RIFLES & GLASS

j a n u a ry 2 0 1 5 G & A

35

Sako cartridges are U.S. bound.

Schmidt & Bender may have a new benchmark.

I DONT KNOW EXACTLY HOW Sako became so profcient at building bolt-action rifes, but it has been at it
a good long while, so it makes sense that it has learned
a few tricks along the
way. Sako has been in
business since 1921 but
actually started making
rifes back in 1919 for
the Finnish Civil Guard.
What many dont
know is that in 1928,
Sako also started making
ammunition. The M27
rife (a heavily modifed
Mosin-Nagant) felded
by the Finnish military
needed ammo, so
Sako produced it. The
advent of World War
II increased Finlands
need dramatically, and
Sako played a big role in
meeting that demand.
It produced 275 million
rounds between 1939
and 1944.
Sako has been making
modern ammunition
since 1996 (and even built a new ammo factory),
but not much of that ammo wound up here in the
States. Fortunately for us, Sako is now broadening its
ammunition product line and increasing its export to
America signifcantly.
Prior to its recently renewed focus on the American
market, Sako updated its already excellent ammo
offering in 2013. It took a look at the brass commonly
used in cartridge-case production and decided to
make it better. By eliminating tin, bismuth and lead
from the brass, the company achieved a much smaller grain structure and established a more predictable
fatigue cycle. The smaller grains make for more
uniform brass, so there is less variation in case weight
and volume. Consistent case volume is an important
frst step in achieving uniform velocities. The other
added beneft found with brass having smaller grain

structure is that the primer pockets are less likely to leak

under high pressure and will stay uniform longer when
reloaded.
Sakos brass has a fatigue cycle that is more
predictable, thanks to
elimination of the stray
elements listed above.
By tightly controlling the
brass composition and
manufacturing processes, Sako can make
cartridge cases last
much longer than other
mass-produced samples.
Ten loadings is common
with Sako cases.
While Sako focused
a lot of its effort on
improving its already
premium brass, it
has also tightened its
loading techniques and
bullet selection. Good
brass is the frst step
toward making great
ammunition, but if the
powder charges vary or
the bullets have inconsistent jackets, the ammunition
will never perform well. After spending some time
shooting Sakos new 150-grain Super Hammerhead,
I can testify that all aspects of Sako ammunition appear to be top notch.
The Super Hammerhead bullet is a bonded bullet
that has a thick cannelure. It has all the markings of a
superb hunting bullet. Usually, good hunting bullets
dont compare well against match bullets. Match
bullets have thin copper jackets that are made to
optimize external ballistics, while hunting bullets
(and their thicker jackets, cannelures and bonding
efforts) focus almost exclusively on terminal effects.
The manufacturing processes can cater to one or
the other but not both.
When I settled in behind a Tikka T3 to test the
Sako load, I thought that if I could keep three

PHOTOS: BRAXTON LEE PETTY

NEW FINNISH AMMO

TOM BECKSTRAND