Sako 6PPC sporter, repeater - rusted barrel, what to do.

[SongdogHunter]

One of my favorite Sako rifles is their limited offerings in 6PPC and 22PPC, the single shot bull barrels are neat but I really enjoy the sporter barreled repeaters. I bought a 6PPC and a 22PPC a few years ago, my brother kept lusting after them and I gave him one I found on gunbroker as a gift a couple years ago after seeing how much he liked them. The rifle looked pristine but as soon as I ran a cleaning rod 6 inches down the barrel I knew we had problem. When the patch exited the muzzle it was brown, rust brown. A few more patches and strokes and it was apparent it was badly rusted. I reached back out to the seller who was disappointed he didn’t catch it and I offered to keep it if he would give me a 300.00 credit for a new barrel. He was happy with that and even though it doesn’t cover the cost of a new barrel much less the labor, I was happy enough too. I then started working the rust out of the barrel the best I could, worked a week on it between soakings and cleanings. Finally took it out to 100 yards and shot the same load I shoot out of my other 6PPC Sako and got groups that were .75 MOA, not terrible but certainly not good for that rifle. Played around with loads but couldn’t do much better than .75 - My brother has kept it the past couple of years with the idea the company (he works with me) would send it off and get a new barrel, same profile installed but I could tell he was bummed about the whole thing so I’ve been waiting to find another one. Found one yesterday on gunbroker with 24 hours left to bid, ended up buying it this morning, price was right, it is suppose to be unfired or 99.9% at the very least. I called my brother and told him I had another rifle inbound and I would trade him back for the rusty barreled rifle. He was gracious, didn’t really want to accept but he did and I could tell he was happy.


So now I have this extra Sako 6PPC sprorter barreled repeater, I already have a 6PPC and a 22PPC in identical rifles so I’m either going to sell this one at a discount or rebarrel it. I’m thinking about just keeping it and installing a 20PPC barrel, same profile. It will kill all collector value to rebarrel it but that’s shot anyways with the history of the rifle. The action and exposed metal are pristine. I’d love to know the history on how it got like it did, I’m guessing someone used something they shouldn’t have to clean, put it back in the safe and years later it was done.

What would you do? If you suggest a new barrel, what cartridge would you do, keep in mind it’s a PPC so your somewhat limited.

Edit; the other idea that I think would be fun for this rifle is something with the small PPC case and heavier bullets, bigger caliber, surpressed.

20 PPC you won't be sorry I had one ona model 75 as a repeater and regret selling it

 

[flatlander]

Those little Howa mini actions do a good job, I’m working with one in 222 right now, my niece’s rifle. It’s all stock, shoots great. You have some neat chamberings, hopefully that Grinch rises above mediocre with some load development.

I wish I would have tried suppressors much earlier than I did. That vast majority of my rifles are unsuppressed but I do have a few suppressed and they are a hoot to shoot. We were scouting for deer this past weekend, had a niece in camp who has a trophy tag this year for the Couses deer hunt in December. We would stop during lunch and take time to set up and shoot a few rifles, get her some trigger time. We had her taking shots at 300, 500, 780, 1130 and just for fun we were shooting out at 1390. She shot the two suppressed rifles better than two unsuppressed. I think the reduction in noise really helped her not to mention the reduced recoil. The two surpressed rifles were a 20” Tikka CTR 6.5 creed and a Tikka 6.5 PRC, dead calm, zero wind. Her hit percentage was 80% or so. Targets were grapefruit sized rocks in close and 2 foot rocks at the farthest distance, you could watch her confidence grow with every shot. We’re shooting thunder beasts on most of the bolt rifles. If your wondering if we would have her shoot at deer at those longer distances the answer is no, just having fun.

I think you mis-read my post when it comes to which of the Howa Mini builds shoot good - the 22 Grinch was so good that it inspired me to purchase a Zermatt Origin action to build another Grinch on a full-size custom action. It's the 6.5 Grendel that's been mediocre, and that's disappointing because I've never used a Bartlein blank that didn't shoot really well. I first read about the 6 & 22 Grinch chambers here several years ago, and when I heard that they had out-shot 6PPC rifles in several BR matches, I decided to try a 22 Grinch. I'd already built several AR15 6 RATs for customers, but liked the idea of a bolt rifle in RAT. At the time, the only production bolt rifle I could find with the correct boltface for the RAT was a CZ527 carbine in 7.62x39, so I got one bought, then re-barreled it for the RAT. It was a nice little rifle, and with a Krieger #4 sporter bbl finished at 24", it was a light rig, perfect for a walking varmint rifle. When Legacy International announced the Howa Mini in 6.5 Grendel, I bit immediately, and got one barreled with a Bartlein 1-8tw in light Palma contour, finished at 24". Was able to get McMillan to make a Game Scout stock for it, and have enjoyed shooting this rifle quite a bit. Only thing I'd do different would be to use a lighter bbl, either a #4 or #5 sporter. As much as I liked the CZ527 build, the Mauser type extractor makes it impossible to single feed, while the Howa's push-feed action design overcomes that limitation.