I came across a 7 x 57 rifle on a 98 Mauser action and am wondering who made it. At first glance I thought, this is built on a FN commercial action. No thumb slot, bolt handle contured exactly like the FN commercials that I have, and also the same safety. What was different was that it had a complete C ring, not slotted on the left side. It had dovetail bases permenently attached with what looks like screws from the underside of the bridge, but are blanked out and finished smooth on top of the bases. The bases look very similar in size to the Brno dovetail. Stamped on the left side of the action between the ring and the bridge is the word "FOREST". I know Sako had a rifle called "Forester" which was not a 98, and am wondering if this may be an early made Sako?

Hart

In The Book of Rifles by W.H.B.Smith in the section on Sako's it states that "Rifles based on Mauser actions made by Fabrique Nationale of Belgium are also produced by Sako". Has anyone seen one of these, and were the bases permenently attached? Also would anyone know if the earliest commercial FN Mausers without thumb slots have complete C rings?

Hart

If that is the rifle I think it is, it was made by/for Waffen-Frankonia, if I remember correctly. It is some years since I saw it at Italian Sports here in Van., but, it used to belong to a real estate guy I knew slightly who was a bit of a gun wheeler-dealer. It had nothing to do with the rifles built by Sako on FN actions which were primarily .30-06 and .300 H&H and strongly resemble the Husqvarnas also built on FN actions.

The earliest postwar issue of the FN "Deluxe" or "300" actions did, in fact, have the full C-ring from about '46 to '49 when they began to double-broach them to save money. These, IMO, are equal to the Brno-ZG-47 actions as being the finest production sporting rifle actions ever built.