Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Sako 85

My 85 .300win mag is smooth.
Never had an issue. Shoots like a dream

Sako 85 Finnlight S.S. 300 WSM - cycles & feeds like butter, 1/2 moa reliably with 150’s & 165’s. It is one gun I can take apart, barreled action out of stock & reassemble with no worry of returning to zero. Even the scope, in Talley Screwlocks, will come off for cleaning & return perfectly to zero every time.

Sako 85 Finnlight II Black 308 Winchester - trusty compact 22” barrel works great in the blind. Shoots one hole accurate with 155 Scenar’s @ 2900 fps.

Both are great rifles with no ejection issues, ever.

To be clear I also believe there are rifles with issues. I also believe a lot of the rifles with issues are guys trying to use cheap bases and rings (Leupold, Talley, etc.) instead of Optilocks.

I do believe Sako will ruin you though. It’s hard to buy a action, custom barrel and McMillan stock. Then have it put together by a quality gunsmith only to get it back and have your Sakos out shoot it. It’s just easier to buy the Sako and go on about your day.

85 Arctos 8x57, 85 Bavarian 7mm-08, 85 Bavarian carbine 6.5 Swede. All with optilocks all shoot under one inch.

Forgot to mention no ejection issues.

Huh, that's an interesting thought, Dink. I've had 3, still have 1, all long action. Always used Optilocks and never experienced an issue.

Is the thought that the Optilocks rings and bases resolve the issue of brass rebounding off the scope and back into the action? (?)

Optilocks usually sit higher than other rings/bases. The low optilocks are probably most manufacturers medium.

Optilocks fit the dovetail like they are supposed to. I have several sets of Leupolds and Talleys I just don’t care for the way they fit the action.

Dink

All one has to do is look at the bolt nose of an 85 to see what’s going on.

The extractor MUST hold onto the shell to get it to extract out the port, or the static ejector at the bottom of the bolt will flip the brass up instead of 2 the right and outside the port.

You can put in a heavier extractor spring (Gre-tan has them), and make sure your extractor is nice and sharp and generally it works fine.
There are a lot of people who expect a better design and won’t fix what they have... it is what it is.

I have a M85 Finnlight in 30-06. When it indicated an occasional problem with ejection I learned to tilt the rifle about l/4 turn to the right and my problem seemed to disappear. YMMV.

Jim

The M85 Classic is on her way to my FFL. Fingers crossed

Prettiest wood I've ever seen on a rifle since Well, I decided on the .300 Win mag. This gun will be primary a hunting rifle. Rifle has a 1-11 twist. Kinda rare ,. I guess a "classic" hunting twist. Gun will be used for Nilgai/Elk.

What bullet weights/Brands will work best with the 1-11 twist. I don't have the rifle yet, it is in transit. So, I haven't been able to measure to the lands for OAL.

I need a "hunting" bullet

I need a "Match" bullet

I have

RL-26
H-4350
H-1000
H4831ssc
IMR 7828ssc
H-4350
Retumbo
RL-22
N-560 I just sold my M70 Super Grade

Hi everyone

I have been reading almost everything about the Sako 85 jam (extraction failure or turret failure).

So I'am going to try to make it short. I am a kind of professional Hunter and shooter. it means I carry a rifle or a handgun from April first to Mid December every single day. in 2012 I went all Sako's. It means I get rid of all my bolt actions from different riflemakers.

at this time I own four Sako's 85. 223, 7mmRMG, 338WMG and a 308 plus a 22. I have been shooting sako's TRG a lot too.

so far those sako's 85 are all 1/4 of MOA accurate with factory loads. I said ALL OF THEM !!!!
at this point my conclusion is for $1500 to $2000 you have a rifle which shoot as well as or better than a $3000 to $7000 custom rifles.

In term of reliability, I rate them at 99%. Not 100% because I have never seen a brand not fail but at this time I have personally never had an issue.

Regards of all the BS some internet experts are saying. this is my experience and the result has been zero jam in 8 years of daily use of sako 85.

1) you buy Sako Optilock MOUNTs matching with your scope dimensions.

2) you set up the sako Optilock mount accordingly to sako' instructions.

3) as any bolt action extraction with a sako claw design you need to open and move the bolt action with some speed !!!!!
IT IS TRUE for any custom rifles with a sako claw !!!!

I mean if you open and move your bolt as slow as possibly like 90 years old man with parkinson' disease well you will maybe experience the turret jam...
but it's because of you.... not of the sako 85.

4) As I am using my 338WMG as professional rifle I replaced 3 weeks ago the claw and extractor of my 338 after 8 years because I started to note a kind of weakness in the ejection (brass where not flying as far as it used to be). So I did just buy a stock sako' extractor and I did buy a spring from GreTan Rifles in colorado. Their springs are way stronger than the stock Sako and you can adjust the pressure by cutting one or 2 coils.
The ejection is stronger than it has ever been. optimization cost $2.

Stop listening internet expert.... enjoy your sako 85.... it is the finest bolt action on the market at this time as well as the sako TRG

https://youtu.be/-wBH-rAKD4A

My old Sako TRGS 30-378 did it every time with Leupold MK V tactical Turrets. I think a lot has to do with the scope you mount. Regular turrets (the covered low profile ones) generally do not cause problems. The tall twisting type windage turrets can bounce brass back in the action.

this video is one of the worst about the sako jam ! full OF [bleep]

I have Zeiss V6s with target turret and nightforce NXS and I never had a problem. I use optilock low or extra low and all fine.

So far I use 2 of my sako 85s for my job. they have been use and abuse and the only time I had a "Jam" is with my varmint 223. culling yotes
big V6 extra low mount and I was moving my bolt as slow as it is possible.

In this case you do not create the positive ejection and the MOMENTUM for the ejector and extractor to push out the brass strong enough out.
in this case yes the empty brass is going to hit the bottom of the turret... and end up in the ejection port

those same experts complain that even when the brass is ejected, it leave a mark on the turret.... you know what ? GO [bleep]

same kind of guy I bought from the sako 85 synthetic stainless in 338WMG. so for the story the guy had 12 shots through the barrel.
Told me he can not make it shot better than in a desert plate. sent me pictures. awful groups of 12 rounds.

I bought the rifle from him as a NIB with a 3 days return.

went to shooting range put a Leupold 1.75x6. I shot a 3 shots group touching !!!!! the seller sent me the invoice with the original invoice. I figured out the serial number on my rifle and the invoice SN were not matching. so I called Eurooptic. SO [bleep] hilarious.
so the guy I bought the rifle from did already return to beretta a first sako 85 338WMG because the rifle was not shooting better than a dinner plate.... Beretta was nice to exchange the first rifle for free and sent him a new one. the one I bought

from what I have seen this guy could not shoot anything but of course the problem was the sako 85 not him.

I have shot most of the bolt actions available on the market. Again I said SAKO's rifle are the best you can buy at this time. a friend of mine ex SOF
is teaching class to SWAT, FBI etc. the guy shot numerous of top end sniper rifles in his class. he personally owns 3 sako's TRG (338, 308, 6.5) . As he said for $3000 you got a rifle outshooting 98% of any customs rifle costing $4000 to $7000. if few shot better its of a hair.... not cause of the barrel quality or trigger just because like AI they are built around a chassis as heavy as a sledgehammer.....

for all the sako HATERS..... go buy a Kimber or $4000 custom rifles if you can afford them.

I do not see any Sako haters here.

Oh, they're here, Fotis. Probably on the Optics forum right now bitchin' about their Leupolds not holding zero.

I have a Sako 85 25-06 and love it. Never had any problems with it whatsoever and it shoots amazing. I shot this coyote with it the other day. 100g Barnes TTSX. 175 yards. The exit hole was about the size of a half dollar.


[img]https://ibb.co/0Br6QYY[/img]

My only Sako centerfire is an 85 Classic in 6.5x55. It wears a VXIII, 2 1/2 - 8 in Optilocks. It will consistently shoot five 130 grain AB's into less than a half-inch. I have never had any sort of functional issues with it.