Hammer forging barrels is supposed to be a more expensive process versus the button process. Sako is one of the last gunmakers to use this process from what I have been told.

It costs a lot more up front. A good hammer forge (I have read, I've never bought one) costs 1.5 - 2 Million US$. The company makes the money up on the back end. It is evidently quicker and easier to forge a barrel than button pull/push, or cetrainly cut one. All methods can produce good barrels. All rifle manufacturers want to maximize profit. One of the ways they do that is produce barrels as cheaply as they can without running off all their customers. Sako rifles cost more than most of the American made ones. There are a lot of factors; the weak US dollar right now, higher labor costs (that is why Remington is in North Carolina and Arkansas instead of NY these days). Because Sako's price point is higher, they can invest more money in the manufacture of their rifles. Indeed if they tried to sell rifles at the present price built to the same quality level as Winchester, Ruger, or Remington, they wouldn't sell very many for very long.
With more money available to manufacture a given rifle you can afford better barrel steel, more forged or milled steel and fewer plastic or aluminum or pot metal components. And more time from more skilled workers.
This is a long way to say that Sako barrels are pretty decent. I am using a Sako 375 H&H barrel to rebuild another Sako 375 H&H that I traded for that had a magna-ported barrel. If The rifle had been a Winchester, Ruger, or Remington I would have just gone straight to a Lilja, Pac-Nor, Lothar Walther, or Krieger, depending on caliber and application. Sako barrels are not better than those cutom barrel maker's products, but they are good factory barrels.
Sorry, that was long winded and probably put you to sleep.
JCN

Sako hammer forges their barrels and hand straightens them by eye. Hammer forging is one of the cheapest ways to make an individual barrel but is extremely expensive for the machinery required for startup. Remington and Ruger also use this method and maybe winchester also. I think Savage is the only one that uses button rifled barrels.

I think that the straightening contributes to their excellent accuracy but wonder if that is one reason why mine seem to shoot some loads a lot better than others......DJ

Still awake...... JCN have you found that your Sako's are a little picky about loads? I mean that some rifles seem to shoot about 1" with everything, where as others may shoot 2" with bad loads and 1/2" with ones it likes. I remember an article where a writer mentioned the same thing about good rifles having something that it really likes as compared to being OK with everything. I was just hypothesizing that the hand straighting after hammer forging may leave a very straight barrel but one that has stressed built in that makes it like some loads vs another. What do you think?........

DJ,
I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but in anything smaller than a 375 or 416 I usually have to invest some time to find the best load for my Sako's. I just got a Ruger rebarreled with a Lilja back last month. It shoots every load that I've tried just great. I will admit to having an unhealthily strong emotional attachment to my Sako's, so I don't mind working with them some.
JCN

Yeah DJ,
I'm working with my new Model 75 SS in 300 Win Mag. The work up is typical of what happened with the 7 Rem Mag and the 338 Win Mag. 1 1/2" groups with uncalled flyers opening the groups up from .5 to .75. Then when I get the seating depth (pretty important) and bullet choice (very important) close to what it likes I start seeing 1" groups. Some more tweaking will get me to 3/4", when I call it good, confirm twice more at different sessions, then load up a pile of ammo and go mow the lawn.
Most of that work is for my own amusement. I have only shot one game animal beyond 300 yards, and generally use a fixed 4 power scope or a low powered variable.

I know I could do better with Reloder 22, which allows more precision. I stick to H-4831 for all my short mags. I trade precision for a more constant POI.
JCN

I've sure had good luck with RL-22 in 300 Win mag.. Usually if 75-77grs of Rl-22 and a good 180gr bullet doesn't shoot great in a 300 Win somethings wrong with the rifle. -I've seen or shot that load 1/2 to 3/4 MOA in 7 or 8 300 Wins.....DJ