Browning made in Finland?

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gobigorgohome

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I have a friend with this in his gun cabinet. It's a gorgeous gun chambered in 284 win. It's a browning but says "made in Finland" I don't feel like uploading a dozen pictures, but I can email them. It has a Burris full field 2. Does anyone know anything about these rifles and a potential value? He wants to sell it but doesn't know if he should be asking 200$, 2000$, or 20,000$. I know a lot of different guns, nothing about this though.

 
It's a Sako rifle branded by Browning. Good rifle...I did not know they chambered them in. 284w
 
Awesome rifles, very well made.
I bought one in 1974 in 375 H&H for my Brother, Just got it back recently.
Still a tackdriver after all these years..
 
Back in the day, when Browning made all their rifles on FN 98 actions they felt they were losing some sales to other manufacturers because they lacked a short action for the shorter cartridges. The rest had all come out with short action versions of their most popular rifles to better fit the newer line of short cartridges based mostly on the then new 308 case. Browning, rather than go to the expense of tooling up to make a short FN Mauser action, contracted Sako to make them short action, barreled actions which they then stocked. Depending on condition will normally run between 1K-1.5K, but beware as some of the earlier ones were stocked with "salted wood" which caused extensive rusting below the stock line on these rifles.
I have one in a 243 and a buddy used to have one in 25-284, they are very well made and bring a decent price.
 
I had one of these in 222 Remington. Dandy rifle, overall, but unnecessarily heavy for the 222 chambering, IMHO.

As c-fbmi noted, watch for the "salted wood" syndrome. I have seen some serious rust from this.

Regards, Dave.
 
c-fbmi said:
Back in the day, when Browning made all their rifles on FN 98 actions they felt they were losing some sales to other manufacturers because they lacked a short action for the shorter cartridges. The rest had all come out with short action versions of their most popular rifles to better fit the newer line of short cartridges based mostly on the then new 308 case. Browning, rather than go to the expense of tooling up to make a short FN Mauser action, contracted Sako to make them short action, barreled actions which they then stocked. Depending on condition will normally run between 1K-1.5K, but beware as some of the earlier ones were stocked with "salted wood" which caused extensive rusting below the stock line on these rifles.
I have one in a 243 and a buddy used to have one in 25-284, they are very well made and bring a decent price.
Click to expand...
so these Sako's that Browning marketed were stocked by Browning/FN ... were the barrels FN or were they Sako?
 
AP said:
so these Sako's that Browning marketed were stocked by Browning/FN ... were the barrels FN or were they Sako?
Click to expand...


Yes they were stocked by FN Browning and my understanding was that Sako supplied barreled actions to Browning's dimensions. This would also be borne out by the "Made in Finland" markings on my barrel.
It also makes sense because other than by hand on a lathe, Browning would have no way to thread barrels to the 16 tpi to match the Sako actions, as all their threading equipment would be set for 12 tpi for their FN actions. Not a big deal to you and I, but a real PITA when you're talking hundreds or thousands of rifles.
 
I have a heavy barrel version in 222 and it's a tack driver with 40grainers. Good guns, beautiful wood, smooth action and extremely well crafted.

Patrick
 
I have a 1971 .375 H&H that is very nice (95+) that I purchased for $1100 here a few years back. Maybe 3.

Serial number matters for the salt wood issue, but $1200-1500 depending.

Sadly, I think there are a lot of nice firearms that are losing value due to changing tastes. Chances are you need to be 50 years old or older to appreciate an FN Browning,a Model 12, etc.

P.
 
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