sako riihimaki .222 rem mag
I have "come by" (inherited) the subject rifle. It appears to be a "newer" version with heavy barrel & ornate light colored wood stock of wood that I do not recognise. It has a 6x24 Bausch & Lomb "Balvar"(I was told)scope. Condition of bore, chamber & exterior of the rifle & stock is excellent. The scope exterior is about the same & clear to sight through. However being a longtime photography buff I recognize what looks like "lens fungus" on the objective glass when I look with a good light source inside. I reload so availability or lack-of factory .222 Rem Mag ammo is of no concern to me. Being 62 years of age I am not a newbie to shooting & trading but have no clue to the "for real" value of this rifle. I have searched for current values but maybe my CPU skills are not as "sharp" as some of you!
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There are several on the Gunbroker auction side with no bids. 0 -
Thank You, none of those look like mine but I do appreciate the response. Maybe some photos will help when I figure that out. 0 -
At one time I had the Sako with sporter weight barrel. Mine was the older one with the detachable box magazine. It was a fine rifle but the cal has pretty much been replaced by the .223 Rem. The Balvar 24 was one of the best in the 1950's and 1960's. Long out of production, the lenses are no longer available so fungus or lens separation could be a serious problem. I have owned a couple of Balvar 24's. The windage and elevation rings became dry and hard to turn. There must be a way to re-lube them but I didn't discover it. 0 -
LaGrande,
Welcome to the forum from another member of the "62 Club" and owner (former) of a Sako .222 Mag. Mine is long gone but well remembered. Had the broad beavertail fore end and heavy barrel. Microgroove type rifling. Beautiful rifle. My goal back in '60's was to put 10 shots in an inch at 100 yards. 9 was no problem. #10 always managed to put me out in the 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 range. The rifle was easily capable of better, I know, but at the time my range consisted of a 2X4 makeshift bench floating on top of the muskeag. About as far from a good solid shooting rest as you could get and still have your rear end sitting on something reasonably solid. There are folks out there who can work wonders with old scopes; re=gluing lenses, sealing, etc. but I don't know if the expense would be worth it unless sentimental value were involved. Otherwise I'd put my money into new glass. Good close-up pictures would be needed to help in value setting, but I don't think you'd ever get what it's really worth. I finally managed a decent trade on mine, but only, I suspect, because the dealer didn't fully appreciate the general lack of interest in the cartridge. (Which for my money is superior to the .223 because of the longer neck, but ballistically indistinguishable.)0
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