Hi Guys,
a friend of mine has a Sako forester AII in .243 cal. he recently had problems with it holding zero on a warm day down the range.
I checked for the barrel touching the wood on the forend , and as I expected, could not pass a bank note between the barrel and the stock.

He said that the barrel was NOT free floating , and that there were 2 'lumps' in the forend channel that the barrel rested against.

On investigation they appeared to me to be remnants of a poorly machined out forend. I told him to sand them out and float the barrel. This would get the accuracy back.
he said that Sako obviously know more about rifles than I do , and that the would stay.


I have always had Sako or Tikka rifles, and have always relieved the barrel channel if there was any chance of wood swell making the two touch.

I have not owned a Sako of such an old vintage as the forester, and was wondering if anyone has experience of this wood/metal fit.
Please advise.

I agree that a poor bedding job will affect accuracy, and I have floated my rifles by removing forend pressure. Having said that, I noticed the words "warm day" and "range" in your question! Just how warm was the rifle when it started loosing zero? I"ve seen rifles that would"nt shoot a good 3 shot group if you shot quick enough, but were fine if allowed a couple of minutes between shots, suppressors can make this worse!
Because I don"t like
synthetic stocks, I float the forend out enough to get a peice of kitchen roll tissue under the
barrel, and I coat the underside of the action with a natural based lubricant(meant for muzzle loaders) to keep out moisture.
If it was my rifle I"d get an accraglass kit and, a few bits of sand paper, and a tin of varnish. For about 30 quid you"d have a floating barrel that won"t draw and trap moisture and des"nt touch the barrel.
good shooting

quote:

Originally posted by puntgunner:

He said that the barrel was NOT free floating , and that there were 2 'lumps' in the forend channel that the barrel rested against.

On investigation they appeared to me to be remnants of a poorly machined out forend. I told him to sand them out and float the barrel. This would get the accuracy back.

AIIs come with a pressure point at the fore end tip in the shape of the aforementioned 2 bumps which rest assured are deliberate.

My AII was perfectly accurate with this set up but I did worry about it's ability to hold zero so did have it free floated. The amount of pressure the bumps apply means that free floating requires more than just them to be removed (as they are removed the barrel is no longer pushed upwards and so then touches along more of it's length)

I had the barrel channel relieved and the action glass bedded - it didn't become more accurate (it was allready very accurate indeed) but it never lost zero.

AIIs are becoming pretty rare and are MUCH higher quality than the current offerings from Sako. I would strongly reccomend that your friend gets his done professionaly as it only takes one slip of the hand to ruin an irreplaceable rifle. AIIs should be bedded up to the first 1/4" or so under the barrel. Norman Cox seems to know what it takes to make them shoot.

Range use isn't a very good indicator of it's ability to hold a stalking zero. It might well be the case that the rifle holds zero for the first 3 shots in a variety of weathers. If so a couple of coats of stock oil to the inside of the barrel channel will help keep the foreend moisture resistant.

Bipod usage would not be reccomended - not necessarily a bad thing.

I agree with the previous statement, if you are going to free float and bed it, get it done by someone who knows what they are doing. It certainly won't makes things worse, but potentially improve your accuaracy and consistancy vastly. Good luck.

a pressure point on the end of the forarm is a good idea if the barrel is fairly light weight. There is just too much vibration and whip with a light barrel to free float them.
It may still be a good idea to glass bed the action but I would leave the pressure on the forarm. There is a lot more to bedding a rifle than this but to much to get into here. Let a good gunsmith make the assesment on the rifle.

Hi all,

The 'lumps ' were obviously there to support the barrel at some stage.

But, alas, you can now see that there is considerable uneven wear on the two lumps and any gain that you would have had from the supporting the barrel, has long gone.

I still stick with the removal method.

The barrel is a medium sporter, not pencil thin.

And as the favoured method is free floating in most cases, this is the one I would choose.I know that some custom and prestige rifles,( as well as a couple of full-length stock mannlichers, before I am corrected), still favour the pressure point or forend clamp ring, the most favoured will still be to free float.

Just playing devils advocate.

punt,

All rifles tend to be a law unto themselves, some like being pressured, others can't take the pressure.....my expereince; as already mentioned here is that the more pencil thin barrels are; these are the ones usually respond best to forearm pressure for maintining a consistant Point of Impact and obtaining best groups.

If whatever is in place to accomodate the barrel isn't correct; then I'm of the school to make it right. If the widgets provided for pressure are uneven or need correction - do it. Be the judge of who will perform the task; you or remanded to a professional? I've seen more buggered up attempts at this that correct solutions though since removing only a little bit in a barrel channel can not only leave unsightly gaps but create other issues as noted by simon & akshooter.

I have a Heym with a pencil thin barrel that wouldn't maintain a constant zero and the shot groups ought to have been considerably better for the cartridge (.223 Remington).

Net, removed the forearm "lumps" (as already mentioned; badly executed straight from the factory anyway) and noted NO improvement in either zreo or grouping.



O.K. - Re-installed the "lumps" by screwing two small brass screws at 45° from center @ 1" from end of forearm. Cut off heads of screws after installation and worked the remaining brass "posts" with files, dowel & sandpaper until just barely applying upward pressure on barrel. Worked perfectly, you can't see anything out of the normal, rifle now holds zero and shoots well under 1" groups.