Will a 222 clip for Sako Riihimaki or L46 handle 6x45 w/o modifications? I'm thinking of rebarreling a 222 to 6x45. Thanks.

sacrilege!!...

You may want to talk to KimR, he was contemplating something similar.

Here's photos from a clip from a .222 the PO 'clearanced' to handle a .223. Its a Black Hills factory loaded .223 with a 52 grain bullet, just for scale. Not sure if a 6mm would fit better. For what it's worth, the rifle seems to feed fine, but the stock is aftermarket so not sure if the mag well was lengthened.

It's going to be real tight in a L46 or won't fit. I have L461s in .222 and .222 mag and I can tell you the box mag is maxed out with factory length on the 222mag. I think the L46 clips were built around the 222 so anything 223 bases is going to be long.

quote:

Originally posted by jimatcat:
sacrilege!!...

+1

I think the clip isn't long enough either. Thanks.

quote:

Will a 222 clip for Sako Riihimaki or L46 handle 6x45 w/o modifications? I'm thinking of rebarreling a 222 to 6x45.

Magazine follower, and single-load?

Forrest,Have been agonizing over the same conversion.Small Cal sent the same clip modifications pictured here but I dont know if I can desecrate my spare clip.The 222 Riihimaki I got to convert is pretty nice so another dilemma arises!May just keep both bone stock&load 55gr for deer.

I probably need a second but hasn't someone simply used the 222 case?

Well, I'm usually the guy who has a problem with people modifying classic guns, but there seem to be plenty of early Sako 222s around for not much more money than a new Ruger 77 or Remington 700. If the 6x45 would have fit the clip w/o extensive modifications, maybe a rebore would have been fun. I have plenty of 6mm Rems I could load down, but that's not much fun, not why we are on this forum.

KimR: Forrest, Have been agonizing over the same conversion.Small Cal sent the same clip modifications pictured here but I dont know if I can desecrate my spare clip. The 222 Riihimaki I got to convert is pretty nice so another dilemma arises! May just keep both bone stock&load 55gr for deer.

I've been using a Brno ZKK 223 on whitetails last 2 years. Haven't lost any, but the 22 seems just a little light.

Not the place for my original post in this location, should be classifieds. PM me if you would be interested in the gun the clip came from.

MY custom L-461 is a 6x45 and the magazine is maxed out, and it actually works best with two down and one up the tube, which is how I hunt with it. Its a tight squeeze with three down, and I have no need for a high capacity 6x45 varmint and ocassional deer/antelope rifle, so I'm satisfied with three rounds or even two for that matter..It would take a lot of work to modify a clip fed Riihimaki, but it can be done if you got the bucks to spend..The late great gunsmith Tony Barnes built such a Sako as you describe, and like everything else he did it worked..I recall him telling me he would never do another, it was just more trouble than it was worth when you could just use a nice L-461, which is what I did.

He also built me a 3 pos. mod. 70 safety out of a piece of bull barrel, and made my gun one of a kind as far as I know, an L-461 Custom Sakp with a mod. 70 safety...neat! I did the rest of the work on it. Looks like a minture Holland and Holland or Wesley Richards, weighs 5 lbs and shoots like a bench rifle..

Have you considered a 6mm/222 for your Riihimaki, that should work just fine and you wouldn't be giving up much in the way of velocity, its still quite a cartridge...

No I didn't, unless that slipped my mind over the years,as mine does not appear to be at a sharp angle and hardly shows beneath the cocking piece, so I don't know how you could change it??..Add to that my stock is very English/African in design, short forend, egg cheekpiece, scalloped steel butt plate and long in the grip...albeit I never added the barrel band swivel, sight or barrel mounted iron sights as it shoots .200 most of the time and less sometimes, and I'm scared to mess with it, might ruin that kind of accuracy on the very light 18" barrel..maybe some day?? who knows..I did use a bench rest chamber and could actually reload it without dies I suspect, it has 0 tolerance..However that said, my L-461 was, is, a round receiver, not the dovetail receiver..

At the timeI built this rifle, nobody made a 3 pos. safety for the L-461..Ed made 3 pos. some time later as I recall but not for the L-461, When did he start making them for that small action...