Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ithaca rifle on a Sako L65 action

Moments ago I briefly handled a rifle made by Ithaca that for all intents and purposes is a Sako. It's on a Sako L65 long action chambered for 25-06 and wears what appears to be a Sako styled walnut stock complete with palm swell and accented forend tip and pistol grip cap. It's in pretty good condition with a few flaws, but still quite a striking rifle, appearance-wise.

I have no interest in owning this rifle, it doesn't really fit my type of hunting, but I am curious about it. Anyone have any info on the time period when these were produced? What about value?

Inquiring minds...
Thanks.

It's not a Sako but a Tikka M65 with the Ithaca name on it. The one you handled has the rosewood fore-end and grip caps which makes it a Deluxe model.
Ithaca calls it the LSA-65 but it's a Tikka M65. I've owned a few of them, most were Tikkas, one was an Ithaca.

Thanks, Rembo. That explains why the rings were stamped Tikka. Any idea on the period of production or value?

That gun was before Tikka become part of Sako.

based on your description-- if you mean somewhat of a "weatherby look", i remember rigs like that from back around 1974...

Funny that you use the comparison to a Weatherby because I nearly did the same when describing this gun in my OP.

I've got one, not a deluxe though. Take driver and smoothest bolt I have. No plastic like the new Tikkas

Bruin,

Ithaca imported the Tikka rifles from '69 to '77. I have one in 7mm/08 (rebored from .22/250)

The LSA-55 (Short action) was imported in .222 Rem, .22/250, .243, 6mm Rem, and .308. All I have ever seen were .308's with the exception of the one I own, and one in .243 Win.

The long action LSA-65 was imported in .25/06, .270 and .30/06. I've seen just one .25/06 and a couple of .270's... If I've ever seen an '06, I didn't take note of it.

Scope rings and clips are next to impossible to find.

Beretta purchased Sako and Tikka in the year 2000.

Later I did see a couple of clones that were stamped: Sabatti of Italy. I even owned one in 6mm PPC... Thus, I conclude that Sabatti must have purchased the rights and/or tooling for the design.

Hope that helps...

GH

It would appear that I misquoted the BBoGV... Tikka's have been manufactred in Rhimakki since 1989. Thus it would appear that Sako purchased Tikka shortly after Ithaca ceased importing them.

From 1982 thru 1988 I worked for Stoeger Industries, working as the SWest Rgl Sales Mgr, out of the 55 Ruta Ct S Hackensack, NJ location and based in the DFW market.

The pics I have of the SAKO plant in Rihimaaki from Oct 1984 show the Tikka logo beside the SAKO logo on the overhead at the main gate guard shack, and the original SAKO logo by itself on the stone tower that over looked the plant grounds. It was a surprise for us to see the long rumored merger's signage on our initial arrival.

There several Tikka people on the 1984 Moose Hunt with our guests, including Pekka Tarvainen, whose business card lists him as the Sales Manager for the Tikka gun factory. One of my good friend Esa Verho's business cards lists him as the Marketing Director, Gun Factories, with both the old style black ring gear & red SAKO logo over a yellow background, and the familiar Tikka dual facing "bird" logo side by side, while another card of Esa's from that trip shows the newer Finland/SAKO in blue in the upper left hand corner and the rest of the printing in Finnish with I assume his title of "Markkinointijohtaja" under his name in english.
Someday I'll figure out how to download these old prints.

This was a great trip with lots of different folks from all over the world invited, including Howard French, from G&A that I got to know and hunt with, author Frederick Forsyth who had to cancel at the last moment, Stoeger rep Bill Haislip from SLC and and his customers Bob Johnstun from SLC? & Terry Brady from Sports Inc in Lewiston, MT, Pat Gryba from ?Alberta, Canada, a Hungarian refugee from the UK who had fought & killed 3 Russians tanks with molotov cocktails in Budapest as a 12 year old in the Spring Uprising of 1956 with a story to tell that ALL of the Finns stood and applauded everytime we were in public, yadda yadda.

OBTW the ID's above on the Ithaca/Tikka connection is accurate per the info from an old friend, Larry Richmond, who repped Ithaca, 1st in the Rockies and later in the SEast out of Atlanta as a factory rep for many years.
Cheers Ron

Ron

Please note that I edit my post... I inadvertantly posted that Sako had purchased Tikka, when I should have noted that Beretta had purchased them. My BAD!

GH

Anyone have a pic of one these rifles? I would hate to miss one sitting in a gunshop.

Dink

sure don't,

but if you ever see a an old BSA in a shop--grab it. made by birmingham small arms of england.

bolts machined from a single forging--in 62 separate stages. if i recall correctly, at the time some claimed that the bolts and receivers were so accurately made that the bolts could be exchanged in different rifles, and they would still headspace. don't know if that claim was/is true, but can say this:

cut rifling in barrels, hand bedded actions, hand checkering, a somewhat gaudy roll-over cheekpiece, palm swell, and that ever-so-copied "weatherby look" from back in those days.

a super rifle--especially for the lower prices i've seen them go for.

they can hang with, and may even exceed sako's in their accuracy.

forgot to mention--

a thanks to grasshopper and ron for "a good education" with all of that info--i really appreciate being able to learn from all of you.

i almost bought one--an Ithaca--in 22-250 back in 1974, but passed on it--a significant mistake at the time.

yes, the ithaca rifles look "like weatherby's";

and in a sense, so does the BSA i mentioned above (and back then, what didn't?)

i also forgot to mention that BSA put quite a bit of work into building the follower, mag box, triggerguard, and latch--surely some hand tuning in all of that as well...

'Hopper, after I wrote that response I realized I sounded like a jerk so I would like to apologize for that.

We are "staging" the tiny mobile I am living now after the medical issues I believed were my signal to "get ready"and sold the big house in Dallas in '05, but everything was resolved with a lot of hard work by the VA & SWest Med School specialty docs in Dallas in '06 & '09... and I apparently have a ways to go yet.

I had set up the place in '97 as a weekend lake cabin within easy reach of Dallas and are now actively trying to sell it to move down to the Temple/Belton area an hour north of Austin to get closer to the VA & other Medical Svc's I will need until my time comes and the Texas Hill Country and where the rest of my family has migrated to from both Dallas and Houston for their retirments.

During the cleanup I had recently come across the photo album of the '84 SAKO Plant Tour, that was part of a 2 1/2 week european vacation trip, and had thouroughly enjoyed looking at the pics & Moose Hunt Booklet...so all of that info was handy.

In 2000 I ordered a Tikka Hunter Grade 270 from the DFW BPS store shipped in from their Miami store after I got Charly Lozito, my old Sales Manager at Stoeger on the phone during the Daddy's Day Closeout where BPS had bought all of the 595 & 695 blue/syn inventory to run at $299 retail as a loss leader during the Stoeger/Berretta close out sale in prep for the intro of the T3's...but Charly still wouldn't send me a free magazine for a 695 since they cost too much and my Sample Account had been closed for a long time ...said he couldn't even bill one to me on Memo or VIP Billing at Stoeger cost like I used to get and buy whatever I wanted. Oh Well in '84 I was a Hot Dog with the 1# Territory in the US and the even the Dept Heads knew my name at the Rihimaaki plant with the record sales #'s I'd set that year LOL

Couple years later you are back to being just another schmuck bum off the street...and that's when I laughed about Beretta's plans for buying out Stoeger and told Charly he better get his Retirement Package in cash or RUN to the bank with the check while the ink was still wet!!! or hope he got to move to Maryland with the rest of the leftover inventory....you know how the rest of that story goes.
Cheers Ron

RE: Tikka hand checkering

If I can ever figure out how to post the SAKO Plant Tour pics...you guys will be astounded at pics of the 6 women freehand checkering every stock that came out of the plant while all yakking with each other all day...or the 1 stock per week that the stock finishing Dept Head was doing loose in his lap in a 3 dimension oak leaf pattern for the SAKO Anniversary Gun... while talking on the phone, giving manangemnet directions or doing something else at the same time, that at least close enough to look like the same pattern that Weatherby later used for their one dimension Lazermark series.

ALL SAKO & Tikka rifles back in those days were hand checkered and part of the legend of quality the Finns demanded. Most of the folks on the line were using specailized carving tools that their grandfathers had made, as evidenced by the small custom fitted birch storage boxes with their grandfathers initials and dates of employment from the late 1890's and pre WWI era burned into the lids. That was then ... and we have lost that dedication to hand craftsmanship being handed down from father to children...and why I am so enamored of the guns produced before the 1970's,'80's & 90's. Look at a Marlin 22 from that era...and compare it to todays "stuff".
Ron

I have an old 1950's vintage BSA Royal-series mauser-type action of intermediate length with long extractor. It is one of the best purchases i'll ever make - also the cheapest rifle i'll ever buy. Completely overlooked, largely because they didn't target the US market at the time, and i believe they only made a few thousand of the mauser-type action. I would argue they are one of the finest mauser derivatives ever made. It is a lightweight action that i would say compares very well to the much better known Husqvarnas.

The later BSA CF2 action is very much like the Tikka, except it only came in a long action and was really, really heavy - 8 to 8.5lb. But a very well made rifle.

good post--don't mean to continue "off-track" from the OP's Ithaca question, but:

thought i might also remark, that the cf2 pushfeeds that you mentioned, at least when bought in .222 rem--which are a superb rifle--have one "flaw", if one could call it that :

in my mind its only real negative is that this diminutive cartridge was done in a rather long action by contrast--surely not as attractive as the "size-scaled" sako's...

a bummer, but these guns are so finely made that one must overlook it. any time one can get the type of construction and machining that these rifles afford--like the old pre-64 model 70's--a guy has got to grab them--and because so few know what they are, prices are usually quite low...

Thanks for all the info you guys posted in response to my question. I got a pretty good education, which was the purpose of my OP.

I bought one in 1977 or 78. It is an Ithaca LSA 65 in 30-06. I have killed scads of moose and deer with it. Very accurate riflle. In 1999, I shaved the butt stock down to fit my wife, and she has killed a couple moose and a deer with it as well. Still in service, though it has seen some rough service, and I bought a Tikka M65 in 2007 that is its near twin that was manufactured in 1978. Another tack driver that has killed well and shot well.

The Tikka M65 was as new and unfired when I got it from a widow in southern Ontario. I gave her $600 for it sight uneen.

Here is my wife's Ithaca.



Smile says it all.

Here is mine before the scope was installed.



Here is the first three shot group off the hood of my truck.



We're both very pleased with our rifles. Not beauty queens, just real serious hunting rifles that continue to work, year after year.

Ron,

No apology necessary! I didn't take it that way. I have learned much from you about Sakos and I do appreciate your input. I recently picked up a Sako Hunter in 6.5x55. I sold my Husky in 6.5 to get it. But I haven't looked back. Truth is; it's the only Sako I've ever seen, so chambered.

For myself, this has been a truly enjoyable thread. And I learned a thing or two, myself.

GH