I doubt the barrel could be trashed in as few as 1000 rounds...mebbe trashed because some numnuts doan't know how to clean one correctly.
SAKO barrels of that age and for quite some time before & after the early '60's were made in an unusal way to start with quite unlike anything currently being built today that I know of. They start out as a thick piece of steel rod that was left to "cure" outside in the weather for 7 years...I have photo's of the "bleeding" of a stack of barrel steel in the snow at the plant. Then the direction of the grain of the steel was identified and a small 18-24"+/- billet was taken off the rod. The couple inch's thick billet was then chucked up in a very long hydralic press and a reamer mandrel was driven thru the middle of the barrel causing it to stretch to about 28-29"s all the while the barrel is rotating and other hammers are beating the barrel inward as the reamer is being driven thru the billet.
At this point the barrel is rifled using the same technique of the hydralic hammer, and then cut to length, crowned, chambered and threaded. Then the interior of the barrel is hand swaged with an industrial grade of diamond paste until it is slick as glass & the barrel is "straightened" the old fashioned way using a unique tool and a master craftsmans Mark I eyeball - I was challenged to twist up a barrel anyway I wanted and watch how it could be completely straightened using no othe measuring instruments but the guy's right eye . The barrel is then chucked up onto a electrically fired universal reciever and the barrel is shot 3 times for accuracy. If it fails to meet the SAKO minimum standard of 3 shots under 1" at 100 meters in the underground test range the barrel is cut in half & the scrap is sent back to the smelter. SAKO to my knowledge never fixed one and sent it on. At this point the barrel is still in the white and the exterior tool marks and "swirl" from the roto forging process are removed to whatever profile is ordered, polished and blued. At that point all the major componenets are assembled by hand and the gun is fired 3 time in a special Filing Cabinet looking safety device by a guy from the Finnish Governments' dept of Standards with a substantial overload and the headspace is checked for stretch..if a gun fails at this point the stock, trigger group & maybe the reciever are recovered and the barrel is cut in half. The guns that pass are then hand stamped with the Finnish export mark of the Roaring Lion symbol, and the gun goes to final finish out and is boxed for shipment.
I have seen this procedure first hand in 1984 at the plant in Rihimaaki..and this is only part of the reasons that particularly pre '72 SAKO's that were inported by Firearms International are so highly prized. The Garcia Corp became the US distributor in 1972 thru about 1976 or so and demanded that the production rate be increased dramatically, leading to short cuts and a severe loss of the US market when the quality fell off.
I worked for Stoeger Industries as a salaried Regional Sales Manager from 1982 thru 1988, which at that time was owned as a corporate partnership between Nokia and the family in Spain that owned Llamma handguns, under the management of George Sodini Sr & George Jr & Chuck Lozito for the early part of that time. I credit the Sodini family and the their staff for re establishing the SAKO reputation after the debacle that Garcia wrought on SAKO. IMO it was a sad day when Beretta purchased Stoeger about 5-6 years ago.
You have a fine handmade rifle that by all rights should be far from being shot out in only a thousand rounds regardless of any caliber that SAKO built at that time. I personally have shot some of the SAKO's I have owned in the past far more than that, including a 243 that I must have shot 5-6K rounds over a 5+ year period thru it after I got it USED in 1968 ...with no damage even though I overloaded it one time so badly the bolt had to hammered open with no stretch evident in the barrel or receiver because of my greenhorn stupidity & I credit that SAKO as being mabe the only gun on the market at time that could & DID save my life. It didn't even blow the dust out of the receiver well, much less damage the stock or floor plate. SAKO steel is anything but soft.
I would re barrel your gun to a 260 or any other 308 or 284 based rounds & keep the 243 barrel before I would sell it to anyone but YMMV.
In my dreams I find a junky looking 579 action SAKO somebody thinks is trashed 'cause it looks nasty, that I can buy and rebarrel to a 6.5x284...IMO thats why your "buddy" is gently squeezing you with tales of soft steel & negative criticism to create doubt in your mind ... and sell it to him. JMHO but I have "Been There & Done That".
Ron
Last edited by verhoositz; 07/14/07.
