Sako 85 discontinued

7mag said:
I must have been lucky with my 85 Finnlite in 300win mag. 7 years of hard hunting with it and zero problems!
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Same here. Best gun I own (finnlite in 300 win mag with optilock rings). Would never know there was an ejection issue if others hadn't said so. My go to hunting gun for the last several years.

Also have an 85 brown bear in 375 H&H and an 85 bravarian in 7mm rem mag - no ejection issues there either.

I do have a sake AIII deluxe in 270 that I've had since new for more than 40 years. That one occasionally doesn't pick up a round from the mag when the rounds are too far back. It never failed me in action, but wouldn't want that action on a dangerous game gun.
 
Has Sako confirmed that the 85 line has been discontinued? Its still showing on the website in March 2023.

I'm hoping to find a Brown Bear in .416.
 
Northern Shooter said:
Has Sako confirmed that the 85 line has been discontinued? Its still showing on the website in March 2023.

I'm hoping to find a Brown Bear in .416.
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According to George Wallace at Stoeger Canada, the M85 is no longer being made. However, there will undoubtedly be many still in the pipeline at retailers around the country.

The M85 has been replaced by the new switch-barrel M100 that should be showing up on dealers’ shelves soon.
 
South Pender said:
According to George Wallace at Stoeger Canada, the M85 is no longer being made. However, there will undoubtedly be many still in the pipeline at retailers around the country.

The M85 has been replaced by the new switch-barrel M100 that should be showing up on dealers’ shelves soon.
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George just confirmed that with me this week as well, that's unfortunate. I'm not seeing any Brown Bears in stock anywhere in the country, especially in the DG cartridges. Closest I can find is a Kodiak in 338WM.
 
Northern Shooter said:
George just confirmed that with me this week as well, that's unfortunate. I'm not seeing any Brown Bears in stock anywhere in the country, especially in the DG cartridges. Closest I can find is a Kodiak in 338WM.
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Happiness is only a barrel away... or a re-bore...Unless you start looking South and import?
Those S100's look like some kind Euro Disco design exercise...
R.
 
I just had a sako 85 30/06 reworked so that it ejects brass. A new extractor was built and the ejector lengthened. It was a real turd before. Henry fixed it up nicely.
 
Rman said:
Those S100's look like some kind Euro Disco design exercise...
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Yes, the M100 follows similar switch-barrel developments by other European gun-makers--Blaser, Sauer, Merkel, Strasser, and others. Here in North America, where we can own as many guns as we want, there is no real need for a switch-barrel rifle, but in Europe, where in many countries the number of guns one can own is severely limited, they make sense, since a single rifle can have several barrels, with the rig counted as only one gun. Here’s the Sako 100

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Edit: No word yet about when the M100 will appear in Canada--at least none that I've seen--or about expected retail prices.
 
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The Sako website does not say anything about discontinuing the 85, but it does intro the 100. I do not foresee the end of the 85 or its replacement by the 100 anytime soon. The 100 is a very different rifle design and reaches a slightly different market.
 
Duncan Idaho said:
The Sako website does not say anything about discontinuing the 85, but it does intro the 100. I do not foresee the end of the 85 or its replacement by the 100 anytime soon. The 100 is a very different rifle design and reaches a slightly different market.
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I agree , unless they want Tikka to fill in
 
Duncan Idaho said:
The Sako website does not say anything about discontinuing the 85, but it does intro the 100. I do not foresee the end of the 85 or its replacement by the 100 anytime soon. The 100 is a very different rifle design and reaches a slightly different market.
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It was supposedly discontinued in 2022 which has now been confirmed by multiple distributers as instructed by Sako. I'm unsure why the rifle is still listed on the website, unless the last sales/inventory remaining are exclusively for the European market.
 
Northern Shooter said:
It was supposedly discontinued in 2022 which has now been confirmed by multiple distributers as instructed by Sako. I'm unsure why the rifle is still listed on the website, unless the last sales/inventory remaining are exclusively for the European market.
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They will have it listed until a significant reduction in inventory is realized, and the new S100's hit the shelves in numbers, in the markets that matter globally. Then they will move it to the Old Model section, just like they did with the 75 Series when the 85 Series first came out. Will they keep the S20?

R.
 
S20 as a replacement for the A7 is the real crime, what a goofy gun.


Maybe they will bring out a cheaper alloy and plastic clone of the 85 like they did with the 75, dare to dream.

I am interested in the two piece stock design, but the scope mount looks pretty funky. I wonder if it uses optilock
 
This modular trend strikes me as just another dumb millennial thing and Beretta jumped on the bandwagon. Rather than adjust and tweak a good build as they did moving through from the L61, to the A1 through A5, the 75 and 85, they reinvented the wheel and started all over again with another economy Tikka base.
 
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