Forgive my ignorance, but what advantage does this mount have over the factory 3 ring optiloc? I looked into the near base and alpha mount when I purchased my rifle, but decided on the sako mount as it was the same cost. The finish on the sako mount is the same as the rifle and I assumed that sako would have built it to handle the recoil of their own rifle. I have never had any issues with it at all and like the fact that they offer their own complete system (muzzle brake, scope mount, bipod, etc) for the rifle.
Cost is 1 advantage, the fact that our rail has 25 moa built into it is another as the Sako mount is flat, and for those who want to shoot the distances that the 338 is capable of,many scopes do not have enough elevation in them. Another advatage is that our rail like Nears use standard Picatinny rings so the options are virtually limitless in height and weight, material and design.
I doubt you can attach and ACD or Cosine indicator to a Sako mount. Our rail by design is more structural than what Sako offers as well, being as we capture the entire dovetail. The Sako rail uses 2 small rail claws to lock the rail to the dovetail.
I can not comment on what Sako makes their rails out of as we do not know what material they use, other than we know it is steel. Whether it is mild steel, or something like 4140 we don't know, we do know our rail is made of very high grade stainless. I do know I have rounded the the hex inside their screws with not alot of effort.
The Sako rail and Optiloc rings are good kit but limit scope mounting options a fair bit. Good luck getting 34 or 35 or God forbid 40mm rings from Sako. They are just not available.
The need for a 3 ring mount eludes me, I see absolutely no need for it, it is not like a 338 has terrible recoil, and there are some who believe that having 3 or 4 rings mounting a scope down, there by counteracting the scopes flex during recoil make in fact be damaging to the scopes guts.
I have no hard evidence to back this up but am hearing this possibility being put forward by some scope manufacturers. Apparently there can be too much "rock solid" mounting solutions applied.
As for the Sako brake I can guarantee you our brake is more efficient and the same $$ as what Sako offers, but that is another topic.
Really it all boils down to more options being availabe for the shooting public.
Not eveyone is happy with Henry Fords solution of 1 car, 1 color, no problems.
You are happy with the way you have your rifle kitted out, which is fine, others however were looking for solutions that Sako would not solve, so we did.
