Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Sako 85 ejection failure

mlg,

This problem seems to be more acute in long action cartridges. In my case with .270 Win. If you don't mind, would you please tell me what is the scope set up on your rifle. The bases, ring height and type of scope you are using. I would appreciate the information.

Thank you,

G2

However, I'm still of the opinion that if you are not crowding the port and the round is ejecting straight out the top, then the extractor must not have a proper grasp of the fired case as it is being overpowered by the ejector. I could see a number of things that could weaken its hold on the case. Otherwise, the case should pop up high enough to clear the lip of the port and be flipped toward the extractor at its position on the bolt face. Keep us posted.

Should you have to make those concessions for using a rifle that costs that much money?

OK. I'll rephrase that. You should NOT have to make those concessions for using a rifle that costs that much money! If you buy a rifle costing that much and have those issues, shame on the manufacturer. If you buy another one of those rifles costing that much and have those issues, shame on YOU! But if you like your rifles doing this, enjoy.

Spot,

It will do both, it may eject, but leave a dent on the mouth of the case or on the bullet with a live round, or it will hit and leave a case or live round lying on the magazine follower or on top of other rounds in the magazine. It also leaves a deep ding where the case begins to slope down for the bottleneck. If you work the bolt at just the right speed you can see the round hit the left inside of the loading port, so mine is not just hitting the scope, the extractor is allowing the case to actually flip to the left before it comes back to hit the ejector. My scope set up is: Sako optilock bases, low optilock rings, Leupold VX3 3.5x10x40. There is almost a 1/2" inch between the bottom of the objective and the barrel. What I consider "faulty" is the fact that Beretta/Sako had to know that this would happen especially with long action guns, because of the position of the ejector. Beretta should have stated up front the following: BERETTA RECOMMENDES THAT ALL LONG ACTION MODEL 85 RIFLES BE FITTED WITH OPTILOCK BASES AND HIGH OPTILOCK RINGS TO INSURE PROPER EJECTION. If the consumer had been given that information up front, then I can see where "buyer be aware" would be appropriate. That was not the case however, and Beretta even put low rings in with the bases supplied. I can't tell you why some long action 85 owners have not experienced this problem and others have. The brand of scope must make some difference, and the height of ones rings has to factor in. Please don't think I am out to bash Sako rifles, as I own six. Three pre 75 models, a 75, the troubled 85, and a Sako .22. I consider Sako rifles to be very good overall, but I do think that they "screwed the pooch" with the positioning of the ejector in the 75 and 85.

Have a good day,
G2

Reloader 7RM,

I am sorry to hear that you have the same problem. If you are lucky, you may be able to move your scope fore and aft and may be find a position where it will not hit your scope. I moved my scope and never found a position where it did not hit. I have my fingers crossed hopeing Beretta will find a miracle cure for mine, but I am not holding my breath. To be honest with you I really see no cure except a massive factory recall of long action rifles. The extractor needs a much stronger spring and the fixed ejector needs to be in the 8:00 to 9:00 position, which would require a new bolt with an ejector cut through the left locking lug. Since the 85 has three locking lugs, an ejector cut would not take away from the locking strength of the three lugs. If you look at a pre 75 Sako you will see that they were two lug guns with an ejector cut through the left lug, and fixed ejector at 9:00. As you have probably read, most short action 85 owners don't seem to be experiencing this issue. Puting the ejector at 6:00 on a rifle THAT YOU MUST USE A SCOPE ON then providing you with low Optilock rings to go on your Optilock bases is insuring failure to eject.(I am not going to higher rings) I know that all firearms are subject to some type of failure (usually at the most inopportune time), but I doubt this obvious flaw would have left the factory in Finnland before Beretta ownership of Sako. I will still look for older collectable Sako rifles, but I won't sink any more money in what they offer at this time. Take a good look at yours, and see what I am talking about. If you have an idea of what might solve this issue I would sure be happy to hear it.

Have a good afternoon Reloader,
G2

If you get a good functioning 85 there's nothing better IMO. Not even customs.