Ronin
Distinguished Member
An apt time to post this newly completed build following on from the discussion regarding older rifles and their merits.
The journey with this rifle started a in late 2020, when a regular and valued client asked me to build a 300 WSM for them for cull work in open areas. The client is a professional guide who's stalking abilities are beyond reproach, however, clear-fell is unforgiving - hence the reason for the larger calibre.
We started off by sourcing a left handed action (which took a few months to source) - this arrived in the form of an unseen Sako L61R which was in very good condition and ideal for the task.
The donor rifle was checked over and was in good order, it was originally a 300 Win Mag and fed / extracted, ejected 300 WM cartridges just fine for a 30 yr old rifle
A Sassen 10 Twist in Mauser Med profile was ordered which took "a while" to arrive...in the meantime, a Mcmillan stock was ordered direct from the USA - this being around the time, Mcmillan were sold to their new owners
When the barrel arrived, I set about fitting it to the Sako action, which from memory had a unusual thread diameter of 1.050 x 16 TPI (thankfully as you will see later)
The barrelled action was finished at 24" with a M14x 1 mm thread and thread protector and sent for proof.
In the meantime, enquiries with Mcmillan re the delivery time proved that the new owners were not doing the Sako AV inlet and had cancelled the order (unbeknown to me)
The rifle arrived back from proof and was fitted to the original stock and bedded - however, whilst extraction of a case was faultless, ejection was "less than reliable"
The WSM case is considerably shorter than the Win Mag which in this particular action meant that the WSM case was often left in the ejection port of the bolt wasn't cycled briskly.
A change of extractor helped a little with reliability of ejection, but the issue is (or was) the break off angle from the mechanical ejector and the WSM case (mounted in the bolt stop on this rifle) which although made solid contact with the case rear, did not push it with sufficient force to clear the port .
It works fine with longer Rem Mag and Win Mag brass
Whilst some work got the action ejecting 90 percent of the time, that wasn't reliable enough for the occasions where a follow up was required or multiples presented, so we decided to change tack with the base rifle and source another donor rifle.
As luck would have it, a left handed magnum T3 came up for sale fairly quickly, which was bought and sent to me for assessment.
The rifle was checked and deemed good - it extracted / ejected without any issues (the WSM case) and was a stainless model too.
Once stripped down and cleaned, the lugs were lapped, that being the only work the action required.
The barrel was taken off the L61 and put back in the lathe, once set up, the old tenon cut down to the OD of Tikka Actions and thread re cut to accept / fit the T3 perfectly - proof mark set to 6 O"clock and chamber altered to suite the T3 Headspace.
Another trip to the Proof House and a few weeks later arrived back.
Whilst this was being undertaken, a left handed PSE E Tac was ordered for the T3 finished in OD Green with flush cups on non bolt side.
The rifle was fitted with a Contessa 0 MOA rail and fitted into the original Stock - sent for use with the client whilst the new stock was being made.
A week before Christmas, the new E -Tac arrived and was promptly bedded with Devcon and resealed within the inlet area.
A five round Walters Rifleman magazine was obtained from RifleMags UK, these are superb quality mags that replace the 3 round only standard Tikka magnum magazine
Some images of the build - which I apologise for the quality
The journey with this rifle started a in late 2020, when a regular and valued client asked me to build a 300 WSM for them for cull work in open areas. The client is a professional guide who's stalking abilities are beyond reproach, however, clear-fell is unforgiving - hence the reason for the larger calibre.
We started off by sourcing a left handed action (which took a few months to source) - this arrived in the form of an unseen Sako L61R which was in very good condition and ideal for the task.
The donor rifle was checked over and was in good order, it was originally a 300 Win Mag and fed / extracted, ejected 300 WM cartridges just fine for a 30 yr old rifle
A Sassen 10 Twist in Mauser Med profile was ordered which took "a while" to arrive...in the meantime, a Mcmillan stock was ordered direct from the USA - this being around the time, Mcmillan were sold to their new owners
When the barrel arrived, I set about fitting it to the Sako action, which from memory had a unusual thread diameter of 1.050 x 16 TPI (thankfully as you will see later)
The barrelled action was finished at 24" with a M14x 1 mm thread and thread protector and sent for proof.
In the meantime, enquiries with Mcmillan re the delivery time proved that the new owners were not doing the Sako AV inlet and had cancelled the order (unbeknown to me)
The rifle arrived back from proof and was fitted to the original stock and bedded - however, whilst extraction of a case was faultless, ejection was "less than reliable"
The WSM case is considerably shorter than the Win Mag which in this particular action meant that the WSM case was often left in the ejection port of the bolt wasn't cycled briskly.
A change of extractor helped a little with reliability of ejection, but the issue is (or was) the break off angle from the mechanical ejector and the WSM case (mounted in the bolt stop on this rifle) which although made solid contact with the case rear, did not push it with sufficient force to clear the port .
It works fine with longer Rem Mag and Win Mag brass
Whilst some work got the action ejecting 90 percent of the time, that wasn't reliable enough for the occasions where a follow up was required or multiples presented, so we decided to change tack with the base rifle and source another donor rifle.
As luck would have it, a left handed magnum T3 came up for sale fairly quickly, which was bought and sent to me for assessment.
The rifle was checked and deemed good - it extracted / ejected without any issues (the WSM case) and was a stainless model too.
Once stripped down and cleaned, the lugs were lapped, that being the only work the action required.
The barrel was taken off the L61 and put back in the lathe, once set up, the old tenon cut down to the OD of Tikka Actions and thread re cut to accept / fit the T3 perfectly - proof mark set to 6 O"clock and chamber altered to suite the T3 Headspace.
Another trip to the Proof House and a few weeks later arrived back.
Whilst this was being undertaken, a left handed PSE E Tac was ordered for the T3 finished in OD Green with flush cups on non bolt side.
The rifle was fitted with a Contessa 0 MOA rail and fitted into the original Stock - sent for use with the client whilst the new stock was being made.
A week before Christmas, the new E -Tac arrived and was promptly bedded with Devcon and resealed within the inlet area.
A five round Walters Rifleman magazine was obtained from RifleMags UK, these are superb quality mags that replace the 3 round only standard Tikka magnum magazine
Some images of the build - which I apologise for the quality
Last edited:
