Sako and Beretta was a marriage made in Hell. At least when Garcia and Stoeger imported them Sako still called the shots. That Barrel steel problem they had a few years back should be blamed on Beretta since they were trying to up production of Sako barrels since I guess they were not being made fast enough. Berettas customer service is flat out terrible and has been since inception.
That said this rifle is clearly out of warranty and it is the discretion of the manufacturer on whether the customer gets charged or not. I have sent in Rugers,Winchesters and most of all Remingtons back for work after the warranty period expired and the only mfr that never charged was Browning(Winchester). In fact I bought a 1995 Model 70 SS laminate last year and the bolt handle assembly was not on right(this was a NIB rifle BTW) it went back to Browning and they charged me zip nada for fixing the problem.
