Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Sako Finnlight vs Sako Finnlight 11

Hi.
I am new to the forum from Australia and have a dilemma.

I only have limited options and the choices is between a standard Finnlight (which is months away) OR a Finnlight 11 which I can get soon.

My wife has the Finnlight (which I love) but delivery will be months away but I have the opportunity to get the Finnlight 11 now.

Thoughts?

Thanks

I also would like to see anybody's opinion on the Finnlight 2. I have the Finnlight which I love. (260n Rem).

What is the difference in the two guns ?

Different stock, ceracoat barrel….the website literally tells you this.

I wasn't interested enough to bother looking up the differences on the internet.

Cerakote....been there done that several times. It doesn't wear and develope patina like a blued steel gun will.

Cerakote is basically a soulless gun finish that is not as tough as advertising would have you believe....its ugly when it scraches.

The Finnlight 2 is Cerakoted & in the standard short action cartridge models of the initial run, they had 22” barrels. My 308 F2 has the 22” barrel. Subsequent models reverted to their standard 20” offering which has always been a deal breaker for me. So, when I realized it came in a 22” barrel I snapped it up. Initially Sako would not divulge the fact that the F2’s were coated stainless steel.

The original Finnlights had 24” barrels for short action magnums, which was perfectly fine. Good luck finding a standard cartridge short action Finnlight 1 or 2 with a 22” barrel.

I’m looking at the same thing. Seems the biggest difference is the cerakote and the stocks.

Does anyone have any long term use experience with a Finnlight II? Trying to figure out how the stocks hold up. From my understanding the Finnlight 1 stock had a tendency to get “sticky” but could be refinished. Is the Finnlight II the same material?

Basically trying to figure out if it’s worth spending the extra $500 or so.

My F1 got sticky in short order & had to be replaced. The F2 is still good after 3 years and shows no sign of deterioration.

So, the F1 got a custom stock built for $600. I like it fine. Still, it was more money than I had planned on. The F2 still wears its original plastic stock, shoots accurately & is a very handy package. I love them both.

Good stock or no, the Sako 85 is the most gun you can get for a commercial offering.

This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. So the stock materials between the F1 and F2 are different? Or at least the finishes?

The main reason I am looking at the 85 is because I want a 6.5x55.

The F1 had some manner of soft-touch coating when new, which reacted with the plastic stock & was such a mess it had to be discarded. The F2 has no coating at all. I have the F2 with me on my hunt now. It’s a 308 and so much fun to hunt with.

I might add, though the 6.5x55 is a very popular round, I’d get one while the getting is good. My F2 was a very short lived run with 22” barrel. It did not take long for Sako to go back to putting 20” barrels on them. I prefer 22”-24” barrels on my hunting rifles.

How are the grips on the F2? Do they seem like something that should hold up?

I’m probably going to buy soon just waiting to see if threres any kind of Black Friday sale. I doubt it though since the place I’m looking already released a lot of early Black Friday deals.

Sorry i’m so late on the reply. The F2 stock is very solid as far as finish. There is no cheap inserts or crumby coatings. Had I not put a custom fiberglass stock on the F1, i would buy an F2 stock for it. I like it that much.

Apart from the cerakoted stainless finish on the Finn 2 it has a fiberglass stock (not plastic) with a carbon fiber bedding block and an adjustable cheek riser on the butt which is great when using a thermal scope or high mounted scope. I've owned a Finnlight Black Bear .308 and now the current Finnlight II .308 for at least 3 years, both with suppressors. The F2 is well worth the extra price IMO.