Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Sako Bavarian Carbine

As a young person in the 70s/80s I enjoyed reading John Wooter's column/articles on deer hunting. I fell in love with the little Sako .308 Mannlicher stocked carbine that he carried. Never bought one. I have been researching the Sako Bavarian Carbine, though it is quite different from the original, I find it very interesting (in pictures). Anybody own this rifle? I have a Ruger Hawkeye RSI .308. How does it feel in the hands? Clubby like the CZ 550 FS? Is the wood as nice on the actual models as they are on the website? Shoot accurately? How did they freefloat a full length stock?

There was recently a Sako 591 Mannlicher for sale on Gunbroker. The auction may still be open. It's a beautiful rifle. I have no other experience with Mannlicher stocks, other than my K95 Stutzen. It is definately NOT clubby.

I have a Bavarian, but not a carbine. I'd ask the question here as I'm sure someone at the Sako site has one.

http://www.sakocollectors.com/forum/forum.php

Since you asked,here is something in that regard that I posted before.....

JMHO, but one caveat, I�m a sako-holic, so take this with a grain of salt, cause this is not an objective opinion.

A friend of mine has the Sako Bavarian in 6.5 x 55. He says it shoots every different factory round he has put through it sub inch at 100.

I have the Bavarian Carbine in 308 Winchester. When they came out, I had to have one. I�ve become fond of the Mannlichers and the hog back or European style stocks.

Here�s my Sako 85 Bavarian Carbine in 308 Winchester. Blue steel, oil finished wood with contrasting grip cap and fore-end. It also has a set trigger that breaks at about 9 oz when set. At the bench or off a shooting rest, that will spoil ya�.







The bavarians are not light dainty rifles. Solidly built with excellent fit, finish and furniture. My 308 will hold 5 rounds in the detachable magazine and can be fed through the receiver into the magazine without the magazine being detached. I like that. I love Coopers, but the repeaters you must load the clip, then put the magazine in the rifle. Also, to disengage the magazine on the Sako 85, you have to depress the magazine with some force, then depress the latch. No losing magazines due to slight bumps and jarring. The magazine is of steel, not plastic construction. I like that too.



The one negative for me however is the thickness of the stock at the magazine. The point of balance for me is with the index finger of my left hand even with the juncture of the receiver and barrel. I�m 5-8 and 190 lbs. and don�t have particularly large hands. Guys with large hands or folks that don�t carry rifles much probably wouldn�t notice this at all.



Another friend of mine who is a gunsmith states he loves to work on Sako�s cause he never has to true the actions. The bolt slide on the action is smooth as silk. I do use a small amount of grease on the rails though.



Another feature you may or may not like. When the safety is engaged, the bolt cannot be lifted unless the catch in front of the safety is depressed.

I had heard that a few of these earlier Sakos 85 Bavarians had a problem with the finish/bluing flaking on the bolt shroud. You can see the small round spec where that appears to be evident on mine. I use my guns, so the get nicks, scratches, dings and assorted character marks, so I did not consider this to be significant enough to send the rifle back.

And best of all, it shoots like a Sako���..


[img]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/glenn1221/Rifles/IMG_1183_zps53dee6f3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/glenn1221/Rifles/IMG_1185_zpsc37a9a41.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/glenn1221/Rifles/IMG_1182_zps1f85141b.jpg[/img]

These are a few groups shot of the bench at the Pearland Shooters club @ 100yds during load development. My go to load in this rifle is 150 gr. Nosler Accubonds over 46.5 gr. Varget, Lapua Brass, Fed 210M primers and 2.820 OAL.

As to recoil. I employ a lead sled with 40 lbs of lead shot when doing load development. Usually don�t shoot more than once at each particular game animal, and then my focus is on the game and the squeeze, not recoil. The scopes I employ are usually no more than 14 power max and 44mm objectives or less, so low and medium rings work fine, so cheek weld and sight picture are no problem.

I've not taken the barreled action out of the stock, but as best as I can tell it is not free floated. The stock definitely has contact with the tip of the muzzle and there is no barrel band.

The Bavarians are pretty new so you may not be able to find one pre-enjoyed. I usually don�t buy new rifles. However, in this case lust got the better of me and I could not wait.
Best

GWB

I bought this one and am very happy with it.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7891222/1

GEEDUBYA....what mounts and rings are those on your SAKO..???
Thanks
Pete
pdman

These are the two types of rings/bases I use on Sakos.

Th rings/bases on the Laminate Stainless are the 1" Sako Optilockz.

The rings/bases on the Bavarian Carbin are Redfield slip on bases with Leupold 1" rings

There are a number of other combos that are available with a quick "google" search.

GWB