Sako 85 ejection problems

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Flyinfish

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Hey guys just wondering if anyone has successfully fixed a vertical ejection problem on the sako 85? Mine is a brand new 30-06 and seems to eject almost straight up ( banging into the scope tube or turrets ) I have tried 3 different ring heights and 2 different scope combinations with the same result. Iam trying to decide if it is worth sending it in for warranty work or just return the rifle for a refund. It is frustrating to say the least to have to have any work done to a brand new rifle of this price. I have a call in to Stoeger Canada but they are yet to return my call. Thanks!

Fish
 
vpsalin said:
Not the first that I've heard of this problem. Always seems to affect the long actions (30-06 - 270 etc).
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Medium actions - the long SAKO actions are what would normally be called magnum length - .300 WM / 338 WM / .375 H&H etc; the .30-06 length ones are the mediums.

This is a well known issue. There is, basically, no technical fix. You can mess around with warranty claims until you want to murder someone, but there's not much to be done, it is what it is. Some have had success with fitting a stronger extractor spring from Gre-Tan to help hold the case to the bolt face more firmly on ejection. I'd much much rather try that solution myself than enter the painful, frustrating and Kafkaesque world of Stoeger warranty claims. It's on my to do list of gun stuff to get around to one day.

I was fully aware of the issue when I bought mine, and frankly it just doesn't bother me. Even with this niggle, there's not a rifle that would better suit my needs, that I have enjoyed more, or that has proven more accurate. At the range, it's a non issue as I'm generally single loading and extracting slowly to catch the brass anyway. Keep in mind - the ejection force is ENTIRELY under the shooter's control with the 85 or any other fixed ejector rifle; cycle it hard and the case will go flying. Cycle it gently and it won't. Simple as that. The only time I'm going to cycle it hard enough to fling the case up is quick follow up shots, and I think in some 20 plus years of hunting I've had to do that maybe twice? So it's really a non issue in the practical sense for me. Everyone's MMV of course. My solution was to put a small, essentially invisible piece of hook side industrial velcro on the bottom of the turret body as protection just in case and call it a day. One of these years I'll try an uprated extractor spring.
 
Flashman ya that may be the way I'm going to go. I do like the rifle it fits great shoots well and is perfectly suited to my hunting style. I don't think I can handle the stoeger warranty fiasco so it's either find a way to live with it or return the gun. Do you know if you can find the Gre-tan spring in Canada?
 
You can try Gre-tan -- I spoke with them, had the same problem with mine. They are 20 bucks delivered.
Regardless, you may still need to trim their spring a touch to make it perfect. Because of this, i decided to "shim" my OEM spring. It took me about a half hour, and now my 7mm rem mag works great. I removed the bolt, then muscled the extractor out, careful not to loose the spring as it pops out. I then trimmed a tiny piece of vinyl tubing (electrical wire would work, i assume) of the same diameter as the spring. It took a minute to figure out the right length (it should be about the length of 2 coils of the spring). For mine it was about 2.5mm. I then put this down inside the socket, and then put the spring on top of it. Back in went the extractor, and the gun is golden.
The goal is to make the spring push harder against the back of the extractor to in turn make it hold onto a case stronger. The Gre-tan spring is both longer and more robust. So you need to trim it (or thats what they told me ) to make it fit the 85 action perfect. I figured if i could make the stock spring a little longer (by shimming it) it would increase its pressure on the extractor-- and it did!
 
Cool stuff, neat to hear. LOL I tried the same idea just after I posted, adding some preload... I used a tiny dremelled off piece of allen key, but I couldn't get it to work without coil bind, there's not much space between them. I'll try it at your suggested 2 coil spacing and see what happens, thanks.

The Gre Tan spring does just seem to work by being longer - it's intended as a fix for holes drilled too deep on Rem 700 SAKO extractor conversions. It looks like the same wire diameter to me, meaning the same spring rate; ie, no "stronger" in spring terms. Adding preload doesn't make the spring rate higher in any way, but does make the force needed to get the spring moving higher in the first place. So if it's say (and I'm just making this up obviously) a 4 oz per 1/32" spring rate, compressing it 2/32" will mean it exerts 8 oz of force against the cartridge rim, rather than say 2 oz if it's compressed 1/64 normally. For our purposes, that's exactly what we want, more stiction to the bolt face.

Short of going to a higher rate spring, adding preload is the only simple solution I see here. A more extreme one would be to bore the spring hole out slightly and use a bigger hammer as it were.

Thanks kiki, I'm going to revisit it today again.
 
Ok, so I tried it again. I found a spring of the right diameter in my parts box. Much lower spring rate, but I cut off a coil at a time until I could JUST get the extractor to fit back in place. The second spring should be about at coil bind, so it's effectively just a solid cylinder. Found it easier that way to get the most possible pre load rather than trying to make tiny slices from an allen key LOL. The extractor definitely has more tension on it, and cases do seem to fly more horizontally out of the action. They still bounce up into the scope turret however; I used a piece of tissue and carbon paper to make witness marks, and it shows the case still making contact. So... I guess it's a bit better but not solved. With the placement of the ejector, I'm not sure it can ever be solved.

Whatever man. My other other interest is Italian motorcycles, so let's say I'm ok with putting up with "quirks." IME, there's the kind of rider that just wants a machine that runs perfectly, needs little maintenance (that they have the dealer do anyway), is cheap to operate and gives them no grief. That's the kind of guy a modern 600cc Japanese inline 4 bike is perfect for, and who will HATE an Italian bike. Then there's the rider who is willing to put up with some headaches in their machinery in exchange for tons of character and a richer experience, and maybe even enjoys troubleshooting problems themselves. That's the kind of guy a vintage or Italian bike is perfect for, and who will HATE the blandness of an I4 600cc.

For me, a SAKO offers more than enough to offset the quirks. Indeed, the quirks almost make it more enjoyable in a sense. Soichiro Honda wrote a piece that made an impression on me that speaks to this exactly http://www.honda305.com/cb77_600/cb77-607.htm.

Of course, MMV, as always.
 
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I sold all of my Sakos because of the ejection problem.
With one exception, it affected every Sako rifle I've owned .. from Aii's (c. 1980) to M85/A7 (current)
(the one exception was a M85 Finnlight in .308)

Sako has been aware of the problem for decades and never did anything to fix it.
Instead of a fix, they recommended owners use higher mounts.

The problem: the rifles eject the empty cartridge straight up,
the cartridge hits the bottom of the scope and falls back into the chamber,
and this then jams the feeding of the next round.

At the range .. it was frustrating to have to turn the rifle sideways to eject a spent round.
But hunting? .. imagine needing a quick follow-up shot on a charging bear and your $2000 rifle jams!

After a few years of discussion with other Sako owners, I decided to invest my firearm dollars elsewhere.
 
Wow thank you guys for all the information. The wealth of knowledge on here amongst the members always amazes me, it is an incredible resource.

I may try pre loading the spring and see if this manages to fix the issue. When I do I will be sure to let you know how it works out.

I do have to admit that I am quite un happy haveing to jerry rig a $2000 rifle it was not what I expected out of "one of the best production rifles". Right now I am leaning towards a refund and looking for something that functions as advertised. Thank you all again it's really to bad the Sakos have gone this way. Cheers!
 
My 308 finnlight ejects poorly. Gre-tan spring didn't help so I turned my scope 90 degrees in the rings. My windage turret is now on the top and adjusts elevation and my elevation turret is now on the left side of the rifle and adjusts windage. Done deal and doesn't bother me none. Others will think this is blasphemy
 
Throttle_monkey1 said:
My 308 finnlight ejects poorly. Gre-tan spring didn't help so I turned my scope 90 degrees in the rings. My windage turret is now on the top and adjusts elevation and my elevation turret is now on the left side of the rifle and adjusts windage. Done deal and doesn't bother me none. Others will think this is blasphemy
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I think hunting scopes should come like this, frankly. Having it out the right hand side might make sense for a windage turret, I suppose.
 
As long as people continue to buy sakos with ejection problems and then say things like I don't mind fiddling with my rifles, I single load and take the cause out of the ejection port at the range, I don't need follow up shots in the field so ejection isn't a problem, I can just use high rings and something to raise my cheekweld, I can turn my scope 45 degrees counter clockwise etc. there will be no reason for sako to fix this problem. All of those excuses are a joke and it's unacceptable that they sell a rifle with those problems. Do whatever you want with your money but don't try to tell people it's no big deal if the case doesn't eject properly.
 
I have 4 Sako 75's in 3 different action lengths. They have the same extraction and ejection system, yet none have issues. Other than the spring, I can't see anything that would be different.
 
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