Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only sako 85 or kimber talkeetna

ok - the tale of the tape....
first off- the sako85ss .375 is 7lbs


Fighting weight all up with swaro Z6i 1.7x10 in conetrol mounts with mag is:

Winchester M70 barreled action in 358norma mag with leupold qr rings and mounts

Echols legend stock-regular fill bcuz mcmillan says edge fill is only good til about 300win levels


For a fighting weight of (no scope,with leupold qr rings&bases):

barrel on the winchester is a 22" roughly #2 contour in .358.Stock 2pc bottom metal.
I figure that the same barrel in .375 will weigh almost exactly 1oz less. So that brings it down to 7lbs-11oz, the qr's must weigh about 5-6oz so that brings it down to about 7lb-5oz bare gun. I guess it probably isn't all that far off from a crappy old sako

As notlim shows the only reason to end up with an overweight M70 375H&H is if you just want to....the formula he is showing is about the way I built mine about 30 years ago with a Brown Precision stock. With a 4X scope it weighs right about 8 pounds and is no burden at all.

A left handed friend followed this blueprint with a lefty M70 and he came in slightly under 8 pounds, scoped, and a barrel contour roughly #4 in a Lilja.

I think I know where notlim got that 358 Morma.... Nice rifle!



VernAK what happened to your Sako that it crapped?

I started a similar project to build a multi-use 375 that was not too heavy, my previous 375 weighed about 10.5 with scope, and around 9.25 without.

I found that many of the Win Alaskans can be had at around 7.5 to 8 pounds, but not all. They need to be weighed. Anyway, I finally found one that I could weigh and it came in just under 7.4 pounds.

My initial goal was to hit 9.25 pounds with scope, bases etc. Then I got a little greedy and wanted to hit 8.5-8.75 pounds.

Then I got a little scared So decided 8.75 or a bit more was probably the better part of discretion over valor.

Long and short, even with a bigger-than-I-intended scope and some extra length of pull, mine weighs in at 9lbs even, with the standard wood stock.

So it can definitely be done, probably even lighter if you go synthetic. But I don't think I am up to that level of recoil, and I love wood!

got the Winchester and is 8 lbs stock.

I'm on the hunt for a used Talkeetna, so if anyone is looking to move theirs please shoot me a PM.

Kimber all the way, have thought about buying a Talkeetna for a couple years now anyway.

Gunner

Took it to the range with some handloads with 250 sierras. was very disappointed in the accuracy. i was getting 2" + groups. I took the rifle back home, pulled it out of the stock, opened the barrel channel just a little more, and adjusted the trigger pull all the way down. I noticed the action bolts were not very tight

This time I layed out prone with a bipod and shot some handload with 250gn TTSX and continued to shoot 5 shot groups of 1" and 3 shot groups all touching. Needless to say I'm happy with the turnaround in accuracy and may not need to buy a new barrel. it also feed slick as all get out. I think I'll be leaving the rifle as is.

I have had my Talkeetna for 5 or 6 years now and am very happy with it. Best group to date is a 1/2" 3 shots 100yards 300 gr. Nosler Accubond, IMR 4064, Remington brass, 2600+ fps. The only bad thing about kimber rifles in general is that if you break the stock you can' just go to cabelas or call midway, I rolled my atv and broke the stock in half right behind the trigger guard. Had to send to kimber for a new stock, but it was a quick turnaround sent it to them before Christmas and got it back by New Years .

Yeah, the kimbers seem really nice. I've never shot one but I did find one at cabelas to hold and it felt very nice with a super smooth action. they wanted $3400 for it though. I suppose it had a schmidt and bender scope on it though.

Sounds like a helluva deal, those scopes are 2K minimum.

Gunner