Intermittent Sako 75 "No Fires"- bolt issue

geoffw

Well-Known Member
Hey all,
Just wanted to share some recent experience- I suffered intermittent "no fires" from a Sako 75, (typically at ~30m with a roe or fallow eyeballing me, ain't that just the way).

Having chambered a round, the trigger would not respond, as if the safety catch was engaged, or as if the action had already fired.
Firing pin indicator would show action as cocked.
Round extraction would reveal a chambered round, no light strike indication, or very occasionally a very, very light strike.

Being intermittent the issue was a sod to fault find.

A bolt servicing didn't resolve the issue, but Peter Jackson of Jackson Rifles kindly and correctly identified the likely cause- a failure of the bolt security key lock. Apparently it does happen.

Resolution: a £15 repair from GMK which dispensed with the security lock feature, fine by me, would prefer to explain loss/theft of a rifle w/out bolt to the Police than "oh, but it's got this lock on it anyway Officer).

Hope this saves someone some teeth grinding :)
Geoff
 
Every 75 I have owned, I always replace the key lock with a plain bolt shroud.

​Never had a problem.
 
Geoff
Thanks, I wish I had known it was so easy to get rid of the security lock feature. I would have done that before I sold the Sako 75 if I had known about it.
​Regards JCS
 
With hind sight I had this happen the other day, and thought it was just me.
Luckily only on a target.
My first thought was the safety was on.
​Recocked the bolt and it fired.

Geoff what part replaces the 'key' ?
 
Rear of BOLT SHROUD, cylindrical piece with two flat sections that rotates when key lock activated.

​It wears, then turns of its own accord,,,,causing the problem.
 
This happened to me on Mon night with one of my 75s when I pulled on a fox, has happened once before as well and I had no idea what caused the problem until now, so thanks for posting. :thumb:

Did get the fox once I had cycled the bolt but it was by now a lot further away than I would have liked. :D

As per PKL's post above has anybody got the part numbers, I will need both stainless and blued to do both of mine.
 
In my experience the only way to replace the bolt shroud is having to pay for the firing pin,return spring and shroud all as one part from GMK.

I think the last time I did it the part was about £250.

Unless things have changed GMK would not supply just the shroud. You can however order with or without the key lock i.e. plain shroud or key lock shroud.
 
Got mine in Sweden, worked out around £80 for the whole assembly.

firing pin, shroud, springs etc....
 
Guy I know out there is a gunsmith, he does most of the warranty work for Sako, Tikka, Beretta etc....

If you tell me what action length you want I'll see what I can do about a possible bulk order and get some prices off him next week. It's about 2 years since I bought mine.

The only thing that will count against us is that the £ isn't doing particularly well against the Krona at the minute.

let me know by PM.

ATB
 
Hi all,
I will post some photos next week for you, as I have retained the old parts- I'm away at present, sorry, plus my stock was snapped in transit :( so the rifle is away being synth'd.

Glad this is proving to be of use to you. And good news- the repair was just £15 plus courier, it's only the terminal section which requires replacing, and this is a separate component.
NB GMK prefer to deal with you via a gun dealer it seems.
atb,
geoff
 
Hi nick, it's a similar component (someone on here refers to a shroud?) just slightly less bulky.
 
got a 75, .243 stainless, not had this problem yet . . . .

but if there is a pre-emptive remedy that is realistically priced and does away with the key-lock (which I've never found a need for!) then I'm very interested!

'orrabest! alasdair
 
doing away with key-lock system on Sako 75 bolt?

Hi all,
I will post some photos next week for you, as I have retained the old parts-
.....
Glad this is proving to be of use to you. And good news- the repair was just £15 plus courier, it's only the terminal section which requires replacing, and this is a separate component.
NB GMK prefer to deal with you via a gun dealer it seems.
atb,
geoff

Hi geoff,
any chance you can give us a few more details of how you managed to "up-grade" your 75 to get rid of the key-lock? I am assuming - from the rest of this thread - that is what you are referring to?

​alasdair
 
Every days a school day!! I didnt know about this feature at all on the sako. Ive only had it where ive not been able to discharge the rifle once before and that was shortly after i got it due to finger trouble. I hadnt pushed the safety far enough forward, which in turn hadnt pushed that small tab down, so it wouldn't discharge.
 
......as I posted earlier in this thread.
I have a Sako 75 (.243 SS) which has not (yet) had this problem, but if there is simple way to "up-grade" from "key-lock" to "normal" (without key-lock), then I would like to know how to go about that. Please can some-one advise? (by "simple", I mean using factory/stock parts as opposed to custom made bits)


alasdair.
 
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