Hi everyone,

sorry, this is going to be a longer story:

In August I got extremely lucky and found a brandnew stainless Sako 75 Action III for my custom project. The seller assured me it was a .308 action !

Today my gunsmith calls me and says the boltface was too small and the magazine had a placeholder in the back. After some measuring he is sure the bolt face and mag are for a 6mm PPC.

So I called the seller and told him about my findings and asked what he was going to do about it. All he says is to take out the placeholder (impossible, glued in and follower would be too short) and that there can't be a difference in the bolt face since the 6mm PPC is based on the .308 case and therefore has the same headsize!!!

Now my gunsmith proposed to do the following:

- machine out the bolt face to the .308 size
- replace the extractor head since the one for the 6mm reaches too far into the bolt face
- change the magazine

What do you say, sounds like a good plan? Or will that weaken the bolt and extractor?

By the way, refund or exchange is not an option since that's the only Sako action I will ever be able to get my hans on and if it can be done at a reasonable cost THEN I WANT IT!

Thanks very much for you patience - any input is appreciated!

Cheers,

elwood.

Call the seller again and tell him the 6mm PPC is based on the 220 Russian.
About .030 smaller base diameter than a .308

The 6mm PPC is based on a variation of the 7.62x39mm Soviet case...not the same head size as a 7.62x51 (.308) US case.

Why not contact Sako and see what a new bolt, mag box, and follower of the proper size would cost? That might be allot cheaper than the labor cost to do the work.

I think you have a jewell there. Put it up for sale, I think you could probably get more for it than what you paid.

I agree with Jim, it has more value than the 308 boltface. Butch

Way more valuable.
Try selling it on 6mmBR, Benchrest Central or the 6.5 Grendel Fan site.
lawndart

In order to get some extra money out of it I would have to sell it for more than 1050 $, which is highly unlikely I suppose...

And that would still leave me with the problem of finding a "real" .308 Sako action!

The gunsmith is a good friend of mine and has 15+ years experience in the building of precision rifles (Army, sniper) and would do the extra work for free!

So what do you say - will those changes make the action a true .308 action or will it be a compromise?

Cheers,

elwood.

elwood,

Since you are asking for opinions I will again suggest you first find out what a new, proper sized bolt would cost. I’m guessing, but I would bet that Sako will install a new bolt for less than $300.00 parts and labor. You at least owe yourself an answer to that before you start machining away on the other bolt. I will also bet that you would have no problem at all selling the 6mm bolt and that would help offset the cost of the new one.

The mag box difference is much easier to fix and between you and your smith that shouldn’t be a big deal.

Perhaps my suggestion is just based on the tried and true “ye ole round peg in ye ole round hole†philosophy that I find works so well in most cases.

The suggestion to sell the PPC action would certainly be your best option if you were in the U.S., since it should bring more than a .308 action. As I understand it, you don't want to do this because in Germany it is next to impossible to get a Sako action.

Yes, a competant gunsmith can mill out the bolt face, remove the magazine block, and replace the follower to convert the action to a regular .308 action. Or, since this is a custom rifle anyway, have you considered the options you have with the current bolt face? That would include any cartridge or wildcat on the 39mm case, which would be the .22 PPC, 6mm PPC, 7.62x39, 7.62x39 Improved, or anything in between. The new 6.8 Remington would likely work on this boltface, as would the .25, .30, and .32 Remington, although the last three cartridges would require removing the magazine block.

Hey Rick,

thanks very much for your input - enquiries about bolt prices are on their way to Sako. Unfortunately they are making a habit of not answering customer emails...

Selling the 6mm bolt (and getting one in .308) in the US would be very easy but in Germany it is not, there is only a very small market for these parts, very little demand. I have checked some sources and it does not look good at all - everyone is after the Remington actions...

Stonecreek,

thought about going for one of the obvious calibers the trouble is I already have the .308 Lothar Walther barrel in my hands...

You dont happen to know a source in the US that sells Sako magazines???

quote:

Originally posted by elwood:
Hey Rick,

thanks very much for your input - enquiries about bolt prices are on their way to Sako. Unfortunately they are making a habit of not answering customer emails...

Selling the 6mm bolt (and getting one in .308) in the US would be very easy but in Germany it is not, there is only a very small market for these parts, very little demand. I have checked some sources and it does not look good at all - everyone is after the Remington actions...

If the bolt is unused then perhaps Sako will make a swap with you...you’ll never know unless you ask!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick 0311:

quote:

Originally posted by elwood:
Hey Rick,

thanks very much for your input - enquiries about bolt prices are on their way to Sako. Unfortunately they are making a habit of not answering customer emails...

Selling the 6mm bolt (and getting one in .308) in the US would be very easy but in Germany it is not, there is only a very small market for these parts, very little demand. I have checked some sources and it does not look good at all - everyone is after the Remington actions...

If the bolt is unused then perhaps Sako will make a swap with you...you’ll never know unless you ask!

You got me there Rick, I havent even considered this option - thanks for the idea! Another email to Sako on its way...

By the way, congrats to crossing the 2000-posts line! Well done!

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
I think you have a jewell there. Put it up for sale, I think you could probably get more for it than what you paid.

I am with Jim on this one. Sell it. Don't try to modify it to a .308 based case. The 6PPCs are not all that common in the Sako 75. You should have no trouble selling it at a good price.

Jordan

call the seller, tell him a 308 is a .473 case head.. then tell him the boltface measurement.

tell him nicely you would like to return this, OR he can pay for what sako charges for the proper part.

jeffe
who's opinion of the seller is rather negative

Another option is to look at a cartridge like the 6.5 Grendel. Lapua makes the brass. It is based on the 6PPC. Very mild shooting and very accurate. Is this action as long as a regular .308 action? My Sako PPC actions are somewhat shorter than my Sako .308 action if my memory is correct.

lawndart

You have something really rare there, altering the boltface is not recomended. Try sell it to finland or sweden, I am sure you could trade it for a 308 and even get some extra in finland. I know a finish guy on a swedish forum that might be interested... He might even have a 308 for trade...
Send me a PM if intrested.

Or what you really shuld do is to get a new LW stainles mach barrel and chamber for the 6PPC, then you would have a rare killer rifle that would easily sell if you ever want that.

How does SAKO adapt the bolts to the different cartridges? Do they start off with producing bolts with the smallest bolt face needed and then just machine the bolt face out for the bigger cartridges? Or do they change the entire bolt face?