Saw a leveraction Sako in .308 can't remember the model but it sure was slick. What other calibers did they make it in and where might a guy latch on to one ?

.358: Here is one listed on GunsAmerica:

http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976449073.htm

Chuck Hawks wrote this about the Sako in his web article entitled The Lever Action:

"I don't think the Sako Finnwolf was a very popular rifle. I don't recall ever seeing one in the field, although I vaguely remember seeing one on a dealer's shelf. It looked superficially a good deal like the Winchester 88, and like the Winchester it featured a solid frame, front locking rotating bolt, side ejection, a short throw gear-operated lever, one piece checkered walnut stock, and a 4-shot detachable box magazine. Unlike the M-88, its stock had a Monte Carlo comb, and probably handled recoil better. It was built in .243 and .308."

Pagris

I have one in .308 which I bought circa 1977; I never use it because it is too heavy for a .308. My younger brother had it for years and shot a Muley with it; it is a smooth, well machined piece of higher quality than the Pre-64 Mosel 88 I used to own. It has the same spongey trigger and is not a rifle I bother with.

I much prefer my Browning BLR, FN made lever action .308 and it shoots better, too. It was with my brother-in-law as a gift from me and was just thrashed when he gave it back to me due to our Canadian gun laws, I fixed it up and it shoots as well as any of my expensive bolt rifles-with a Leupy 2.5x scope.

I have seen a number of the Sakos, but, never seen one in .358; I think there was a long action version tried for '06 and .300 Win. as well, but, I have never seen one.

The Finnwolf was never made in a long action, or rather never offered to the public anyway....They were a nice gun and there were quit a few of them around back when...If I am not mistaken the cogs inside were plastic and that did not set well with the general public or lever action afficiendos, although they seem to have lasted forever and they are basically a Win. 88....I never thought of them as heavy..I had one for a short while in .308, but I am basically a Savage m-99 fan, and so I sold it and got a Savage 99F in .308, that was about 1950 I think, whenever the 99 came out in 308...I still have that rifle sans a speck of blue and a pretty rough looking stock, but it still shoots a 3 shot inch every time...

HI,


Like I always say here I learn something every day, I never know they even made a lever, but I bet most people would not know either, the things you learn here,Kev

There was, circa the early '80s, some pictures and promo material in some of the American gun mags concerning a Sako leveraction to be offered in .300 Win. I am pretty sure that Ray is right, though, I do not remember any public offering of those by Sako. It's probably a story similiar to that Ruger XGI of a few years later.

These Sakos are nice rifles, but, mine weighs a good 8.5 lbs. with a Leupy M8-3x and original Sako ringset; to me, any .308 that weighs over 7 lbs. all up is much too heavy, but, each to his own.

These rifles are actually quite sought after here in Canada, especially in the East, but, if a lever doesn't have a hammer, I somehow just don't like it. Vive la difference, as the French say!

Have to check, but they were on the cover of Gun Digest, I believe 1957. Announced in short action only, 243/308/358 and mistakingly in 244. No in depth article at the time. May have to dig my GD out of the attic.

Sako Finnwolf is a bolt action lever rifle in disguise.
Has a rotary bolt just like a bolt action.
Made for 13 years and in two calibers 243 and 308. On the cover of Gun Digest in '82 (I think) it was shown with a deluxe type stock and said 22/250. While I have seen the deluxe stock (very uncommon) I have never seen the 22/250 nor do I have records of one being made.
In 1982 I got the Sako factory to remake 350 pcs. (match pairs of 243 & 308) to commemorate the founding of the Sako Collectors Assn. The factory was sneaky and made another 150 in some manner in which they sent to the Aussies. I was fit to be tied as I had paid ( as in my check book) the factory a very large sum of money to re-make this rifle.
There are no plastic parts in a Finnwolf. There are two different clips styles.
All the ones I ever saw shot just like the Sako reputation said they would....Great! They were very expensive for Sako to make and they did have one flaw and that was a way in which you could get a certain internal spring in a bind if you operated the lever in a very fast manner. I have all that info in my files but not interested enough to go did it all out now.

Didn't the trigger /lever mechanism operate differently on the winnie vs the sako?

A great rifle. The best lever in my opinion. Very very spendy!

My dad was a pig hunter and felt a lever gun in 308 fit his needs the best for a quick handling gun that had more range than a 30-30. As a result, he went through first a couple of Savages, a couple of Win88's and a Finnwolf. As his load developer and sometime hunting partner (deer and sheep, but not pig), I had a fair amount of trigger time on each.

I see many comments on the above posts that I agree with. The Finnwolf is a very elegant rifle, much like a bolt gun with a lever. My Dad's and every other one I've seen had a 24" barrel. Not exactly quick pointing. But the lever was slick and fast feeding with a slightly shorter throw than the 88. The Trigger was a quite mushy, much as the 88's. 3 lugged bolt and much better primary extraction than the 99. Also more rigid than the 99 and didn't allow nearly as much flex and thus case stretch. No plastic parts or gears anywhere that I could see.

About 5 or 10 years back, I took the Finnwolf out for a deer hunt. It rained and I fell on it on a boulder. Broke the stock at the grip. Thus started my experience with trying to find replacement parts I called Jim Lutes whom my dad purchased the rifle from over probably 2 decades previously. H said he had bought up the Sako factory's remaining parts, but had no stocks. Accuflite said good luck. And unfortunately right about that time, Fajen was taken over by new owners, and had disposed of the vast inventory of stock patterns, so had none for the Finnwolf. I ended up having the old stock repaired in the hopes of using it as a pattern. I also ended up purchasing another Finnwolf (for a very pretty penny) to use it's stock as a pattern as well. I intended to sell off the second Finnwolf at that point, but still have it several years down the road, and could probably be convinced to sell it.

Harry, in the course of trying to acquire a replacement stock, I became aware of the Sako Collectors edition. At that time, I was told that they were made of the old parts remaining from the original production of Finnwolf's? Would you happen to know of any replacement stocks anywhere (aside from MPI)? What is the difference between the standard and the Deluxe?

Neither of the below are mine.

FYI, there is a set of NIB commenoratives in 243 and 308 on Auction Arms. You can by them now for only $3400.00 Stoney

The first pictures were in Gun Digest 1963, not 1957. Have see a couple listed for sale in the last year in Gun List. Understand magazines almost impossible to get.