So, the bottom line is that this IS NOT a factory stock,
but that it appears to be a well done restock, and I should get it, and shoot the crap outta it!
Yep, Yes, Yes and please do report on how it shoots.
HitnRun,
That's probably the right call that it's an L579 if the rifle really dates to 1977 as the OP was told.
For shotgunjack,here's a little explanation of what HitnRun alluded to. None of this amounts to a hill of beans concerning your rifle but just some interesting history of the Sako lineage. From 1968 when FI took over importation, then Garcia in 1972 and Stoeger in 1978, Sako was producing rifles with some variations/traits of earlier rifles secondary to parts available in inventory.
During the Sako transition when Stoeger took over importation, the shrouded bolt occurred over a period of time. Stoeger announced the A-series actions in 1978-79. It's rumored the switch to the "new and improved" A-series was more Stoeger's idea(marketing) than Sako's.
Sako already had an inventory of completed L-series receivers when they began making shrouded bolts. As a result, Sako rifles produced up until around 1980 had the L-designation on the receiver and some of those also had the shrouded bolts.
Eventually, Sako used up the L-series stamped receivers before producing receivers stamped with the A-designation. Likewise, Sako used up all of the unshrouded bolts before it released any A-series receivers. So you'll find some L-series rifles with shrouded bolts but no A-series rifles with unshrouded bolts.
