I reload, and would like to know if you can seat the bullet to the lands in a Sako finnlight magazine and it still chamber properly?
I am planning on buying the new Sako 85 finnlight in 7mm Rem Mag.
Thank you
Elmer

elmerdeer, obviously each rifle is unique unto itself, but I have 2 Sako 85's in .270 Win, a Hunter model and a Stainless Synthetic, and I can get to the lands on both of them and still have a wee bit of room in the magazine box.

Having said that, the Hunter model which I have been working up loads for moreso than the Syn/Stainless, likes the bullets farther off the lands. I'm somewhere around .035 off, and it is shooting Accubonds, SGK 140 gr HPBT's better there than just off the leade.

Good luck with your 7 mag, I'm sure you'll be able to get it to shoot, I've been very impressed with my 85's as well as a pair of them one of my hunting partners has. His Hunter model, also in .270 Win has been sub MOA straight out of the box with Hornady Light Magnum 130 gr SST rounds.

Elmerdeer, The mag on my M-75 338 Win Mag is 3.730. I'm pretty sure that the Finnlite uses the same magazine. Since the Max OAL for 7 mag is listed at 3.600 you should have plenty of room to seat most bullets to the lands.
My 338 is throated pretty long the 7's might be also. So with some weird bullet you might not get to the lands but with a Sako Finnlite I'm positive that there is some combination that will give you good accuracy. Sako's Shoot!............DJ

quote:

Originally posted by Fish30114:
elmerdeer, obviously each rifle is unique unto itself, but I have 2 Sako 85's in .270 Win, a Hunter model and a Stainless Synthetic, and I can get to the lands on both of them and still have a wee bit of room in the magazine box.

Fish30114.
Two new 85's,nice mate .

What are your thoughts so far on the 85's?

I think they are a better rifle than the 75 IMO,with quality/stock design first class.
Sako have always made quality units,but I have seen a few synthetic models that weren't as good(Mold marking on stocks,slight marks in metal work etc).
The S/S 85 I checked out the other day seemed to be a quality unit.Also new bolt design was super-slick.

Tez 338, I do like the 85's so far. I even just received one in a custom 6.5x284! It is a super accurate rifle! It is built on the .06 length action, so it is way easy to get to the lands with that cartridge, and still have plenty of room in the mag box. The guys at Accuflite put it together for me, and it is damn impressive.

I like the little bit slimmer fore-end of the 85's stock, and I don't really miss the palm swell that the 75's had, but I actually like the shape of the cheekpiece and buttstock more on the 75, but it's a slight personal differential.....The stock on the syn/stainless ain't as nice as a McMillan or such, and in fact almost all of the 75's I have in plastic stocks, have been changed to McMillan's, If/when Mc offers a stock for the 85 geometry, I'll be trying one right away!

The magazine for the 85 is slightly different than the 75, they are NOT interchangeable, and on the 85, you must push up slightly on the front of the mag box while depressing the release in order for the box to detach...I actually preferred the functionality of the 75, I never had an issue with those mag boxes at all, but I suppose the new design on the 85 would help keep the box retained on a really big kicker, so I suppose that is why the introduced that design feature.

The recoil lug setup actually....isn't--it's not a lug, it's kind of a square peg in a squared socket setup, at first I questioned it, but several gunsmiths I know, including a design engineer for a major manufacturer of actions, have told me the system is sound, and I can say these rifles shoot every bit as well as any of my 75's, and that is damn well.

Be aware of the 'push up while depressing' the magazine latch feature when fondling your rifle, it catches a lot of people unaware, a guy at my local retailer couldn't get a mag box out of any of the 85's he got in til I showed him the trick, he was actually about to send them back to Sako! It IS in the owners manual though.

I'll try and post a pic of my trio of 85's later.

Take Care--Don

Thanks for the review Don .

Do McMillan offer the 75's in EDGE stocks?

I heard they went the different design mag because tree-stand hunters were losing mags(One of the reasons I guess).

Don,is the 85 still a bloody champion to top-load?I found my 75 to be the smoothest/easiest DETACHABLE-MAG combo I've used that could be top-loaded(Silky smooth like my Model 70),even on the move if needed.

Cycling the 85 was super slick,but I haven't had the chance to chamber live rounds through one yet .She still feed sweet?
Really like the look of the new CRF(Semi-CRF?)

"kind of a square peg in a squared socket setup"
If you ever have your action out for some reason or another,take a quick snap for us.

Look forward to the pic's & other comments regarding these new 85's.

Cheers mate,
Tez .

Tez, I recently put 2 of my sako 75 ss/syn in mcm edge stocks: a 270 win and 300wsm they turned out great, about the only improvement I could make on a great rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by handwerk:
Tez, I recently put 2 of my sako 75 ss/syn in mcm edge stocks: a 270 win and 300wsm they turned out great, about the only improvement I could make on a great rifle.

Nice work McMillan .