Last night at our local hunting club meeting I idly mention to someone over a beer that I had a Mod 4 Brno .22LR target rifle I was wanting to dispose of. This dude the other side of the room lunges across and asks how much. I say R2000. He says SOLD. I've had it since 1991 and I paid a R1000 for it but it has been rarely used, so I figger what the heck I need some room in my safe. We get to chatting over another Castle he says he has a Sako Forester in 308 Win but it won't group under 3". I say that is very strange for a Sako I've never seen one that inaccurate. He suggests bugger the money why don't we swap? I reckon this might be a good deal so I go and take a gander at the rifle.

It is a very good condition L579 Forester, with the checkered old style unshrouded cocking piece. The sights have been removed, and the stock screws are a bit chewed where this bloke took it apart trying to zero in on the problem. If it has had 200 rounds through it it is a lot. There is slight damage to the left feeding rail where someone got overzealous with ejecting a round. It allows the bolt to over-rotate on the backstroke and it binds, one must just be careful, I think this can be fixed.

Anyway I snap it up and take it home and tear it apart and here's why it won't shoot:

The trigger group was loose, rocking on its pin.
The cross bolt behind the recoil lug was loose.
The action is resting on the bottom of the recoil lug, and it has not been glass bedded. The stock is all "shiny" where it has been sliding to and fro.
The shim was on the front of the bottom metal and not the rear.

These things I will fix, and this will become a nice light competition rifle.

I think I made a good trade. I like these old Sako rifles, much better than the new ones, IMHO.

Cheers

Pete

[ 08-03-2002, 00:09: Message edited by: Pete Millan ]

Pete,

I had a Sako L579 heavy barrel varmint rifle in .243 Win. It would not shoot factory ammunition to minute of trashcan lid, but it would shoot small groups with any hand load I tried. It turned out to be very sensitive to cartridge overall length.

I use it in Hunter Class benchrest matches years ago when I was into "table top" shooting.

jim dodd