'd have liked but still a decent stock. I did have to remove some material out of the barrel channel with a dowl rod and some sand paper in order to get the barrel to free float properly before bedding the action and it came together nicely.
Topped it with a Zeiss Conquest V4 6-24x50. Definitely some of the clearest glass I have. I had to add an adjustable cheek rest from Forcewerx in order to get a proper cheek weld while looking through the scope.
I torqued the barrel on a few weeks ago and put it through a break- in procedure. Today I did some load workup and I am very impressed. Found a load that averaged .68" between three 5-shot groups...
Peterson brass
108gr ELD-M .050 off lands
40.6gr H4350 @3020 FPS
Being that this is my first bolt action build (assembly really) I am very very happy that everything came together. I cant wait to get this to the 600 meter range.
Special thanks to @WinkB for letting me borrow those headspace gauges
Before I stripped the rifle it began life as this:
Getting the action back from Kampfeld Custom:
