Thread: Sako finbear what's it worth and is it worth salvaging ?

Looks like it is a keeper alright, nice to hear you blooded the rifle already, must be a sign of things to come.

Those Finnbears are a bloody good hunting rifle. They have the best positive half-cock of any action I can think of. They are smooth and quiet to load a round like a 98 if you bring your left fingers around the action to follow the case as the bolt travels forward. The little bar on the bolt keeps crap out of the action when pushing through scrub. The fore-stock is the perfect shape to get to a solid level hold very fast, with that flat underside and slightly inward tapered sides. They are the action that set the standard for modern plunger ejector design and machining excellence.
The only thing to watch is rust if camped in a wet area.
I predict that despite the Finnbear being a little heavier, you will get sights on animals faster and shoot more game than your mates with newer rifles dannyb.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Those Finnbears are a bloody good hunting rifle. They have the best positive half-cock of any action I can think of. They are smooth and quiet to load a round like a 98 if you bring your left fingers around the action to follow the case as the bolt travels forward. The little bar on the bolt keeps crap out of the action when pushing through scrub. The fore-stock is the perfect shape to get to a solid level hold very fast, with that flat underside and slightly inward tapered sides. They are the action that set the standard for modern plunger ejector design and machining excellence.
The only thing to watch is rust if camped in a wet area.
I predict that despite the Finnbear being a little heavier, you will get sights on animals faster and shoot more game than your mates with newer rifles dannyb.

Yup fair to say I'm pretty happy with it, it is a little heavier than some of the new lightweight rifles but it's not stupidly heavey I would say similar weight to a howa or weatherby, but it's an absolute pussycat to shoot dunno if it's the extra weight or the shape of the stock but its much lighter on the recoil than my A7 was.
It also seems quieter must be a longer barrel (I haven't measured it ).
No complaints about the action it's very slick and feeds well, and I can see what you mean about the bar keeping the shit out that's an added bonus.
I need to suss a recoil pad out as the one on it is pretty perished and getting passed it, there seems to be only one place in the states that sells replica ones and they ain't cheap @ around NZ$200 and they won't ship to NZ but I think it would be wrong to put an aftermarket limbsaver on it. I have a mate going over for a trip later this year so he is going to pick one up for me.
In the mean time once the roar is done I will concentrate on getting it pillar bedded, crowning the muzzle, sorting the free float out and maybe tidy up the stock asthetically (the jury is out on tidying the stock up I kinda like it's character).
I would love to get the blueing restored though, so that may happen before I ever think about the stock

Originally Posted by dannyb

Yup fair to say I'm pretty happy with it, it is a little heavier than some of the new lightweight rifles but it's not stupidly heavey I would say similar weight to a howa or weatherby, but it's an absolute pussycat to shoot dunno if it's the extra weight or the shape of the stock but its much lighter on the recoil than my A7 was.
It also seems quieter must be a longer barrel (I haven't measured it ).
No complaints about the action it's very slick and feeds well, and I can see what you mean about the bar keeping the shit out that's an added bonus.
I need to suss a recoil pad out as the one on it is pretty perished and getting passed it, there seems to be only one place in the states that sells replica ones and they ain't cheap @ around NZ$200 and they won't ship to NZ but I think it would be wrong to put an aftermarket limbsaver on it. I have a mate going over for a trip later this year so he is going to pick one up for me.
In the mean time once the roar is done I will concentrate on getting it pillar bedded, crowning the muzzle, sorting the free float out and maybe tidy up the stock asthetically (the jury is out on tidying the stock up I kinda like it's character).
I would love to get the blueing restored though, so that may happen before I ever think about the stock

See how she looks re-blued with the old stock before trying to do up the timber. That stock is as close as you will get to her being able to talk. A deep clean and re-oil may bring out the grain without losing the character. I'm assuming the timber is oiled?

The Sako stock shape/design is vastly superior to the American style stock both in recoil handling and fit. American style stocks are ideally suited to open sights......

Note how much less familiarity you need with the rifle to feel comfortable with it. Benchrest has infested the shooting world with dry mathematical thinking. Worth noting that most of the good shooting carried out with open sights etc is mathematically impossible. If you were to calculate the spacing of human eyes and the angles involved, it can't be done, yet our brain does it. This is why building a superb hunting rifle, rather than just a shooting rifle is a dark art. Our brains are built to throw objects to retrieve dinner. Rifles built by real craftsmen make much more use of this fact than ones that are built around marketing campaigns.

What I am trying to say is that there is more involved in a superb rifle than generally gets discussed. Pity we can't pick the brains of a Sako gunsmith from 50 years ago.