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Im interested in a commemorative VL63. Its a 243, Unfired, NIB condition. The gun is for "Commemorating the founding of the sako collectors assn" 1982. Now heres the hard part. I by no means am a pro when it comes to the Sako Finnwolf but I do know a thing or two so heres the questions... they only made 175 rifles with gold inlay, what are they worth? Did Sako or Garcia deal with these particular Rifles? Are they 4 or 3 shot mags? Are they worth more having Both calibers together? I collect Commemorative arms, Just dont really know a whole lot about the Finnwolf other than they only made it in 2 calibers and the internal system runs off gears, not pins and slides like all other levers. Your knowledge is greatly appreciated

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I have a matching s/n set of these guns. I am pretty sure Garcia was involved when they were made. They are a 3 shot clip. Yes a matching s/n set brings a higher price. All the gears are machined - not stamped as in a Win 88, and it shows as the action is much smoother and refined. I have seen matching sets go for as much as $5000. Single examples seem to top out at about $2000.


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You forgot that, as a shooter, the Sako's superior stock ergs really differentiate it from the Winchester 88!

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Garcia America Corp was long gone in the mid '70's from any involvement with SAKO when this took place.
A couple friends of mine, one from Ft Worth and the other from Whitewater Kansas who founded the SAKO Collctors Society went to the SAKO plant in Finland right before when I first became the Stoeger rep in the SWest in Fall 1982. They had made several trips to the plant and spent months and months digging thru every stack of leftover old parts in the plant and came up with enough stuff to build 350 rifles in 2 calibers....and footed all the bills themselves.
The new SAKO Managing Director at that time, Matti Packalien and the new World Marketing Director Esa Verho - both great guys who had been brought in from other Nokia operations, agreed to build the guns and since Stoeger had not wanted to participate initially - but tried to later - the SCS arranged for the guns to be shipped to Stoeger at the old 55 Ruta Court S Hackensack NJ warehouse - since SAKO was in a joint venture ownership of Stoeger at this time, stored and delivered them thru their dealer network - which is where I came in to help with the dealer side of this deal in my 5 states - to monitor delivery of the ordered guns thru the appropriate participating FFL.

The 350 guns - 175 of each - had special SR's that matched each other in the 2 calibers 243 & 308 and were initially sold only in matched SR # pairs, but I seem to remember that a very few 308 guns were sold at the end in singles but would not swear to it. I never got involved in the sale or distribution as that was handled thru SCS exclusively. I was offered a pair to buy at the end as part of my SCS Founding Membership package and shoulda jumped on it but kids college bills were in the way. Hope this helps.
Ron

Last edited by verhoositz; 02/16/12.

TIME FOR TERM LIMITS !!!! Politicians are just like diapers, they need to be changed often and regularly for the same reason...Robin Williams.
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Very informative post! Thanks for clearing up the Garcia thing.


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Let that sink in.....

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$5000? Screw dat, how do they shoot?


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I often use quick reply. My posts are not directed toward any specific person unless I mention them by name.
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There are few guns that I own that do not get shot, but these are two. I do have other Finnwolf's that do get shot. As a rule they shoot pretty good for a lever action with groups in the 1" to 1 1/2" range with favored loads.


Heaven has a wall, a gate and strict immigration policy.

Hell has open borders.

Let that sink in.....

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I was working for a Dallas based reg'l SG distributor, and attended my first SHOT Show in Jan of '78 in Houston, where I met the Stoeger people for the first time. George Sodini Sr was the president and his his son George Jr was at that time the Product Mgr. George Sr had engineered the Joint Venture purchase of Stoeger between SAKO and Llama some time in '75 or '76, and ran the Stoeger US and Canada operations until that management group was ousted in ?'85 and replaced with retired Army Colonel Steve Glick, who I had met in Finland during a plant tour and moose hunt in October of '84. Col Glick was the still in the Army and attended the plant tour and moose hunt as a guest along with a number of others like Howard French who was the editor of Guns & Ammo magazine. An almost not so funny aside, everyone in the plant tour party, about 2 dozen of us from all over the world, was housed at a ski resort not far from the plant in Rihimaaki, but Mrs Glick and my wife had no interest in participating in the 3 day moose hunt, and decided to catch the train into Helsinki for a day of shopping. When it was time to return it apparently was very confusing in the train station, and the 2 women started to board a train full of Finnish Border Guard troops that was headed for the Russian border until Mrs. Glick realized what the train was loaded with from all the sudden catcalls and laughter about halfway up the boarding steps and beat a hasty retreat. I don't for a moment think that the women were in any danger, just that the train was an express with a destination at the Russian border several hours away and was the last train of the day in either direction. Needless to say the women were roundly teased when the story surfaced at the group's dinner that nite. I can't say enough nice things about the Finn's we met locally during our 8 days there or anyone else connected to SAKO.
Ron


TIME FOR TERM LIMITS !!!! Politicians are just like diapers, they need to be changed often and regularly for the same reason...Robin Williams.
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Excellent story! Surely the ladies would have found the Russian front fascinating....

One of the neat things about this and of course other sites is you never know just who will show up and post. Thanks for sharing a bit of history on the Sako.

Regards

T T

Last edited by TwoTrax; 02/16/12.

Heaven has a wall, a gate and strict immigration policy.

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Let that sink in.....

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Thanks for the history. GRF

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One last story from that trip in '84 that still haunts me.

Part of the group we were with were the Import Principals from several countries for their annual Business Meetings with the SAKO Execs. Different Principals had different ways of promoting the Sako line as it was out of their own advertising budgets and they spent the money however they wanted. The guys from the UK were great to hang with and the wife and I had just spent 9 days on our own in London and the South of England, and in Dover and Canterbury on vacation before we went on up to Finland, and why my wife was along on this trip. Anyway, the Brits had an annual raffle for buyers who had bought a new rifle that year and sent in their Warranty Cards, with the prize as a plant tour and moose hunt in Finland.

After we arrived and were introduced to everybody I noticed the Brit Raffle Winner had a really funny brogue accent unlike any I had heard before in England and a dark swarthy skin color like the southern Italians, but was a really nice guy who tried to fit in with us other footloose non Principals. It was explained the he was a Hungarian by birth and had escaped Hungary after the 1956 Uprising and had a history that was "intertesting" by a SAKO Product Manager who I was close to. Everywhere we went as a group the local Finns were really very aware of this Hungarian guys presence and the Finns were treating him like a celebrity with lots of staring and quiet pointing him out. Several of us Americans and the Canadian Raffle Winner from Edmonton decided we wanted to take the train over to the Russian border and we tried to coerce the Brit-Hungarian to go with us to get our Passports stamped with a Russian entry stamp on our "Free Day" rather than shop and spend money on souviniers in Helsinki... and he got real tense and refused to be around us the next day.

That nite it was explained to us that the reason the guy had had to escape Hungary without his family was that as a 12 year old, he had Killed 3 Russian tanks in the streets of Budapest by himself with nothing but Molotov Cocktails during the 1956 Uprising after his family was killed by tank cannon fire, and the Russians were still stalking him in 1984. If he were to have walked thru the Russian Passport checkpoint the Russian Border Guards would have seized him on the spot to disappear forever. That information also explained why a Finnish Border Guard Captain had quietly joined us mid week and stayed close to this guy. The last day of the trip at our final function, a special full luncheon in Helsinki at a traditional Russian Tea Room restaurant, the entire staff of the Restaurant stood in a receiving line and applauded him as we entered and before we were seated. This guy was the real thing and the Finns showered him with tears of love.

Only then did we understood the importance of why the old man who had acted as the Offical Greeter of the private Hunt Club we were hunting on during the Moose Hunt had taken a round of ammo out of each of the foriegn hunters ammo pouch every time we got off the bus, then put it in one of our shirt pockets and jabbered some thing in Finnish at us face to face to every one of us before walking away ...and later during the Goodby Ceremony on the last day, he cried like a baby when he was asked about it. He said he was 87 years old, that after losing 2 wars to the Germans and 2 Wars to the Russians in his lifetime, he only hoped and dreamed to live long enough to kill some more Russians ...and saved a bullet from each box of ammo he opened to do it with for taking the 40K wide swath of Finland down the entire length of the Russian border where his family land and relatives were still being held captive from the 1948 War.

Those people have long memories and no forgiveness in their souls for a reason...and why this series of events still truobles me sometimes when I get complacent and complain about how bad we have it here. As my old friend from Ft Worth says.
Better Tommorows,
Ron

Last edited by verhoositz; 02/16/12.

TIME FOR TERM LIMITS !!!! Politicians are just like diapers, they need to be changed often and regularly for the same reason...Robin Williams.
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You have indeed had some interesting life experiences. Thanks for sharing.


Heaven has a wall, a gate and strict immigration policy.

Hell has open borders.

Let that sink in.....

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Ron,
It is easy, sometimes, for us to forget how bad it can get in the rest of the world.
By comparison we have it embarrassingly easy.
Thanks for taking the time to post.

P


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