[.338Sharpshooter]

Not really sure which section to post this in, so if this is the wrong section feel free to move it to the proper area please moderators.

I bought this rifle new around 1993 in Ontario Canada. At the time there were only three in Canada that I knew of. The rifle has never been dropped, hammered on or abused in any way. At the time I bought the rifle I bought 100 rounds of Lapua brass, 80 are still new unfired. The rifle has shot less than 100 rounds, all reloads. At the time of failure the load was 92grs IMR7828, Fed 210M Primer, Hornady 225grn SST. On the tenth shot from the bench at the local club, this is what happened.

Sorry about the crappy picture quality, I'll get some better pics in the daylight. (EDIT: Better pics added.)

The bolt handle has obviously broken away from the bolt body. There were no pressure signs whatsoever and the case was not stuck in the chamber. The bolt operated fine, and once fully opened extracted the case normally. The break is perfectly clean and the bolt handle will fit back in the proper place with barely a crack showing. There are no missing pieces or chips.

My questions are, what would be the best way of handling this situation? I will be in touch with Sako, likely via my local dealer. However, as I understand it the bolt is matched to the receiver and I would think it will be difficult to replace the bolt only. If in fact the bolt is matched to the receiver, would there be issues with a replacement bolt? If worse came to worst, would it be possible for the bolt handle to be welded back onto the bolt body?

Any help or idea's will be greatly appreciated...

 

[hailstone]

Looks like the metal failed due to crystallizing but due to photo quality hard telling for sure. If that's the case then would definately let the manufacture handle as that would be obvious defect. I would not weld it as it will/has crystallized in other areas. Whenever something like that happened on piece of machinery we always replaced the part even when it could be repaired. If memory serves either improper heat treatment or poor metallorgy causes this to happen. Either case not good for a firearm.

 

[MikeG]

FYI, madatsako, I have changed your previous login name to what you see now, and have emailed your registered forum email address with the password. The change was done to make your login name more family-friendly.

Please let us know of the resolution to your issue.

 

[Frank Whiton]

It is really hard to determine with pictures but here are some thoughts why it happened.

1. It looks like there is a threaded stud in the bolt handle that screws into the bolt body. It doesn't look like the stud was screwed far enough into the bolt body. The bolt handle is then welded or epoxed to the bolt body. It doesn't look like the weld/epoxy was very good. The whole bolt handle assembly is suspect.

2. I have never worked on a Sako action other than stocking one. It is a Mauser design and the root of the bolt handle is used as a third locking lug. With most Mausers designs the bolt handle has some clearance and only comes into play with a failure of the front locking lugs. If the bolt was made with the third lug touching, it would have been adsorbing some of the recoil and over time it failed. This would be caused by the improper fitting of the bolt to the action when setting head space.

3. This is a high pressure cartridge and you could have had some setback to the front locking lugs causing the bolt handle to make contact. This can be caused because the recesses in the action for the front locking lugs were not harden properly. Or the bolt locking lugs were not harden properly.

4. I would look real close at the front locking lugs and see if you can see any hair line cracks around the base of the front locking lugs on the bolt. If you see any hair line cracks then this is what caused the bolt handle to fail. If the bolt locking lugs were too soft you will see upsetting at the rear of the lugs. Hair line cracks can't always be seen by the naked eye and that is why it sould be magnafluxed.

5. In any event this bolt and action should not be reused unless you have it magnafluxed and verify that the bolt and action is sound. Even then you need to know why the bolt failed. If it was me I would replace the bolt. and any good gunsmith can do the job but they will have to refit the barell and set the correct headspace. That is I would replace the bolt if I had the action magnafluxed.

Overall I think you had a close call with this gun. The bolt root should never have been subjected to such pressures and you need to know for sure why it was. You can see in the picture that the bolt was thrust backwards and tore out part of the thread hole and action infront of the hole where the bolt was fasten.

Frank

 

[.338Sharpshooter]

FYI, madatsako, I have changed your previous login name to what you see now, and have emailed your registered forum email address with the password. The change was done to make your login name more family-friendly.

Please let us know of the resolution to your issue.

Login is fine, sorry for any trouble.

Sako has been contacted directly in Finland. They stated they have seen this issue before and the distributor will repair.

 

[big dan]

looking at the fractured area it appears that there is some dark discoloration along the edges that may indicate that this took some time to happen? might be a camera "thing" too... usaully if metal starts to fail but doesn't completely separate the fractured area will discolor simply due to moisture, etc...

 

[.338Sharpshooter]

Stoeger Canada will not repair. I was referred to Joe Kroetsch who will supply the bolt and do the necessary fitting. No idea on the cost as of yet.

Personally, I think this is a bad move on the part of Sako and Stoeger Canada.

 

[crazydave]

Any update on this? Did Sako make it right?

 

[BarkBuster20]

I very much dislike seeing negative posts about any manufacturer problem such as this, where the original poster doesnt follow up on it... kinda leaves me with a bad feeling towards sako, when in reality they may have made it right...

 

[pyros]

After 5 months waiting a bolt arrived. Just waiting for it to b fitted. $450+ smithing costs.