Sako 85 and Optilock mounts

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BirdCity

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I hoping someone familiar with the Optilock system might be able to help me out...

I recently purchased (just before May 18:)) a Sako 85 stainless synthetic in .270 - medium action. Everything I've seen from Sako indicates that the Sako Long Optilock bases are correct for this rifle. The rear base mounted fine, but not the front one. It doesn't slide up the mounting rail all the way to the front, leaving about 5 mm of the base hanging over the ejection port. I don't find that too big a deal--it doesn't seem to interfere with case ejection--but I can't get the scope to zero. I run out of space to adjust the windage before zeroing in, leaving the rifle pointing too far to the left.

So, knowing something is wrong with the base, I'd like to correct it so I can mount the scope properly and get it to zero. Am I somehow missing something in mounting the front base I have? The Optilock mounts on a tapered rail--it only fits on one way, so turning the base around isn't a solution.

Would the Sako Extended Optilock base, which are also supposed to fit a medium action, work for me? Does it have a wider gap between the dovetails so it will mount fully to the front of the rail? Or, is it just a longer base that could potentially just hang out more over the ejection port?

Thanks!
 
No this is not right. Your base is not at the right place, it should look like this:

100025_1.jpg
 
Keep in mind, where you situate the front mount on the front dovetail, it will change windage L/R due to the taper.
 
Thanks, owlowl; I gathered that from Sako's YouTube videos.

Those are the short bases, correct? The long and extended ones are turned around, with the ring at the back of the base.
 
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Toss those and look into Leupold ringmounts. Of the sakos I have, not one has a set of optilocks on them. Expensive, heavy and high.
 
flyr said:
Keep in mind, where you situate the front mount on the front dovetail, it will change windage L/R due to the taper.
Click to expand...

Thanks, flyr;

Yes, I'm gathering that's why I've not been able to zero within the range of the scope's windage adjustment--I don't have the front base where it is intended to go.

I'm sure the front base is actually a long base (looks like all the rear bases are the same), and not a mix-up in the packaging, due to the orientation of the ring mounted on the back of the base rather than the front.

Has anyone heard of variations to the width of grooves on the bases, or the width of the rails on the rifles? Are there different "generations" of Sako 85s or Optilock bases that I may have mis-matched?
 
Thanks, Buckmastr; I may end up doing that.

The 85 is the first time I've run into a tapering rail (the rail on my A7 doesn't taper); I thought it was a proprietary system that only Sako's bases and rings would fit. I'm becoming aware now that there are other options.
 
It's supposed to look like the photo owlowl posted.

Did you buy them new? If so did the package look opened ? It's not impossible the incorrect part was in it. I've seen that more often than seems reasonable. It's also possible the base or dovetail was incorrectly machined. Can you try a different base, or test fit your base on a different Sako ?

Personally I don't like the leupold rings on a Sako and prefer x-low optilocks.
 
Thanks, doc;

The rifle, bases and rings were all new. One of the bases had been jolted out of its insert, but was in the package--the shop I bought them at opened the package to confirm everything was there, so it may have been opened before. I don't know how it might be the wrong base, though--with the ring mounting to the back of the base, it should be at least a long base, which should do the trick. I thought it might have been a Tikka base put in mistakenly, but I understand those have an angled cut on only one side of the dovetail, with the other side straight--mine isn't like that.

I don't have another Sako with a tapered rail handy, but the shop I bought the rings and bases from might. It may be best for me to take it all down to the shop, show them what I'm dealing with, and see if they have any solutions.

Thanks!
 
Update to close out the thread.

I took the rifle with the Optilock mounts to the shop where I bought the Optilock bases and rings. They assured me that it wasn't unusual for the Long or Extended bases to overhang the rifle's ejection port, as (as I found myself) it doesn't interfere with case ejection. While there isn't much anyone could do with the bases, they fiddled around with the rings--especially the compression ring inserts. They got it to a point where they could zero one of their shop scopes (I didn't bring my scope in with me).

So, back to the gun bench, and spent an evening fiddling with the various things that could be done with the rings--move the front ring to the rear base, turn them around, turn the compression rings around, line up the cuts in the compression rings on the other side of the rifle, etc. etc. Long process of unmounting the scope, changing one thing, re-mounting the scope and seeing if it will zero, and if not, repeat. I eventually did get the scope to zero on my laser bore-sight, then took it to the range to fine-tune the scope on paper at 100M.

I've never had so much trouble putting a scope on a rifle. The Optilock literature doesn't go into how fiddly it can be, especially with the additional "moving part" of the compression ring inserts. I'm hoping the current arrangement aligns well enough with my rifle that I won't have to go through all this again when I upgrade the scope in the next year or two.

I've made it to the point where I can begin developing loads for this rifle.

Thanks to everyone who provided helpful insights!
 
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