Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anyone own a Sako 85 who isn't impressed with it?

So far, it's the rifle I most want - that I don't own.

I own one: 300 win mag, and while I have only been out to the range a couple times with it, I love it. Not as much recoil as I would have thought, and sub-moi, as advertised. The action and trigger are, by far, better then any action I have experience with, and can't wait to get my next.

Do it, you won't be sorry.

Me too Brian. If I had to sell all mine to buy just one it would likely be a model 85, probably in 260Rem. I would love one but have a question for you. Would you consider a Tikka? While I have tried to warm to them they just do nothing for me. Can't explain it.

FWIW, I don't currently own one, but I did fondle one for the first time over the past weekend. I was surprised over the fact that I did notice a couple of things about it that didn't impress me, even though it is supposed to be very nice and it is very expensive. Two things jumped out at me concerning the one I looked at. 1) There were a couple of places on the metal work that were "pitted," for lack of a better term. In other words, the metal had very small holes in it. One was on one side of the trigger. The other was along the trigger guard. 2) The barrel was not centered in the Tupperware fore end, and the stock does indeed appear to be very Tupperware-ish, IMHO.

For the money, I like the looks and feel (and performance) of my Kimber Montana much better, and I'm glad I went with it instead. I don't have any first-hand knowledge of the Sako's performance, so I can't vouch for it in that regard.

I have a S/S 300wsm and it shoots very well. My only complaint is that the previous Monte Carlo stock fitted me better than the classic style stock on the 85.

I have a McMillan coming for my Finnlight....

I have an older Sako Classic, and it is the most accurate rifle I own. Moreover, it's completely reliable. If I were to buy another rifle, it'd be a Sako 85 Hunter in .270 Win.

I don't have any 85's but have 4 Sako-75's.

What is the difference between them?

Michael

CRF, and the stock design......

Best factory trigger I have felt, smoothest feeding of WSM's I have felt, smoothest- most free running bolt I have felt, etc.
Dislikes: the factory synthetic stock felt great but was miserable (to me) off the bench, made the recoil feel horrible (300 WSM). I switched to a laminated stock and love the difference.
Oh, and it shoots amazing groups, I have shot a couple 3 shot groups at 300 yds that are less than an inch with 180 accb's. Just loaded up some 130 gr TTSX's. Shooting sub-moa at 300yds at 3450 fps.
On the way back from the range today, I had 45 minutes of legal shooting light left when I decided to stop at the farm I hunt.
I have never shot this gun on game, and I needed to bag two anterless deer before I could go for another rack. Well, I ended up with 40 minutes to spare. Two doe, two shots, 150 yds and 180 yds., 10 seconds apart. The TTSX's made for two bang-flops.
Yeah, I kinda like this rig.

PS. Another dislike.... the position and length of the ejector could be improved. Because the ejector is at the 6 o'clock position and not more closely opposite the extractor, the cases tend to dribble out of the ejection port even with a fairly fast bolt travel in comparison to my Ruger or Winchester CRF rifles. Also, due to the length or location of the ejector, the bolt has to be drawn back absolutely to full travel to get ANY ejection. It is much less sure than my new Ruger Frontier, which is the most positive feeding and ejecting CRF rifle I have used.
At the bench with the Sako, I have to be careful to eject the rounds (instead of just turning them around in the ejection port) when I want to not have them leave the table. When I was hunting yesterday, both rounds cleanly left the gun as I worked the bolt with vigor.

I have a new 85 Greywolf .308. so far I have not found a factory load that will shoot to the guaranteed 1", and I have tried Federal match 175gr., Fed fusion 165gr. Fed 150's, Remington Nos. BT 165, and Win 180rn. I have had some good sub-1" groups with handloads and Nosler 165bt's. I don't think I should need to load my own to meet the accuracy guarantee. In fact I don't think they even recommend handloads.
The magazine is built for 5 cartridges. If you load the top shell, leavin 4 inside, the rest will rattle if the rifle is tipped up and down. If the mag has 5 or 3 shells in it it does not rattle. Very minor, but a curious fact.
The action is quite wide at the magazine, for my money I'd be happier if it was a 4 shot mag instead of 5 and the stock made narrower to fit the hand better when carrying one-handed.
The Optilock rings are over priced, but work well.
EVERYTHING else is very very good on this rifle. Trigger, fit, action smoothness, low recoil sensation, looks, etc.. I killed three deer with it this week.

I bought a M-75 in 270 Wsm and was so impressed that I traded my M-70 25-06 for a M-85 in 25-06.The rifle has shot several 1.25 inch 200 hundred yard groups, and that is really something for me.The 85 doesn't have the palm swell and I really miss that feature.My rifle handles 3 rounds great but I found on my Wyoming Mule deer trip that chambering a round slowly with 4 rounds in magazine that occasionally the round would hang up.I took it to Beretta on Thursday and will update what they find.SPR is correct on the ejection,I found with Talley low rings that when worked briskly the brass would hit the bottom of my Leupold. Talley is trading my rings now.all in all I am happy with this rifle, I always seem to find the 1% of anything that will have problems.
Thank You

Only a couple gripes:




I might have waited for a bigger deer but I was more than happy to fill the freezer with this one.

My M-85 Grey Wolf in 270 WSM shoots sub-MOA but still doesn't shoot quite as well as my Kimber 8400 (which shoots unusually well). Some more load developement probably will fix that gripe.
I somewhat miss the Wundhammer swell in the pistol grip of the M-75 Models but I do much prefer the straight classic stock on the M-85's.
The trigger on the M-85 is the best I've ever had on a hunting rifle.
I like the push up to release the magazine, a slight improvement but still an improvement.
All in all the M-85 is a superb rifle one the of the very best available. I'd like to hunt with more of them...........................DJ

All I know is that I want a Sako 85 Bavarian in 9.3x62 so bad I can taste it.

C'mon Beretta - start importing this model!

They 'shoot'...



Kentucky windage/prone at 400 yards(2.25").
180 Partitions/.300WSM.

I'd have sworn the 85 I looked at last Wednesday was a pushfeed, not a CRF. Pictures, anyone?

Isn't one of those "hybrid" feed actions? I know that doesn't make sense and I'm not exactly sure how to explain it otherwise but I've heard and read that it's a cross between the two. I'm positive that someone who's better informed will be able to clarify this more.

It looked to me like the case was not held by the extractor until it had been chambered.

I can't clarify either but here are a few pics that might help explain.







The extractor doesn't grab the case until it's 3/4 of the way into the chamber.