I purchased a set of Leupold Ringmounts for a Sako 75 rifle. When I attempted installed them last night my scope would not lay flat on the closest ring. I first thought the radius of the ring was out of spec, but after fiddling with it for a few minutes I found out that when I tighten the mounting screw that the ring begins to twist. I made sure everything was in perfect alignment when I began tightening, but as I get towards the end of tightening the screw the ring twists. Has anyone else had this experience?

What other mounting systems are available out there that have a rock solid fit on the Sako dovetail receiver? Any rings with a vertical split are out. I heard from several guys that the screws end up breaking. I need the mounts to be at least 1" from the top of the receiver to the center of the ring. I have a set of Sako medium rings that fit perfectly without any problems. However, it is way too high for my scope. I would prefer stainless mounts since my rifle is stainless, but will almost settle for anything at this point.

I haven't had the trouble you're experiencing with the Leupold-Sako ringmount, but the potential is there since the angle of the mount dovetail must match that of the receiver precisely in order to be straight.

Your problem could be that you are placing the ringmount too far fore or aft on the dovetail. This would cause it to be slightly out of center alignment. Try (if the scope allows) moving both of the ringmounts so that they are aligned with each other. One may have to move forward and the other aft.

Failing that, I've had good luck with the Millett Angel Loc mount. It comes with a tiny adapter base and a longer claw to engage the Sako dovetail. I think it is available in stainless. If the height you want is not available in the Sako package, just write Millett and ask them for the longer claws to replace the regular claws on the proper height ring. The "low" Millett Angle Loc ring clears a 40mm plain objective on my Sakos.

Another "cure" would be to remachine the fixed angle of one or both of the Leupold ringmounts so that it fit your receiver properly.

jcsabolt-2
I have a factory SAKO 375 H&H Handi-Rifle,[well named as it is very handy] it has a slim McMillian fiberglass stock and a 20" bbl.
It has a fair amount of recoil. I have broken three sets of factory SAKO rings while shooting this rifle. Once the scope came off the rifle and hit me in the face causing a bad cut [hit my shooting glasses forcing them into my face]. Broke two sets of rings in one day.
The only scope mounts that have stayed on this rifle are the WARNE mounts. They have a recoil shoulder on both rings and do not slide on from the rear but mount straight from the top.
You might give them a look, I like them so well I have used them on other rifles as well.They go on/off and maintain zero.

Curious. I understood that Warne had quit making their vertically split rings for the Sako because they would wedge apart under recoil. I have no experience with them myself, this is just what I have read in others comments on this board.

As far as the Sako factory mount failing, this is the first I have ever heard of that. Were these the older one-piece or the newer two-piece mounts?

I have Leupold Ringmounts on my .375, which is the relatively light weight TRG-s. I haven't shot it alot, but the rings are holding up fine.

The angled Sako dovetails are plumb rediculous. They break under heavy recoil and are problematic for alignment.

The best solution I've found is to mount Bueller (first favorite), Redfield or Leupold mounts on the dovetails and drive them on using a little epoxy as lubricant.....then the regular rings mount straight with the the action.

Sako rings are only parralel with the action if the rings are VERY carefully located the same on the taper.....It's a terrible system, but I have several of them.

Stonecreek---

The dovetails don't break, the clamp screw pulls in two. It used to be a VERY common problem with anything over 35 caliber.

The Redfield/Leupold/Bueller mounts are solid and do fetch up very solid on the action. I use epoxy because a friend 35 years ago was taking a Sako out of the case at the hunting club and it slipped out of his hand. The bell of the scope bumped tailgate of his truck and the mounts and scope literally fell off the gun. It had the little bind screw of the Redfield but it didn't hold.

There are MANY scopes around that were crimped, dented, bent and even ruined by someone trying to mount it on a Sako without aligning the rings first......they ARE a problem because alignment is so hard to attain perfectly under recoil.

I've always used a 1.000 dia. x 6 inch long hardened dowel pin for accurate location. After the ring bases are located in alignment with each other and the action the rings are tightened onto the dowel then tapped forward to seat the rings on the receiver THEN the dowel is removed and the scope mounted without loosening the rings. That keeps it all aligned, but it's a PITA.

I use drive on sub mounts on everything Sako......no clamp-on dovetailed rings.

JBelk,

Do you know what the website is for Bueller? I tried to find it on Google, but didn't find what I was looking for. Also, are the Redfield bases still made for the Sako rifles?

I live in Ohio and the selection for scope mounts are pretty much only Millet and Leupold. I would appreciate it if you could tell me where I could purchase the Bueller or Redfield mounts. Brownells is out of the question. There prices are double that of Midway. They wanted $86 for a set of Leupold ringmounts and Midway wanted $43!

Also, have you ever used a set of Leupold QR Gunsmith Bases on a Sako. I am also considering this as an option. However, I would "like" the bases in stainless. I know I can get the rings in SS, but not sure on the bases. My grandfather was a pattern maker for 45 years, so maching them to match the receiver is not a problem. Also, do you happen to know the taper rate on the Sako receiver?

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INPUT!

jcsabolt-2--

I haven't bought a Sako mount from a shop in many years, but every gunshow produces a few. I think Bueller is no longer making mounts and rings but I could be wrong.

I don't have a Sako here without mounts already on it to measure and don't see a reference to the taper in any of my notes.

I've cut several for Len Brownell rings and they work very well as long as the recoil is not too severe. If recoil is heavy there should be secondary recoil shoulders installed.

I would like to hear more about the Warne mounts failing on the Sako, as I have 2 sets for my little 375 [spare scope].
The Sako rings would fail in the following manner. The small stub under the rear ring that fits in the cutout on the rear dovetail would break/or bend because of the recoil forcing the scope foward. This caused the scope mount th spread and loose its grip on the dovetail. Thus it would fall of durring recoil. with the second and third sets I tightened them as tight as possible. Same thing happened. The third set "flew backwards off the rifle durring recoil hitting my Ray Bans [shooters] causing a nasty cut of a circular nature from the glasses "right between the eyes".
The warne has two recoil shoulders, one to stop foward movement and one to stop rearward movement. This handi-rifle is very light and the recoil has quite a bit of velocity, the factory mounts could not take it. They were the 2 ring set. The scopes were not big ones either, a Leupold 1.5x5 [heavy duplex] and a Kahles 2.5x.

You never have any of these problems with the Blaser R93 and the Blaser scope mount.
Sorry Johan, but when one puts the IKEA together they stay together.

jscabolt-2: The Redfield (or virtually identical Burris) bases come up pretty often on eBay. They usually go for pretty reasonable money. They came in two lengths, and either will fit the dovetails of any action, but the "wrong" one may limit your scope placement. Unfortunately, they were never made in stainless. I suppose you could have them plated to closely match your gun and scope.

I am loathe to disagree with Jack, but I currently have Redfield base/rings on eight Sakos (the earliest going back to 1965). I can't feature properly installed bases (firmly tapped into place with a plastic mallet or other appropriate device prior to installing rings) ever backing off of the dovetails. I have to believe that the instance Jack sites must have been with bases loosely installed in the first place.

Three things to watch out for with the Redfield bases: 1. The older bases used smaller diameter windage screws than the later models. Either can be broken (due to the side-ways pressure from the ring), but the smaller one is quite tender and should be snugged down carefully. 2. The Redfield base adds some bit of height to the ring, so one height lower than "normal" can be used. "Low" rings will easily clear a scope with a plain 40mm objective lens. Even the Leupold "super low" clears a Leupold 3-9 Vari-X IIc on my .270. 3. As Jack describes, the Redfield is trickier to properly align than many people assume. BE SURE that the semi-circular grooves in the rear ring are perfectly positioned in the windage screw heads BEFORE ever placing a scope (or fitting dowel) in them! I've seen dozens of Redfield rear rings mounted half-way out of the screw seats.

Best of luck with your Sako!

NE 450 No.2: I instinctively knew there was something I didn't like about the newer 2-piece Sako mounts, and you've describe what it is. You wouldn't have that trouble with the one piece Sakos.

As I said in a previous post, I haven't had any experience with the Warne, but as with the breakage Jack mentioned with the Leupold ringmount, the Warne would be subject to the same thing (however, I've had no hint of breakage with the Leupold myself). I recall a thread on the problems with the Warne-Sako on AR, so you might do a search to see what you come up with.

Whoa! Jack, I just reread your paragraph on mounting the Redfields on a Sako. As I understand it, you tap the two bases into place simultaneously while clamped to the dowel pin. I think that this may be a problem.

The reason is that the two bases MAY not tighten equally on the dovetails because the (1) the dovetails are of unequal size and, therefore, even with the same rate of dovetail taper, may not tighten equally, and (2) the matching dovetail in the Redfield bases tend to vary slightly and don't snug up equally on the front and rear action dovetails. I've had Redfield bases that would slide as much as 3/16" further onto the same gun's dovetail as another Redfield base. I've even had some Redfield bases that I had to "widen" with a triangular file in order to allow them to slide far enough onto the action dovetail to be properly positioned.

I think it is important to FIRST tap the bases into snug final position, THEN mount the rings and align them on the dowel with the windage adjustment.

I'm hardly competent to tell you how to do something with a gun, but I've been fiddling with these Sako mounts for nearly 40 years and what I suggest here comes from my experiences.

stonecreek---

I was unclear in my description....

I use the big dowel with the Sako (or Kahles and others) rings that dont self-center like the Redfields and other "sub-mount" systems.

When you drive a sub-mount onto the dovetails of the receiver the *center of the mount* STAYS centered on the receiver. When you slide on a Sako ring the ring varies in it's location in relationship to the center in the bore depending on *where* on the dovetail it's sitting because both sides of the dovetail are tapered.

You can nearly always make a Sako shoot better by using a sub-mount scope mounting system and selling the Sako rings to a collector.

Thanks for the clarification, Jack. Makes sense.

Another option is Dave Talley rings which are now available for Sako actions although l am not sure whether they come in SS. Good luck.

I had problems with Warne mounts slipping under recoil on my SAKO 308 W.

So I let a gunsmith drill and tap the action and fasten Leupold mounts with a 8X40 screw through each lower ring down into the action.

I thought this ought to make them stay in place and it is also much lower and lighter than SAKO original mounts.

Was this a good or bad idea?

PCH,

We think alike! I bought a set of short Sako Optilock rings last night, but I do plan on doing exactly what you did by having a gunsmith fit the rifle with a pair of standard bases with that fat 8x40 screw. How did he determine what spacing to use for them? I'll probably use the same spacing that is on the Remington 700 series rifles just because of the vast array of mounts available here in the states for them.

If Sako really wants to make the 75 top notch they should replace the wedge top of their receiver with a Pictanny (mispelled??) rail and be done with it. That would give shooters and endless array of options to use.

jcsabolt-2,

I didn't express myself clearly. I fastened the Leupold low ringmounts for SAKO with 8X40 screws to the receiver. I thought it would be the simplest and hopefully most secure way to do it. Standard bases would make the mount higher than I want.

Your idea sounds good too!