Unfortunately my brain was not working today and I bought this gun with Sako rings, in 95% condition with a Leupold 2-7 rifle scope on it. Any thoughts on a deer/hog bullet, powder and primer preference,COL it might have. I made the mistake of shooting it with some crap Federal ammunition that the gun range dealer had and unfortunately at 25 yards I could find only one hole in the paper..I must have missed with the other 7 rounds.....but I bought it anyway...

Jimmy

Those old Sako's are a piece of sh#t and you made a big mistake. Fortunately for you I know of a place to dispose of them so if you will ship it to me I will give it a proper burial and I will even send you a few bucks to help pay for a proper Christmas present.

You lucky dog.

Ray

i dont own one now but when i was 22 i bought a forester heavy barrel 243. pre garcia and a vixen heavy barrel 222. the vixen had a 20x unertl the 243 had a 10x redfield good looking and different back then.....paul

Jimmy, I understand how you feel at the moment. I just brought home a Sako 17 Remington that is in perfect almost unfired condition and topped off with a 8x56 Kahles scope. I paid the princely sum of AU$800 for it. Biggest problem with it is my daughter has laid claim to it.
Pete

Jimmy,

You are afflicted in the worst way......

To assist in the cure for this painful, agonizing dilema; try:

.243" 85 grain Nosler Partition
47.5 grains of VV N560
Remington Brass
Federal 210 primer
O.A.L. 2.65"

After you've appropriately reduced the load to start - it's a high rpm load.....call me in the morning.

Have fun!

I can tell you what works well in my pre-Garcia Sako .243, but it is a Deluxe (sniff), so your more pedestrian standard model may not do quite so well (harrumph, harrumph).

However, even at the risk of having my loads for myclearly superior rifle utilized in a more common gun, I can tell you that I like H4831 propelling the old-style Nosler 100 grain Solid Base. This is the lead-tipped bullet that is now occasionally available again through Shooters Pro Shop. The last time this gun was used for hunting, it took a 9-point whitetail buck at 375 yards with a single shot, and the next morning accounted for two pigs.

As to the amount of powder and velocity, my gun uses a bit less than some .243's, but also gets a bit higher velocity. Start somewhere in the vicinity of 44 grains of H4831 with a 100. When mine topped out a couple of grains higher, it was doing better than 3100 fps. The old Solid Base bullet is little tougher than most 6mm bullets, so it does a great job on game-sized animals at this speed.

By the way, congratulations on your ownership of a truly fine rifle (and the scope is PERFECT for it!)

In all seriousness it is certainly nice to be among such understanding and sympathetic gentlemen! And I thank myself for such a nice holiday present. Thank you all for your comments and load suggestions! I will keep you all informed as to progress....