I know this is now an old thread, however, I can share how I resolved the Sako ejection issue that seems to plague a number of 75 and 85 model Sako rifles and hope others may find this useful. I resolved this problem in about 1 hour and at no cost.
I believe this is a fundamental design issue related to the position of the fixed ejector at 6 o'clock, however, not all Sako rifles have this problem. For those that do, the ejection issue is not restricted to the Sako 85's but also affects some of the 75's.
In my experience, long actions (30-06, 270, etc) seem more commonly affected whereas short actions (.308, .243) appear to be unaffected. My Sako 75 .308 has give many years of service without ever failing to eject cases perfectly.
In contrast, my Sako 75 .30-06 used to eject the case vertically upwards into the base of the scope and occasionally it would come to rest in the magazine on top of the next round which was really frustrating. I contacted Sako and searched the internet for a solution without success. So I decided to do something about it myself.
I tried .30-06 cases in my Sako 75 .308 rifle and still had the same ejection issues whereas it works perfectly with .308 cases.
I tried 9.3x62 cases in my Sako 75 .30-06 rifle and only occasionally had ejection issues.
I tried .308 cases in my Sako 75 .30-06 rifle and had no ejection issues, so I knew it must be something to do with the cartridge and not the rifle.
The rim thickness of a .308 case is 1.37mm
The rim thickness of a 9.3x62 case is 1.30mm
The rim thickness of a .30-06 case is 1.2mm
There seems to be a relationship between the rim thickness and ejection issues i.e. thinner rims lead to ejection issues. If you seat a case in the bolt face you will see there is more slop for cases with a thinner rim. Seems Sako has gone for the 'one extractor size fits all' approach regardless of the cartridge case rim thickness - presumably to save costs.
So..... I needed to reduce the amount of slop that the extractor held the .30-06 case so the extractor would have a tighter grip on the case (at least as tight as it holds a .308 case). My options were: 1) either build up the under-side lip of the extractor; 2) seat the extractor deeper in the bold somehow, or, 3) compress the extractor to reduce its overall length. Options 1 and 2 seemed very difficult, so I chose option 3.
I removed the extractor from the bolt face of my .30-06 and with all the skill of a high-precision swiss watch maker.....I beat it with a hammer! Actually, I placed the extractor vertically with the flat near the round bit on the sharp right-angle edge of an anvil and used a hammer to very carefully slightly compress the extractor so when fitted back into the bolt, the extractor had a tight grip on the cartridge case.
If you do this make sure to closely monitor the amount you compress the extractor with a good set of calipers and repeatedly try the extractor in the bolt. If you overdo it the cartridge will not align straight with the chamber, and.....you will need to buy a new extractor - not cheap. Also make sure the hammer impacts the anvil square on - not on an angle. Hamming may create a very small burr on the top of the claw and you may need to gently file a small amount of the inner edge of the extractor claw so the case slides easily into the bolt face.
Actually this is a really easy process and can be done by anyone with handyman abilities.
My .30-06 now extracts and ejects cases perfectly every time. Cases eject horizontally rather than vertically and never hit the scope anymore.
Essential tools for this task are: a hammer, a vice or anvil with a sharp right angle edge, a set of calipers, and a bandaid for when you hit your thumb.
Caveat: this worked very well for my rifle but may not work for everyone - attempt it at your own risk. Good luck.
