Range Report - Sako 85 Varmint Stainless
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:58 am
I posted earlier about my purchase of a new Sako. I'm in love with the 204R, and added it to a solid shooting Howa in the 204 section of my safe. There was very little by way of review on this rifle on the internet so I thought I'd share my experience thus far. A few observations:
The good:
1) This is not a cheap rifle. Mine was about $2K OTD. I was considering a handful of rifles in the 1k range, but options were very limited. Ive always wanted a Sako, and saw it as the type of rifle my sons would love to fight over at my passing
. The price point is important because you are getting into the custom rifle range and guns like a Cooper start to become comparisons. When you open the box, its obvious this is a very high quality firearm.
2) it is stunning. Really it is a beautiful rifle. The stainless matte, the laminate stock, the machining, inside the barrel (inspected with HD bore cam) looks like glass, I'm pretty picky, and there wasn't any visual imperfection I could see. Have owned a Savage 12VSS in 250, and this Sako is in a different league from a fit and finish standpoint. I expected to see pillars and glass bedding. Nope on both counts which was disappointing.
3) I was surprised that it was as light and well balanced as it is. 23 3/4" heavy fluted barrel, XS action make it feel more like a predator type rifle vs a heavy varmint. Even with a scope it is a serviceable walking around rifle I can shoot offhand. I was curious about break-in procedure. After way too much time on the phone and finally connecting with someone that didn't have any familiarity with the rifle, they told me no barrel break-in procedure. I was a bit surprised by that, so thought I'd use a procedure I had received with a custom barrel order for another rifle. Incredibly, this barrel had no (as in zero) detectable copper fouling on break-in. Im using CR-10, nylon brush, scrubbing the heck out of it every 5 shots, no copper. None. Typically I get a good deposit of copper on new barrels during break-in. Impressive.
4) Holy cow can this thing shoot. Ive owned some dedicated precision rifles and accurate varmint rifles but nothing this accurate. It took 5 trips to the range and about 100rds to dial in some loads, but no exaggeration, 5 shot 100yrd groups .250 - .350", consistently. Some smaller. In developing my loads it never shot anything worse than a 3/4" 5 shot group (too hot 34 Dogtown, S&B primers). I only have CFE and A2230. Both shoot really well. My most accurate load is AA2230, Berger 35gr, Nosler Brass, at max load for 32 in WP manual (.2s). That certainly is overmax for 35 bergers, but I couldn't find a good reference anywhere. 32 SBKs shoot almost as good, 39gr SBK, slightly worse than 32, 34 Dog Towns, acceptable at about 1/2+-" but noticeably worse than the others. These are the only bullets I could find... With CFE I'm pushing 32 SBKs at 4100 FPS. Shooting in the .3s and .4s. The SBKs are better at distance 250+.
The bad:
1) Mounts: integrageted dovetail mounts... Kind of a PITA. After talking to baretta I ordered Optilock Ringmounts. They only come in one size. My Sightron III (50mm) hit the barrel when mounted (they told me it would be fine). I really wanted ring mounts as the idea of mounts on top of an integrated mount seemed redundant. The only other option is Leupold ring mounts. I bought highs and the fit is perfect, just enough clearancefor me scope cover. Another quirky thing about the Sako integrated mounts, is that they will cant the rings left and right depending on placement. Not a huge deal, but a bit more complex to get your mounts square from a windage standpoint.
2) Ejection. I thought it was weird that my shells wouldn't jump out when I ran the bolt. Running the bolt slowly will not eject the round. I googled it... to say the least, there is a lot of controversy on this topic and Sako 85s. I read some things that claim this is an intentional design, with benchrest shooters in mind, some say it is a huge mistake and design flaw. If I run the bolt fast, it will usually kick them out ok. Sometimes, running too fast will cause the case to slip off the ejector and it won't eject at all. Fast or too fast bolt running will 100% of the time produce a flat spot on one side of the spent case mouth sometimes severe. A least a few cases have ejected straight-up into the scope tube, but I have a hard time duplicating it with video. At the end of the day, ejection issues seem to plague the Sako 85. The suggestion to go with a 1" tube, mounted high as possible, without turrets, is ridiculous for a dedicated Varmint/Target rifle as this is promoted as. Beretta CS for Sako is terrible, so I hesitate to reach out to them. Lots of horror stories about sending in the bolt and waiting 2-3 months to get it back only to find the issue remains unresolved... From the most generous possible to Sako point of view, ejection is inconsistent, with case damage if operated with enough force to eject it from gun (but not too much force or it won't work). This issue is annoying. Sako's motto is "demand perfection..." at this price point, the darn thing should eject 100% and not have issues with low mounted (properly mounted) modern varmint/tactical scopes. Any Sako gurus, please help me out on this if you have advice. Bill
3) Sako communication and product support. Its a nightmare to get information. Things like torque specs for action screws. Barrel break-in reccomendations (none), and for the love of everything Holy, some guidance for known issues. I actually reached out to an Australian Sako dealer for torque specs. Even he said it wasn't official Sako guidance. Not sure what the deal is. A premium product should have "bend over backwards" type of customer support. The "mount it as high as you can and use your granddaddies 4×32 scope to avoid ejection problems," is the type of thing that makes people lose their minds.
4) Minor gripe but the magazine can only be loaded to 2.260... my howa mag accommodates 2.30+. I know this is the XS action and loading long may not have been a thing at its design.
Overall, It's the most accurate rifle I've ever owned and honestly, I expect my first 2-3 shots to be in the same hole everytime and am rarely disappointed. I've never actually seen this type of accuracy in any gun, fired by anyone. Obviously, I'd take a different gun at 500 + yards.
I'll try to post some pics.
The good:
1) This is not a cheap rifle. Mine was about $2K OTD. I was considering a handful of rifles in the 1k range, but options were very limited. Ive always wanted a Sako, and saw it as the type of rifle my sons would love to fight over at my passing
. The price point is important because you are getting into the custom rifle range and guns like a Cooper start to become comparisons. When you open the box, its obvious this is a very high quality firearm. 2) it is stunning. Really it is a beautiful rifle. The stainless matte, the laminate stock, the machining, inside the barrel (inspected with HD bore cam) looks like glass, I'm pretty picky, and there wasn't any visual imperfection I could see. Have owned a Savage 12VSS in 250, and this Sako is in a different league from a fit and finish standpoint. I expected to see pillars and glass bedding. Nope on both counts which was disappointing.
3) I was surprised that it was as light and well balanced as it is. 23 3/4" heavy fluted barrel, XS action make it feel more like a predator type rifle vs a heavy varmint. Even with a scope it is a serviceable walking around rifle I can shoot offhand. I was curious about break-in procedure. After way too much time on the phone and finally connecting with someone that didn't have any familiarity with the rifle, they told me no barrel break-in procedure. I was a bit surprised by that, so thought I'd use a procedure I had received with a custom barrel order for another rifle. Incredibly, this barrel had no (as in zero) detectable copper fouling on break-in. Im using CR-10, nylon brush, scrubbing the heck out of it every 5 shots, no copper. None. Typically I get a good deposit of copper on new barrels during break-in. Impressive.
4) Holy cow can this thing shoot. Ive owned some dedicated precision rifles and accurate varmint rifles but nothing this accurate. It took 5 trips to the range and about 100rds to dial in some loads, but no exaggeration, 5 shot 100yrd groups .250 - .350", consistently. Some smaller. In developing my loads it never shot anything worse than a 3/4" 5 shot group (too hot 34 Dogtown, S&B primers). I only have CFE and A2230. Both shoot really well. My most accurate load is AA2230, Berger 35gr, Nosler Brass, at max load for 32 in WP manual (.2s). That certainly is overmax for 35 bergers, but I couldn't find a good reference anywhere. 32 SBKs shoot almost as good, 39gr SBK, slightly worse than 32, 34 Dog Towns, acceptable at about 1/2+-" but noticeably worse than the others. These are the only bullets I could find... With CFE I'm pushing 32 SBKs at 4100 FPS. Shooting in the .3s and .4s. The SBKs are better at distance 250+.
The bad:
1) Mounts: integrageted dovetail mounts... Kind of a PITA. After talking to baretta I ordered Optilock Ringmounts. They only come in one size. My Sightron III (50mm) hit the barrel when mounted (they told me it would be fine). I really wanted ring mounts as the idea of mounts on top of an integrated mount seemed redundant. The only other option is Leupold ring mounts. I bought highs and the fit is perfect, just enough clearancefor me scope cover. Another quirky thing about the Sako integrated mounts, is that they will cant the rings left and right depending on placement. Not a huge deal, but a bit more complex to get your mounts square from a windage standpoint.
2) Ejection. I thought it was weird that my shells wouldn't jump out when I ran the bolt. Running the bolt slowly will not eject the round. I googled it... to say the least, there is a lot of controversy on this topic and Sako 85s. I read some things that claim this is an intentional design, with benchrest shooters in mind, some say it is a huge mistake and design flaw. If I run the bolt fast, it will usually kick them out ok. Sometimes, running too fast will cause the case to slip off the ejector and it won't eject at all. Fast or too fast bolt running will 100% of the time produce a flat spot on one side of the spent case mouth sometimes severe. A least a few cases have ejected straight-up into the scope tube, but I have a hard time duplicating it with video. At the end of the day, ejection issues seem to plague the Sako 85. The suggestion to go with a 1" tube, mounted high as possible, without turrets, is ridiculous for a dedicated Varmint/Target rifle as this is promoted as. Beretta CS for Sako is terrible, so I hesitate to reach out to them. Lots of horror stories about sending in the bolt and waiting 2-3 months to get it back only to find the issue remains unresolved... From the most generous possible to Sako point of view, ejection is inconsistent, with case damage if operated with enough force to eject it from gun (but not too much force or it won't work). This issue is annoying. Sako's motto is "demand perfection..." at this price point, the darn thing should eject 100% and not have issues with low mounted (properly mounted) modern varmint/tactical scopes. Any Sako gurus, please help me out on this if you have advice. Bill
3) Sako communication and product support. Its a nightmare to get information. Things like torque specs for action screws. Barrel break-in reccomendations (none), and for the love of everything Holy, some guidance for known issues. I actually reached out to an Australian Sako dealer for torque specs. Even he said it wasn't official Sako guidance. Not sure what the deal is. A premium product should have "bend over backwards" type of customer support. The "mount it as high as you can and use your granddaddies 4×32 scope to avoid ejection problems," is the type of thing that makes people lose their minds.
4) Minor gripe but the magazine can only be loaded to 2.260... my howa mag accommodates 2.30+. I know this is the XS action and loading long may not have been a thing at its design.
Overall, It's the most accurate rifle I've ever owned and honestly, I expect my first 2-3 shots to be in the same hole everytime and am rarely disappointed. I've never actually seen this type of accuracy in any gun, fired by anyone. Obviously, I'd take a different gun at 500 + yards.
I'll try to post some pics.