"Interesting" sporter

[Bruce_in_Oz]

A few days ago, I was given a small bag of No4 parts.

Well, sort-of No4 parts.

The source said they were for a "SAKO" sporter and chambered in .243 Win.

The magazine is a standard No4 with what looks like a "Savage" "Square S" in a square outline stamped on the back of the rib. However, INSIDE the case is another magazine box that LOOKS like a Tikka magazine except that it has a flared-out section at the rear to stabilise it in the original box. The "insert" mag holds six .243 or .308 Win cartridges It is retained by a small screw through the rear of the original case.

The bolthead (complete with a bolt body) has been counter-bored about forty thou. to provide support for the smaller rim diameter. The extractor has been "adjusted" to work with the smaller rim. There is also an "ejector slot" cut into the LHS of the bolt head, a la the Lithgow .22 "Hornet" conversion.

However, it seems that someone was not too concerned about striker protrusion as this one runs out to 0.0875"; a bit excessive, especially if one were silly enough to use decent .243Win loads. When a "normal" bolt head, (same No 1 size) is attached, the protrusion is 0.045". Thus the striker is OK, but the "sporter" bolt head is very dodgy. The bolt body also has what looks like a SWEDISH proof mark on the flat top of the handle, just before the radiused section: a place I have never seen a similar mark on a Brit or Canadian job.

So, has anyone ever run into such a rifle in one piece? I vaguely remember hearing about these beasties many years ago. I suspect that the closest this rifle got to the SAKO factory was when the "conversion" team screwed in a barrel that MAY have been made by SAKO in the early 1960s.

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