You call tapered dovetails milled into the receiver cheesy?
not only cheesy but super cheesy, ive read too many stories from PH's and others where Optilock's are not tightened properly and just slide right off the back. What's so strong about a tapered dovetail if your scope is just clamped on with the heavy, bulky soft screwed Sako optilock system? Hb
Any thing can slide around if not tighten properly. The dovetail on the receiver tapers wide in the front to narrow in the back. Recoil is distributed through the whole bearing surface of the mounting system, I did notice on new optilock rings they are using torx heads instead of turned down Allen heads.
It is clear I am a fan of the new optilock ringmounts. Never been one to use big scopes, and therefore have room to work without going to offset mounts. So if the ringmounts fit, they are the best route. The torque rating for the torx screws used for the action screws and the ringmount clamps are well beyond the torque specs for the action screws, so there is no issue with having a soft screw. Sako specs the 85 action screws in the 55 to 57 inch pound range, with the same screw for the ringmount clamp being spec'd at 45 inch pounds. Individual rifles may vary, but my experience with 85s in 375HH, 338WM, and now 9.3x62, 45 inch pounds has proven sufficient torque on the action screws to provide top accuracy, while holding torque without walking. I found that I can remove the barreled action, and then re-assemble and re-torque to 45 inch pounds to have the rifle shoot into the same group. Same with the optilock ringmounts. I can remove and replace my scope and shoot into the same group when torqued at 45 inch pounds. Therefore, keeping things simple, I have a compact Felo Nm torque driver in my rifle kit that adjusts from 3.0 to 5.4 Nm, and use this driver to routinely break down my rifle for travel, and to remove scope to address the fixed sights using the same torque setting at approx. 45 inch pounds. Doing so, have not had issue with either ringmounts or action working loose while shooting or hunting afield.
Highly recommend the Felo torque driver for such chores.
Best
