A customer brought me a Sako Finnwolf .308 lever action for repair. He fired a factory round that he said sounded like an overload. He said that the lever popped open on firing. The lever is hanging open and while it moves the bolt, it will not close. I asked him and no, he did not save the fired case.

After pulling it from the stock and looking things over I've determined that I'm not taking it apart without a good idea of how it goes back together. It may look similar to a Model 88, but it isn't the same under the surface. I can find no info on reassembly. It looks like timing the bolt & lever could get hairy. And that's IF nothing is whizzo-sprung or broken that needs replaced.

Anyone got an insight into the workings of this thing, particularly reassembly? I'm not against giving it back to the customer with a name of another gunsmith experienced with it. Or a hardy "good luck". I don't need a 2 day headache.

They are not particularly complicated. The big thing is take lots of digital photos before and during disassembly so you have a reference to go back too. Also, don't file, hammer or otherwise alter springs and parts unless you are ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY sure that you know what you are doing. Parts have gotten scarce to non-existent for them. If in doubt, DON'T !

Sako Finnwolf by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

Thanks for the schematic. That's more than I had to start with.

You may want to check:

http://stevespages.com/page7b.htm

Don't know if that is the complete manual or the only one he found.

Thanks for the link.