Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Sako 85 - Anyone ever glass in their Recoil Lug Plate?

Hi I have a Sako 85M in 9.3 x 66 that shoots incredibly well. However, on the last occasion I shot it I noticed the barrel touching the right hand side of the barrel channel. (sorry I do not have photos of that)

Took it apart & noticed that the 2 wood screw holding the plate were not quite tight. Now the recoil of a 9.3 x 66 is quite stiff especially as the whole rifle weighs less than 8lbs. Therefore, there was a little bit of play in this plate. Was thinking that those little wood screws would never hold up to the pounding over the years so the thought of whether to glass it in or not?

Has anyone had any experience with glassing in this recoil lug plate. If you have:

1. Did you permanently bond it in or keep it removeable?
2. Do you have the bottom of the oval lug touching the stock or floating?
3. Before I glass it do I need to enlarge the inletting for the lug to get a greater thickness of glass? Especially behind the lug I suppose.

I have attached photos to show what I mean.

If you don't mind also the reasons for why you have done it the way you have. Were you happy with the results or did it make little difference.

Thanks in advance.
JohnT

My plate is not loose and has different screws than yours. Mine are torx head blued to match the plate. My gun is SLOPPY in the stock until you really torque the bolts down. If I tighten them down 3/4 tight it feels snug but I can still push on the barrel and the whole barreled action shifts around A LOT. IMO the 85's need to be bedded. I'd recommend bedding on each side of the plate and bed the rest of the action like any other rifle. If I keep mine that's what I'll do. Mine has not been a phenomenol shooter and sloppy stock fit is my first suspect.