Help with Sako A-V (L-691) Action

[penultimate]

Getting ready to rust blue an A-V action still in the white and
attempting to disassemble the bolt striker assembly so I don't have to
boil any more parts than necessary.

Anyone know the trick or even know where I can find a good schematic/
parts diagram with sufficient detail to understand the mechanism
(rather than just identify part numbers)? In advance, the Sako manual
and Numrich diagrams are not up to the task. The Sako manual (which
does not consider bluing or the possibility of a broken firing pin)
seems to think that all you need to know is how to diassemble the bolt
into the two major assemblies.

This one ain't your vanilla Mauser. It has both me and my gunsmith
stumped and we can't find any documentation that seems to speak to the
matter. We know where it comes apart. We just can figure out how.
Without a little expert input I might break something as the next
logical step is to twist harder..

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[George]

I just removed the firing pin assembly from my .338 and it is fairly easy.
With the bolt out of the receiver rotate the bolt shroud clockwise. After
about a half turn it will pop free. To reassemble it line up the bolt shroud
where it popped free and turn it counter-clockwise until the cocking piece
drops into the detent that holds it while the bolt is opened. Do not let it
go any further or the extension will drop into the cut out in the back of
the bolt body and it will take some effort to pull it back

Separating the firing pin from the bolt shroud is beating me! I don't have
much in the way of tools here at the house so I am working with the very
basics. After a couple of failed attempts I stopped trying but I believe I
know the technique. Place the tip of the firing pin on a block of fairly
solid wood and press straight down. Keep it straight because I think you can
break the tip off of the pin if you cock it. Fully compressing the firing
pin will move the cocking pike back into the bolt shroud. If you can turn
the piece with the lug that locks the firing pin assembly into the bolt body
you should be able to separate all of the pieces. This takes a fair amount
of force but if you have three or four hands that work well together you
should be able to take this apart.

If I am wrong and you find the correct procedure please let me know.
Good luck,
George in Las Vegas

[penultimate]

On Feb 9, 4:51 am, "George" <g...@cox.net> wrote:
> ...

George:

Thank you for your reply but I would say that we have tried your
suggestion, four hands and all, thusfar without success.

Either this is not the proper method or more force is required than we
have thusfar applied. Since the metal is pristine, (and the action
though almost 30 years old properly greased for storage) it is
unlikely that parts are frozen and I would prefer to avoid risk of
buggering things. I hate to think on the possibility of getting a
replacement part through Beretta.

As you would probably know, part of the problem is Sako's almost never
break and separating the striker from the body is all that is required
for thorough cleaning. So my well above average country gunsmith has
never seen one and even in his pretty good library we can not find a
good schematic of the action or any detail on gunsmith level bolt
disassembly. Ditto for a reasonably thorough round of googling.
Certainly anyone that has blued these things knows the tricks (if
there are in fact any). So the most likely "experts" are folks that
built these actions up in custom rifles 25 to 30 years ago.

[Mikko Nahkola]

penultimate wrote:
# On Feb 9, 4:51 am, "George" <g...@cox.net> wrote:
# > ...

# As you would probably know, part of the problem is Sako's almost never
# break and separating the striker from the body is all that is required
# for thorough cleaning. So my well above average country gunsmith has
# never seen one and even in his pretty good library we can not find a
# good schematic of the action or any detail on gunsmith level bolt
# disassembly. Ditto for a reasonably thorough round of googling.
# Certainly anyone that has blued these things knows the tricks (if
# there are in fact any). So the most likely "experts" are folks that
# built these actions up in custom rifles 25 to 30 years ago.

Or any Finnish gunsmith. _Some_ of these rifles are pretty worn out
after those 30 years of hard use, and they're probably much more common
around here.

I have an L579 myself, it's _far_ from pristine condition by now. It was
grandpa's primary hunting rifle before me. It has needed a gunsmith's
attention several times already.

But, looking at the manuals (both L691 and L579 manuals are available in
PDF form through http://www.sako.fi/manuals_main.php?m=6 ), and having
disassembled the bolt on mine a couple of times... is there a small
screw on the underside of the locking lug, part D in figure 9, page 22
of the L691 manual? On mine, it went into an interruption in screw
threads on the rear end of the firing pin. Unscrewed that on mine and
then I could just unscrew the firing pin too.

But my L579 seems to be an old version, the bolt on mine looks somewhat
different from the bolt in the L579 manual. It could be different in
that regard too.

[George]

Have you tried asking the staff at Brownells?
George in Las Vegas

[George]

I found this last night in the Brownells catalog:
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/productdetail.aspx?p=7650&s= .
George in Las Vegas