[Notasnowman]

Received this Mauser .270 from grandfather upon his passing. No marking on the outside except for the serial number and “.270 win”. Once I disassembled it though, I found the FN and 1951 markings. However, the trigger has “FINLAND” marked on it, and the whole trigger pack looks exactly like a Sako L461. I’m so confused with this rifle haha Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[jimboro]

Hello notasnowman ..beautiful rifle. . Wish I had it .. welcome here.. there's plenty of people here that know what there talking about and the info your looking for. Just hang out for a while pull up a stool and have a seat. . and bring your coffee ..

 

[JWSmith1959]

There were tons of those fine rifles and actions imported to the US (or built for US Companies). The JC Higgins Model 51 comes to mind and many were sold and were damn fine rifles.

There were a lot of custom Gunsmiths that used that action and/or rifle as a base for custom projects. It is likely that is what you have.

Nice wood...fancy magazine plate...jeweling on the bolt and bolt extractor lever. All signs that it probably came out of a custom shot somewhere.

Nice rifle and a great inheritance that you got from your Grandfather.

 

[Jack]

We'll have to wait for JBelk to give us a definitive answer.
Nice rifle! That does indeed look like a Sako trigger. The barrel is marked Flaig's. Flaig's was (is?) a large wholesale/gunsmithing place, I believe in Pennsylvania. Small gunshops could send actions to Flaig's for rebarreling, rather than do it in house. Or buy actions or barreled actions, too.
The floorplate assembly looks like the ones Uncle Mike's used to sell, back in the day when reworking military actions into sporters was a lot more common than it is now.

 

[Gil Martin]

Welcome to the Forum. Glad to see you here and hope that you post often. I agree that you have what appears to be a commercial FN Mauser. Flaig's was a gunshop outside Pittsburgh and did a lot of custom gunsmithing. That is a very nice rifle. All the best...
Gil

 

[JBelk]

That's a 1951 FN commercial action that originally came with a Sako over-ride trigger with a plungers sear instead of lever.
That one has a German made Flaigs barrel and replacement bottom metal and looks to be either a Bishop or Fajen semi-inlet stock. (Cheekpiece could say for sure).
Originally, the bolt sleeve had a quarter turn safety on the LEFT side. If you look into the action near the chamber on the left side, you can tell about when it was made. If the inner ring is solid, it was before March of '51. After then the inner ring is broached all the way through.
The serial number on the receiver means Flaig's installed the barrel instead of selling the parts.
The stock has an oddity-- Utility grade wood is very common but a Neidner butt plate fitted to it is not even though the butt plate 'fits' the barrel theme, the rest of the stock does not. It is a 'cross-culture' rifle.
The styling is usually pure European as shown below (with replaced butt pad). Very trim, slim and 'tiny'.

You have a very nice rifle!
Check the muzzle. Those barrels are a natural $*&@#^ to crown and some aren't done very well.

 

[Mecanik]

Looks like it could be a JC Higgins model 50 that's been re barreled. by an expert gunsmith.

 

[JBelk]

Both rifles used 1951 FN actions. They were withdrawn due to GCA'68. The later FN actions were 1953 models with the slick bolt sleeve and different floor plate latch and trigger. Browning Safaris are 1953 actions. They were sold as 'model 300 and 400' and 'supreme' and several other model designations. Even Colt had an FN actioned bolt action rifle that look identical to the Model 50 Sears.
The Flaig's bottom metal was $12 in 1955 and the barreled action with the Austrian barrel was $95.00 in the March '59 American Rifleman.
Flaig's in Millvale, PA was a giant shop that advertised surplus guns as well as being a retail shop for all the makes. I think every gun in a full page American Rifleman ad could bought for $1000. I'll scan one. "Inflation" is more than a word!