Sako Finbear L61R in .375 H&H

I have a feeling that's a custom stock, and a real nice one at that. There was a guy in Dawson Creek doing custom stocks some years back who did first rate work, and the overall pattern looks like it might be one of his. I like it!

Is there any sign of screw holes relating to iron sights? Is there any scroll work on the floor plate?
 
Tumbleweed said:
I have a feeling that's a custom stock, and a real nice one at that. There was a guy in Dawson Creek doing custom stocks some years back who did first rate work, and the overall pattern looks like it might be one of his. I like it!

Is there any sign of screw holes relating to iron sights? Is there any scroll work on the floor plate?
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It has a front iron sight on the barrel but I have a feeling the rear sight slides onto the rail where the scope base sits and if that's the case it's probably long lost...

The checkering work on the stock is quite nice, just enough grip yet no fear of it ripping your skin open if something slips, it's very evenly done and lots of it... There is no scroll work on the floor plate.


Found a partial box of 270gr federal "cheap" blue box and proceeded to the range... 2 shots 1" low and 2" left at 25M followed buy 3 shots with a 1" vertical spread but 4" horizontal in the top corner left of center 4" high and 4" left... Should have waited another day after my adventure with the rigby yesterday evening, the recoil pad on the Sako is rather hockey puck'ish but I have been booted harder by synthetic 300 magnums.... It has potential but that Burris 1.75-5 is not my cup'O tea
 
I have a feeling the rear sight slides onto the rail where the scope base sits and if that's the case it's probably long lost...
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As you probably know - Sako peeps were optionally available and slide onto the rear integral scope rail

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If the foresight is the proper height -- this might work - and they are occasionally available. Is the barrel marked Sako?
 
Those pet loads I mentioned earlier...

270 gr. Barnes TSX - 74 gr. RL15 / CCI 250 primer / RP or WW brass equally = 1.0 MOA

300 gr. Barnes TSX - 67 gr. IMR 4064 / CCI 250 / WW brass = 0.70 MOA

270 HDY PSP - 73 gr. RL15 / CCI 250 / WW brass = 1.0 MOA

260 Accubond - 72 gr. RL15 / CCI 250 / WW brass = 0.86 MOA

300 HDY RN - 78 gr. WW 760 / CCI 250 / WW brass = 1.2 MOA

I wasted a couple of days working with HDY Interbonds and never got them to shoot worth a damn in this rifle.

Mine has the fairly long, thin factory barrel that seems kind of 'whippy' - I find that the accuracy nodes are really narrow. A grain either way opens my groups up a lot. Also, I find that CCI primers seem to be the 'coolest' and most consistent, while WW Magnum primers show pressure signs sooner. With some loads the brand of brass makes a difference, while with others it doesn't seem to.

I haven't gone to half-grain splits yet, so there might still be room for improvement. The above are from 5 round groups, and confirmed with subsequent 5 round groups, with a 5x scope and over sand bags.

I worked up the above loads before I had a chrono, and they're 'best accuracy below any pressure signs' for lack of a better description. So far I haven't chrono'd them. It's my habit to seek accuracy before velocity, so while they're near maximum, I'm not pushing the pressure envelope with this particular rifle. As always, if you choose to try these loads you should work up from below. I'm talking about my rifle; yours might be altogether different.
 
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Nice rifles those L61R's. I have a pair of them in 30-06 and 264 win mag. The 264 was bought new as a barreled action and stocked in english walnut the 06 is waiting for me to get it's new stock fitted.
 
The 264 was bought new as a barreled action
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thats an uncommon chambering from Sako. Having said that I have a brand new .264W Sako barrel stored away somewhere that I will put on one of the magnum actions one day. It was a barrel that they had had sitting for a number of years when I bought it. Not sure they sell barrels directly anymore. I understand that the Sako .264 barrels have a particularly long service life according to the distributor folks I purchased it from
 
Some data for Speer 235gr loads. These seemed pretty mild and were fairly accurate.
These were shot from a Sako 18 1/2" carbine with full length stock ...
a) 80gr IMR 4350, CCI 200, "New Brass" (I believe the brass was R/P) chrono'd 2517, 2526 etc
b) 81gr IMR 4831, CCI 200, New Brass (as above) chrono'd 2406, 2459

They were also pretty accurate with a ZKK602 and a fair bit faster I believe. My notes said "try 4320" ... but apparently I havent...


(PS - if you reload -- you know what to do when trying someone else data - if not please ignore this data!)
 
My 375 H&H loves RL 15 and 270 gn TSXs..............give phenomenal velocities and less than MOA groups.

This is my L61R in 375 Wby..........Wait a minute, that's not an L61R........Maybe it's an A III then..........not sure anymore........almost the same as the L61R except the bolt shroud. The stock is originally off an L61R, but just picked up the barrelled action a year or two ago.
That stock in the OPs photos is NOT a factory Sako stock at all in any of the L61 or the A series rifles.







 
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