sako Archives

Introduction

Sako certainly needs a short introduction. The Finnish firearm manufacturer is as well known as Winchester or Remington, and well known for good reason. Sako is responsible for a great many popular designs and features as old as bolt action rifles nearly. Today we are looking at one of Sako’s popular rifles from the more recent past, the Sako L579 Forester chambered in .243 Winchester.

There are various Model L579 rifles available on the market, but the one we are testing today is the Forester featuring a heavy profile barrel in a varmint-like configuration. With a twenty three-inch heavy barrel, the forester weighs in around the nine pound mark. Not exactly a packing rifle but most varmint rifles aren’t.

The Model L579 Forester

When the Forester was more of a new item, these Sako’s were highly sought after. They maintain a fairly high market value due to their reputation. They still sell for $1200 to $1400, which is a bit of a surprise were it not a Sako.

This classic rifle comes with a dark walnut stock, machined finely to fit the barreled action well. Checkering the stock was a common practice, as was the hard buttplate. Probably not a comfort issue though with a nine-pound .243.

Both the barrel and the action are what make the L579 interesting. The heavy profile barrel is made from the Bofors Steel, an oil hardened steel that is prone to high durability and strength. Chambered in .243 Winchester with a one-in-ten twist, this rifle promises to hammer like only a .243 can.

The L579 action is actually quite interesting. The bolt-body is more petite than anticipated, and uses what appears to be a Mauser-type claw extractor. But instead uses the Sako extractor cut into the side of the bolt head.

The safety is located on the right side of the bolt-shroud, and opposite the safety is the bolt stop to remove the bolt. Underneath the action itself is the hinged floorplate.

Range Preparations

First up this Sako was going to need a scope. My inventory of one-inch tube rifle scopes is dwindling, and the rifle had come with rings mounted. So I grabbed the first decent scope I could, which was an inexpensive Nikko Stirling 4-12X40.

After tightening up the rings, I pulled the bolt from the rifle to do a quick boresight job. Then I grabbed a Harris Bipod to attach to the front sling-stud to use as front support while shooting. With all my gear in tow, I swung by the local ammo hub and grabbed a few boxes of Norma Whitetail 100 grain ammunition which was all they had.

Shooting the Sako L579 Forester

In typical fashion, I retreated with the sturdy Sako into the frozen Rocky Mountains nearby. I’d much rather test the rifle in the actual conditions it was designed for.

With a target setup at 110 yards, I lay prone with the rifle and stuffed three rounds into the magazine. Let me take a moment to say how classy these Sako actions are. Running cartridges through the action was as smooth as could be, extraction and ejection are fluid and fast. Furthermore, the L579 gives you incredible control of ejection. If you are in a hurry to reload, slamming the bolt back sends the spent case clear. Whereas if you are target shooting like I was, a slow pull leaves the spent case sitting right in the action port to remove by hand.

Adjusting for point of impact was quick, and I was soon shooting a few patterns to see how the rifle shot. On average the Norma Whitetail ammo produced three-shot groups just under an inch. Nothing too exciting, I also shot some hand-loaded Hornady 75-grain Vmax, they performed better. With groups averaging around .5 MOA. The hundred grain ammunition is designed for animals like deer and antelope, for which it would perform well. The seventy-five grain Vmax’s on the other hand would be devastating on coyotes, groundhogs and other varmints.

This gun was built for smacking coyotes and light big game animals based on the cartridge. I think for those purposes it would shine, I would certainly feel adequate hunting Mule Deer in these steep Rocky Mountain canyons. And with the legendary Sako quality and performance I could do it with some class as well. The older standard barrel twist does limit it to the traditional bullet sizes and weights, if it had a 1:7.5 twist it would be a monster. Shooting modern heavy 6mm bullets at incredible speeds would push the distance envelope of this rifle significantly. But even as it is, there isn’t a coyote safe inside six hundred yards.

The trigger in the L579 is fantastic, a single stage that breaks clean and reliably. Like everything else with this rifle, there is a high quality feel to every moving part. I believe the smaller shank of the bolt reduces the amount of friction when it is pushed fore and aft. This is likely part of why the bolt is so smooth running.

Pros and Cons

I’ll preface this by saying I have a slightly different taste in firearms, but I cannot deny the great things about the Sako L579 Forester. The action design and function are as good as they come, the smooth operation is pure elegance. The heavy Bofors barrel shoots accurately, likely aided by the great trigger.

The only things I could hold against the rifle are these; It is heavy for what it is, the thick barrel adds significant weight to the rifle. That might be an issue if you plan on hiking very far with it, but if you are sitting in a blind calling coyotes perhaps not so much.

Also, the scope mounting system isn’t as mainstream as I would have liked. Granted this rifle is from another time, but its limited mounting system left me wishing for a different one. I would have loved to drop a pic rail on the action to run one of my better scopes. Shooting as well as it does I would love to put a better scope on this rifle, and terrorize the local coyote population.

Continue Reading Here

-CBM

Rifle fanatic

Being nothing short of a rifle fanatic, I’ve had a bad case of Tikka Fever for some time. No it’s not from licking hand-rails in the Helsinki Airport, but it does come from hands-on experience. I bought my first Tikka a few years back, and it has changed my perspective on a few things. But today we are talking about another Tikka, the T3X TACT A1. This one happens to chambered in one of my favorite calibers, the .260 Remington. Everything seems to be going my way here doesn’t it?

HOW MANY K’s DO YOU NEED?

Sako Tikka T3x TACT — The Tikka T3X TACT lives up to the brand’s record for quality and precision

Tikka is a brand manufactured by Sako – If you haven’t already, go read my piece on the Sako 85 Finnlight – both Sako and their Tikka brand are well known for their quality. They are manufactured in Finland and imported to the U.S. through Beretta.

SHOP TIKKA T3X

The T3X is a two-lug, 90-degree, bolt-action rifle. It features a Sako-style extractor, a two-position safety, and a machined bolt release opposite the bolt handle. The TACT 260 as I tested it also featured a two-stage trigger. Like the other Tikka’s I’ve shot, it is an outstanding trigger. This model featured a 24-inch barrel with a 1-8 twist and 5/8-24 muzzle threads to accept the portly muzzle brake.

The TACT 260 comes in a chassis, making it very adaptable to specific purposes and users. The chassis incorporates detachable 10-round box magazines that are surprisingly short. The handguard of the chassis features a full-length optics rail to adapt to multi-role optics. There is no canted angle in the optics rail.

The buttstock of the chassis folds to the weak side of the rifle, and it locks both in the folded and unfolded positions, which I found to be a welcome feature. The buttstock is compatible with AR-style accessories for those that wish to customize their rifles, a desire I found completely unnecessary. The fully adjustable buttstock can adjust for length of pull, riser height, and angle. There are several QD sling mounts on the chassis as well that are placed strategically for carrying the rifle in either the folded or unfolded configuration.

TO THE RANGE!

After thoroughly fiddling with the rifle and adjusting all the settings to my taste, I grabbed some ammo and headed for the hills where I do my shooting. Ammunition being what it is these days, I couldn’t find what I wanted in the shops. So instead, I found some component bullets, copied some data from a load book, and pressed out a few rounds of my own. After attaching an Atlas Bipod to the front of the rifle, I mounted a Kahles 318i rifle scope. These are two great accessories that are a perfect fit for this rifle. After bore sighting, I stuffed a bunch of cartridges into the magazines and laid behind the Tikka.

My first impression of this rifle seemed to echo my former experiences with Tikka and Sako both – extremely easy feeding and flawless function as cartridges flow through the action. The two-stage trigger feels even crisper when it’s sharpened by recoil. I could run that bolt all day. It was short work to confirm zero, and a few minutes later I was stretching its legs.

The .260 Remington is an impressive performer. It was doing what the Creedmoor does now but even better and a decade earlier. Shooting 140-grain bullets or heavier puts the cartridge well beyond 1,000 yards in my neck of the woods, so I wasted no time getting there. The Kahles scope and hand-loaded Tikka made hits at 950 yards look easy. I was stacking bullets into the hole in the dirt left by the previous shot. The rifle seemed to perform even better when I added a suppressor to the muzzle.

Continue Reading Here…

ACCURACY

As usual, the accuracy of this Tikka was excellent. Groups under an inch are typical and, when using top quality match grade ammunition, half-inch groups are also possible. I was able to find a box of Federal Fusion 120 grain, and it shot very well in the Tikka.

With accuracy potential that good, this would be a superb rifle for shooting Precision Rifle Competition matches. I’d also imagine there are a few police agencies that would choose this rifle for marksmen.

WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?

So far, it’s been a pretty positive review, right? It’s hard to hide my admiration of this rifle, but there are a couple of things I’d change about it.

First on the list is the weight. At 10.4 pounds, it’s a little tubby. That may sound unfair coming from a guy with an affinity for fat rifles, but that brings me to my second gripe. This thing is a bit long for my taste. A 10-pound rifle with an overall length of 30 inches isn’t too bad. But when it’s 45 inches long, there is a lot of weight out there in the end. This makes the rifle a little more difficult to maneuver and handle, but it shoots like a dream once you get it in place.

That’s it. If I had my way, the rifle would be a 20-inch barrel that had been put on the carbon diet, which is nice because Tikka offers several different barrel options on this rifle.

CONCLUSION

I could very easily overlook my gripes with this rifle because it is just such a smooth character. I let a few buddies run some shots through the gun, and they were equally impressed. If you are looking for a precision chassis rifle right from the factory, you’d be a fool to look past the Tikka. You would need to spend a lot more to get anything significantly better than the T3X TACT.

One thing I can guarantee is that there are more Tikkas in my future.

-CBM