Going on from my sale of a Steyr CISM, I am looking at a new .308 and have seen one that I like.

So does anyone own a Sako 75 and if so, would you recommend them? The one that I fancy is the laminate stock with the stainless barrel. Any good?

D

While I don't own any, Sako has a fine reputation. The only weak point on their rifles to my knowledge is that of poor gas handling in case of cartridge rupture. This is not something that is likely to happen unless attention is not paid to the reloading process. If it is on budget, in a style you like and available in your caliber I would say go for it. You will never be unhappy with the quality of a Sako firearm.

Daveyboy: the Sako is an excellent rifle; I have two of them and have come to appreciate their higher quality in terms of smoothness of action and accuracy. Now, please, a couple of questions:

How much does a Sako 75 cost in your area?

On a previous post you mention you sold your 22-250 because you didn't have a place to shoot it. Now, you may acquire a 308. Are you moving or having IBS? (If I knew how to put an icon here, it would be "smiling".)

Hi Handloader

Sako is seen over here as a quality item and they retail for about £1000. That's about 1860 USD or, just for Vince, about 2500 AUD.

Thing is, I've tried Remingtons and don't really like them. Not my kind of gun. Steyr make fine rifles but the stock is shaped wrong for me. Tikka have dropped the range that I like so it's pretty much a Sako. There are others but they don't float my boat.

As for the 22-250, ranges over here are rated pretty much by the velocity of the bullet and there are not many ranges that allow it. As for things to shoot at, it is illegal to shoot deer with them and anything smaller, like a fox or a hare, I can take out with my .17hmr. So it became a target rifle and it's the wrong kind of kit for target shooting. So it had to go.

The .308 is a great round for deer in the UK. I've got a 6.5 x 55 swedish for the smaller deer - young fallow, muntjaq and roe - but when I get onto the big fallow and reds then I would rather have the extra oomph of a .308. 120 grain in the 6.5 and 150 grain SST's in the .308. The CISM is too heavy for walking about with plus I had a nightforce 5.5 - 22 x 56 on top which was the wrong kind of scope for what we do. Give me Meopta or Kahles anyday!

D

Daveyboy wrote:

As for things to shoot at, it is illegal to shoot deer with them and anything smaller, like a fox or a hare, I can take out with my .17hmr. D

Daveyboy,

I can understand why you would not want to use a 22-250 on deer, but why is it illegal to hunt a fox with it??

Thanks....

Ah-ha! Trying to be crystal clear but I can see how it might be mis-leading.

In England, it is illegal to shoot a deer with a bullet that is less than .240, irrespective of either the bullet weight or velocity. So any of the .222 or .223 or 22-250 calibers are out of the bracket. There is an energy clause as well which is measured at the muzzle. It is a sensible-ish law as you could be out for tiny muntjaq with your .22 hornet and you come across a Fallow buck. Well, you'd have a go, wouldn't you? That's the theory behind it.

The smallest calibre that you can shoot is .243 but I don't like it as it's at the end of it's performance when you're pushing a 100 grainer at full charge. I find it becomes a bit frantic. A 25-06 is, for my money, a better round but i'e got a 6.5 which is a tad larger. No difference, really.

Anyway, you can take foxes with a 22-250 but they fall to a .17hmr just as well. What I meant to get across is that anything smaller than a deer in the UK can be taken with a .17hmr and it's legal too!

Does that make sense?

D

Daveyboy,

Thank you for explaining that to me and yes, it does make sense. I also think you are spot on with your comparrison of the .243 to the 22-250. Good luck with the Sako, it is a real gem, high quality build and accurate.

Daveyboy: I don't wish to get too far off track with your sought information on the Sako, but, please indulge an inquiry of mine.

What is the process for obtaining deer hunting tags or permissions? Is there public land or is it all private land hunting? What is the associated cost?

Thanks.

Hi Handloader.

Virtually all the land in the UK is privately owned. There are some areas of common land but you wouldn't go on there with a firearm. England is an incredibly densely populated country and people call the police if you are reading a shooting magazine, never mind holding a rifle. It's all about permission.

We have a slightly different way of going about shooting deer over here.

First thing is that all deer in the UK, unless they are in a private park, are deemed to be wild animals and can be shot by anyone as long as they are in season. There is no season for Muntjaq deer as they are seen as a pest and they breed all year round.

The issue is that you need to get the permission to shoot from the land owner and the person who holds the sporting rights. These may be two different people.

And that's where the problems start and where I live is a good example of what happens. I have a licence to take game which costs £6 a year from the post office. Originally designed to stop the low paid from taking game officially and so classifying them as poachers – law breakers. A “them and us” policy. Then there is insurance that practically no-one will let you shoot without.

I've got two farmers as neighbours and up until recently, they would not allow anyone to shoot the deer whilst they are on their land. Anyway, the smaller farmer of the two has a couple of fields - about 20 acres - set aside for hay. The deer walk in and either eat it or lie down in it. And we are talking herds of about 100! All ages and sizes. So, he finally knocked on my door and asked me to sort it out.

Their views are pretty much those of the general public in England in that they don't want anything to die for them to eat meat. They would rather go to the supermarket and buy it off a shelf because that’s not really meat is it? So, get rifle out of the gun box, creep down the hedge line and take a 2 year old buck - photo in the gallery.

Cost? That cost me a bottle of scotch that I gave him as a thank you. His attitude has changed because now he sees deer as a crop but the bigger farmer says that his sister likes to look at the deer in the fields. 200 deer - we have 2 herds locally - eat a lot and he obviously doesn't care about the loss. If you want to go stalking in England, talk to deermanager on our boards. He has got hundreds of acres to shoot over. To him it is a job – a living. Typical outing will cost you about £100 for the day and you pay for what you shoot. There are no restrictions apart from what is in season. A trophy head will cost more than a freezer filler. You don’t get permission to take 2 animals, you can take what you want but the more you take, the more it costs.

If you are looking for a holiday, then you could fly over and he will arrange everything. Delboy has used him before too. Andy (deermanager) is, as I write, in Canada shooting bears with a bow. Nutter.

Anything else you want to know? A long post but it’s not a simple situation!

David

Daveyboy: thanks for taking the time to address the matter of deer hunting in your country. That was informative. Of course, we all contrast any information with our own experiences and methods.

Hunting in the USofA is a dynamic sport where the rules of engagement are in flux. As populations increase, added rules and restrictions occur and the costs, it seems to me, keep going up for what was once a relatively unrestricted activity.

If you are lucky enough to have deer on your land - or anything else you may care to eat, for that matter - then it's sort of free.

D

I'm not too sure about Sako being a "good" manufacturer.

I finally found what I was looking for too





You be the judge they did quietly recall the rifles in question but just incase if you have a rifle in this serial number range get it checked out

The lowest serial number affected by this recall is 419140 and the highest serial number affected is 461951

Them not checking and rechecking a product like this for Quality control as well as trying to keep quiet at the time about the problem made me deside I'd never get one. You be the judge though

Dimitri

Dimitri,

What was the cause? why the recall?

I have seen a few magnum rifles with blown barrels and none of them were part of ant recall. Between overloads in hot weather and debris stuck in the barrel it just isn't hard to burst a barrel an a magnum rifle.
I am not saying that a recall was not necessary or warrented but these pictures just aren't clear enough to see a cause for the burst. It is rare to see a split action - I don't recall ever seeing one before this picture.

PaulS,

There was a metal flaw inside the metals they used for there Stainless Steel models (The Fluted Models to be more specific if memory serves). All the guns effected went in under 2 boxes of FACTORY ammo if memory serves.

What specificlly turns me off from Sako/Tikka/Berretta about this is they should have tested the metal they are making the guns with. This is a TOTAL lack of Quality Control in my mind.

Here are some more pictures of a different one: (From www.bpcr.net/site_phot.../index.htm )





Dimitri

Hi Dimitri...this problem has been reported in the past but very silently.

Thanks for the photos which are great.

Here are a few bits of info that I picked up before the Berretta problem. Stainless barrels with machining additives are a problem in cold weather (fluting). Obermeyer had barrels burst in Alaska. Kreiger doesn't use stainless.
Berretta is keeping closed mouth, since this is an inherited problem involving more than maybe 50,000 barrels. If this was the US, the legal ramifications would be enormous. Correct me if I have anything wrong.

SHOOTIST