I tried to make a deal for a couple sako .308s at a gunshow today but choose to comehome with my trade bait.
One of them was stamped colt on the stock and on top of the barrel.
I think I saw one once before but I don't know much about them.
By the look of it colt bought the action and either they or some one they cotracted to , barreld and stocked this one.
Any body know anymore, and do they shoot ?
I think I could get ahold of the guy and make the trade, for that one but the plain sako the pure finnis one I was unable to get for a price i wanted to pay.
So, What do you knoe about a Sako colt ?

Colt and Browning simply contacted with Sako to produce rifles for them in the 60s until early 70s, IIRC.

Are they good? Well, all the old Sakos are good. My gently cared for Browning/Sako Heavy Barrel, the original factory 22-250, still shoots excellantly. The Colt versions would also if in equal shape. Buy it if you can. Or tell me where it is! ;-)

Sako did some rifles for another company, can't remember if was H&R or not.

I have a sako built browning .243. This Colt in my opinion was not stocked by sako and the barrel markings led me to belive it was not barreld by them either.
But I can't be sure in either case, I posted on the gunsmithing forum about this and for anyone who is interested there is some good info there , and pics.
thanks ...tj3006

The 1 & only sako/colt I have ever seen was a l61 deluxe with colt marked on the barrel & stock.. Browning & h&r both bought actions from sako then stocked & barreled them.

Sako built rifles for Colt called the "Coltsman",1957-1964 IIRC. Action,bbl,and stock were all manufactured by Sako. They did stamp them Coltsman on the bbl. but you can usually find a "Bofors" stamp also.Also put a Colt crest where the crossbolt is. The action reads 579 or L579 and serial #s on the earlier models. They made a delux version also. The other co Sako built for was Marlin. I'm not an expert but gleaned this info from the Sako Collectors forum.
Heres a pic of my Coltsman .308 before I started re-finishing.
ETA They only made 400-800 in .308 (by best guesstimation) and one in 97-98% condition can be worth $800-$900,the deluxe model considerably more. Mines the closest thing I have to a tackdriver and thats good enough for me.

Rifles with Sako actions:

Browning Safari medium and short (L 579 and L 461): These appear to have had all of the metal made by Sako and the stocks by FN. Browning never used the L61R for their longer cartridges, staying with the FN Mauser.

Colt: Some L 57, some L 579, and some L61R (and maybe some L 46 & L461). The earlier models were Sako actions, but the barrels and stocks appear to have been done by a contractor. Early stocks were very plain. Later models appear to have been fully Sako with Bofors barrels and stocks identical to Sako. They were available in both Sporter and Deluxe, and were essentially identical to the corresponding Sako rifles except for Colt markings, and the Rampant Colt on the crossbolt.

Marlin .222: Only the action was Sako, with the barrel being the Marlin Microgroove and the stock black walnut like typical Marlin products.

Montgomery Ward: Almost identical to the early Colts, probably done by the same contractor. Some MW guns had a bulge in the barrel like a Remington 721, and curiously all of their stocks were cut for the bulge whether it was there or not!

H & R: Sold guns built on all three action lengths, but only in the 461-579-61R series, not the earlier series. Some H & R's had a round, non-dovetail receiver. The barrels and stocks were either made by H & R or a contractor. The Ultra Wildcat was a diminuative little rifle with a 20" light barrel and chambered in .222, .223, .17 Remington, and .17/223. It very much resembled the O'brien (see below).

O'brien: Nifty little rifles on the L461. A proprietary cartridge was the .17 Javelina, which was a .17/.221 Remington if I recall. I think that only the actions were Sako.

Winslow: A semi-custom rifle builder which did rifles ranging from elegant to outlandish. They also used a variety of FN and other actions.

Lazzeroni: Used the Model 995 (TRG-s) action for its proprietary rounds.

There are any number of custom and semi-custom rifle makers who used primarily Sako actions, but all barrels and stocks were their own. Magnum Research with its round receiver A-V's (or maybe they were L691's) is an example.

There are some references to Sears (J.C. Higgins) and Penney's selling proprietary Sako rifles, but I have never come across one.

And lastly, there is the Dickson-Howa. It was a Japanese-made exact duplicate of the Sako L61R, right down to the dimensions of the bolt. I have one and have exchanged the bolt with an original L61R (three lug bolt) just to see, and it fits like a glove. The Dickson-Howa had an aluminum floorplate, but in all other respects it is a "Sako" through and through. As I understand it, Sako pursued and international patent case and put a stop to the Dickson-Howa. Howa, of course, lives on as the manufacturer of the Weatherby Vanguard, known by other names in previous incarnations.

I'll bet someone can come up with a Sako rifle I haven't thought of, because there were a bunch of them.

Excellent post, Stonecreek!

I would just like to add a coupla items.

I've had several Colt/Sako's, and, I'm not sure that the later Deluxe versions were "all" Sako. I had an L46 Colt/Sako Deluxe in .222, a beautiful little rifle, but the stock was definitely not like a Sako Deluxe. In a fit of stupidity, I sold it to a nice fellow from Billings. The earlier Colt/Sakos's were apparently manufactued by a contractor for Colt using Sako actions. For some reason the name Kodiak comes to mind, and I think there may have been another contractor as well.

The H&R little Sakos were actually made in two distinct models, the 322, which was actually just a standard Sako with H&R markings and round top receiver, made in .222 only, I believe. Then there was the 317 Ultra Wildcat, which kinda looks like a miniature Mark V Weatherby in styling. Some had the round top receiver, and some had the Sako dovetail receiver. The 317's look very much like the O'Briens, because H&R bought out O'Brien and started manufacturing the 317's patterned after the O'Brien. There was also a Presentation grade 317, which had basketweave checkering on the stock. These are highly desirable. I still have one 317 Ultra Wildcat in .223, which while I have had attractive offers, I am loathe to sell.

I once had a Monkey Wards Sako, which was an L57 .308. A very plain rifle. Don't recall whether it had a dog knot in the barrel or not. Sold it too cheap.

Beretta also had a line of Sako actioned rifles at one time, in all action lengths and various grades. I never did get my hands on one of those. But I think they were produced in the late '80's.

That's all that comes to mind right now!

WOW !
Thanks for all the info ! < I will see if i can get ahold of this guy and try to get either the sako .308 or the colt sako .308
thanks...tj3006

quote:

Beretta also had a line of Sako actioned rifles at one time, in all action lengths and various grades. I never did get my hands on one of those. But I think they were produced in the late '80's.

I knew I had forgotten at least one! You're right. Beretta built a line of rifles on the Sako actions prior to the Mato series.