Sako 85 Hunter in 30-06 or .308?

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Max-4

CGN Regular
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Southern Ontario
As the title says, if you had the choice would you pick the Sako 85 Hunter in 30-06 or .308? I don't want to make this a battle of the cartridges because I've read that to exhaustion.

I'm more interested in the true short action of the .308 vs the long action 30-06. Faster bolt travel on the .308? A true short action easier to mount smaller 2-7 power scopes?

I want this rifle as a do-it-all Ontario hunting rifle for deer, black bear and moose. My shots will likely never exceed 200 yards and if I'm honest are mostly inside 100 yards.
 
I had a 7mag and a 260 in Sako 85. The 85 is notorious for the cases hitting the scope body/turret cap and bouncing back into the action. The longer the case the worse it is. I’d personally avoid a Sako 85 if I was going to run it with a scope. If I had to chose the 06 vs 308 I’d say 308 to reduce this problem.

I do love Sako and tikka. Just this was a dumb problem Sako would not fix.
 
Max-4 said:
As the title says, if you had the choice would you pick the Sako 85 Hunter in 30-06 or .308? I don't want to make this a battle of the cartridges because I've read that to exhaustion.

I'm more interested in the true short action of the .308 vs the long action 30-06. Faster bolt travel on the .308? A true short action easier to mount smaller 2-7 power scopes?

I want this rifle as a do-it-all Ontario hunting rifle for deer, black bear and moose. My shots will likely never exceed 200 yards and if I'm honest are mostly inside 100 yards.
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I use .30-06Sprg (165gr PSP) in exactly the same scenario as you simply for delivering a solid punch when shooting down hydro cuts or across swamps and bogs where Moose love to live. I have hunt camp members who use .308Win (160gr BT) with great success,also. Pick whichever ypu like and get good with it. Either one is deadly.
 
Camoman1 said:
I had a 7mag and a 260 in Sako 85. The 85 is notorious for the cases hitting the scope body/turret cap and bouncing back into the action. The longer the case the worse it is. I’d personally avoid a Sako 85 if I was going to run it with a scope. If I had to chose the 06 vs 308 I’d say 308 to reduce this problem.

I do love Sako and tikka. Just this was a dumb problem Sako would not fix.
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My 85 7mm mag hit my Burris scope on low rings “big turret caps”. I put on a vx3i scope and low rings and it doesn’t hit.

And to the op 06 gets my vote.


720
 
30-06! If you use “regular” hunting scopes let say like a Leupold 2-7 or 2.5-8 or similar 1” tube, you won’t have issues with ejection. The problem were are with 30mm tubes large turrets combo( maybe some 1” tubes with large turrets too)…
 
I have both. 85 Finnlight in 30-06 and 85 Hunter in 308.

The 06 ejects without a problem with the scope combo I have on it. It is my go to rifle for many years. It is a little fussy about bullets and does not like heavier stuff. It shoots 165s Interlocks into tiny groups and 180s right around an inch.

Picked up the 308 as a loaner/backup. It shoots anything I stuffed in it into good groups but especially likes 150 Interlocks. It is obviously much nicer to shoot and ejects the cartridges with no issues.

I would be happy if either was my only rifle but if I had to choose it would be the 30-06 without a doubt.
 
I have a locker full of 85s, with a few Medium actions in 270 and 30-06, and have not encountered ejection problems.

I like both the 308 and 30-06 but would lean towards the 308 if I were a single rifle in the locker type of person. The shorter action length is very convenient for mounting any length of maintube on an optic.
 
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