Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Sako 85 ST Finnlight

I have been in the market for a new, general purpose, "mountain" type rifle for a few months now. I had narrowed my choices down to a Kimber Montana, a Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker, or a Sako Finnlight, all in .308 Winchester. I had a thread here to help me decide between the three, and ultimately chose the Sako.
I have been looking for one for over a month now, and have decided I'm not going to find a cheap one. So I called a close friend who is a dealer and had him order me one, and while he was at it, get a VX-3 2.5-8 too. I picked up a set of Talley rings and bases on the free classifieds a couple of weeks ago.
I have never dropped this kind of cash on a rifle before, but from everything I have heard I should be happy.

I too bought a general purpose rifle, a Sako M 85 Finnlight s/s in 30-06 , put a 3.5x10 VXIII scope on it. Most expensive set up I own (target rifle close second). It is actually worth the money compared to others, accurate , light enough, and tips big game quite handily. Likes the 168gr TSX-BT @ 2900fps mv. I don't mind beating the stock up either.

It will ruin you. After you shoot it you will not want to own another Ruger, Remington, Winchester, etc. You will only want to own quality rifles with good triggers that shoot. You will not settle for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch groups anymore after you shoot some true .5 three shot groups.

Ask me how I know...grin.

Dink

TrueDat! The Sako is an awesome platform and will server you well.

Don't rule out the Sako OptiLock's also, they work well and keep the scope low to the barrel. I have hte Bavarian 85 in 308.

I bought my first new rifle back in 1997 - Sako m75ss 300WM with Leupold Vari-X III 3.5-10x40 mounted with Optilocks and never looked back.

I have a few (dont tell my wife) Sako m75 rifles now...all with Optilocks and Leupold scopes.

You made a sweet purcgase you will not regret.

I justr recently (my XMAS present to myself) a mint Sako m75ss 270WSM in the SM action and just agot a great deal the other day on some clearance/demo Leupold VX3 4.5-14x40 with BC reticle for this rifle. I have this same scope on a Tikka T3 LS 270WSM I sold to my bro-in-law as I got the Sako now.

As Warman said, do not rule out the Optilocks. A set of bases with t he Extra-low rings (me I use the Low mounts-extra lows didnt shoulder with scope good for me). I have a couple rifles with the new Optilock Ringmount setup too.

I am seriously excited to get this rifle in my hands. Hopefully by next weekend I'll have it. Since I already have the Talley bases and rings, I'll give them a try. If they don't work out for some reason, I would be inclined to go with the Optilock Ringmounts.

I have one in 7-08 and I bought one in 30-06 but never shot it. Instead I had it rebarreled to a 280 Rem. Both great shooters. I also have A-7's and T-3's. I like them all. Not my most expensive rifles. I have a Christensen Custom too.

I have used Opti-Lock and Talley bases and rings on Sako rifles along with Leupold ringmounts (junk) and in My opinion you have by far the better mounts, the Opti-locks are a very heavy bulky expensive clamp-on mounting system and unless you buy the extra low rings your scope will be mounted far above your line of sight (if you like a nice tight cheek-weld)these rifle's are a European design and those guy's do a lot of night hunting with scopes that have huge objectives, that is the only reason I can come up with for these super high Opti-Lock mounts, keep your money and use your Talleys, they are a much lighter system and with med or low height rings a too high scope won't be an issue................Good luck.............Hb

I agree about the Optilocks IF you are talking about the two piece optilock,which I assume you are since you mention the extra low rings.The Optilock Ringmounts are a totally different animal.This is a set with a 40mm Zeiss


I actually like the Leupold Ringmounts in some applications.The only drawback I see is that they need to be over half way down the tapered dovetail before they will adjust enough to clamp tight.They are the lowest and lightest option currently available.Here is a set of medium Leupold ringmounts with a 36mm Zeiss.They are a little lower than the Optilock Ringmounts.


PS
The Talleys will likely work fine and by all reports are good mounts.I just don't like the idea of adding bases to the tapered dovetail which is a base.

Here are two pics of my a couple of my Sako rifles. First Sako m75 Greywolf 338-06AI with Leupold VXIII 3.5-10x40 scope in with Sako Optilock Ringmounts. Sako released the Ringmounts back in 2008. The second pic is of my Sako m75 Greywolf 300WSM (I sold it to a hunting buddy) with Leupold VXIII 4.5-14x40 scope in the Optilock bases mounted in Low rings.




Hope that helps compare the 2 styles of Optilocks.

Yes I did think you were referring to the two piece Opti-Lock system, I have also tried the Opti-lock ringmounts and I do like them very much, they look much cleaner and are lighter, two big plus' but the design of the rear ring leaves zero room for adjustment fore and aft, you need to make sure you have a long enough scope for your particular action length...If I were to take the Sako model 85 plunge once again I would buy Sako Opti-Lock ringmounts above any other system I've tried.....I do wish you could find Opti-Lock ringmounts in the stainless finish, I tried everywhere and was finally told by Beretta that they only import the high polished blue ringmounts..... I never got used to looking at bright blue ringmounts on My Stainless Finnlights with matte black scopes...............Hb

They are nice, lets see if he can stop at one of them.

A Sako Bavarian Carbine in 6.5x55 might be nice....

Get ringmounts vs. the rings and bases.

I will try the Talleys before I go any buy any other mounting system. If the ringmounts are only available in high polish blue, as VaHillbilly is saying, I would be inclined to stay away from them. I am putting a matte finish Leupold on a stainless rifle, high polish blue rings would be fugly to say the least.

The Optilock Ringmounts are available in stainless. I have the one set but got them powdercoated to match my setup plus another pr in the safe waiting for the next rifle. Click on the link.

Sako Optilock Ringmounts

Don't overlook the Burris bases with dual dovetail signature rings. I use them on a 75 action that I had rebarreled in .338 rum. They work as well as the Talley's that are on my 85 Finnlight & take a beating.

Ron

The only thing I don't like about the galleys is that the base tightening screws smash down on top of the sako action and mark up the top itself. You can only see it if you don't have mounts on it, but if you sell the gun it's very noticeable - which is why I stopped using them.

When a base designed for the Sako tapered dove tail will wedge in place,there is no need to use thoes set screws.All you need to do is tap them tight with a piece of wood.They will only tighten more under recoil.All the set screw will do is mark your action and keep the base from tightening under recoil.The set screw will actually make them less effective.

I've had good luck with the one piece ring mounts so I just went that way instead