Heretical SAKO butchery . . .

[AlNyhus]

Randy, those bread bag lock tabs are pretty handy for chasing bedding woes on anything that has the action screw going into the bottom of the recoil lug. I save 'em all...you never know when the next supply wagon from Fort Lakota will come.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[RGRobinett]

A slight divergence. Light off/on rain today, so, fire-formed some more Nosler brass, using a .245” neck bushing, which drastically bettered the, “central thickening” (shot distribution) of the [Nosler] groups (circled in blue).

Following yesterdays session, despite the bread bag lock trick having produced the expected group shrinkage using the five Remington .204 R cases, the Nosler F-F groups were somewhat disappointig. Al Nyhus and I discussed the still UGLY scattered nature of the Nosler F-F groups (incorrectly marked 7/7/23). We agreed that, perhaps, the somewhat thinner (and maybe softer) Nosler cases 'wanted' more neck-tension.

So, a .245" bushing was scrounged-up: BINGO! Though not a cure for over-all BIG, the additional constriction is obviously, "trying to shoot better" than when using the .247" bushing, which works rather well for the re-formed Remington cases. Note: the grayish holes (6mm) are taped on the back-side - the BLACK holes are new. Maybe, now, powder charge-weight will make a difference . . . RG

 

[Will Henry]

There is some really good information here. I'm enjoying your experimentation. WH

 

[AlNyhus]

Nice progress, Randy.

It's fun to work with good factory rifles like this and get them shooting better than they have a right to. Guns like this make us "Put your thinking cap on." (a quote from my Mom).

Good shootin' -Al

 

[RGRobinett]

Nice progress, Randy.

It's fun to work with good factory rifles like this and get them shooting better than they have a right to. Guns like this make us "Put your thinking cap on." (a quote from my Mom).

Good shootin' -Al

Roger that, Al!
I've been spoiled by the better part of 1/2 century messing with, "real" rifles . . . though frustrating and puzzling, this back to the past stuff is (re)educational and enjoyable. As we've discussed, the factory stuff is WAY less predictable. I'm wondering if the 'tuning' facets of this thread belong on another forum?

In addition to the excellent tunability, another major indicator of the quality of this SAKO barrel/steel is that it does not, "walk", as it heats - even when firing four consecutive 5-shot groups at a steady pace, over about 10 minutes. We'll never know the % which were/are this good (stress free), but I would expect a high percentage. The THREE Bs: "barrels; bullets; bedding" is always in play.

Until I have some post pillar bedding results, I'll bow out. RG

 

[AlNyhus]

Sharing it on the Small Stuff-22, 20, 17 section would be a good idea, too.

 

[Will Henry]

Some guys used Sako blanks back in the late '60's and early '70's. They were and are very good barrels. I have recontoured several of them and never had one move.
Back in the late seventies, I could have bought a bunch of Sako barreled actions for 120.00 each. Any spare money I had was spent feeding my BR habit though, so I had to pass. WH