Steyr Mannlicher Pro Hunter - Advice

Dovebob

Well-Known Member
Dear All,

I am in the process of choosing my first rifle for deer. I had pretty much settled on a Sako 85 Stainless Synthetic (thank you for your answers to my last thread)

However, this weekend I read an advert from one of the big retailers in Shooting Times. They were selling the Steyr Mannlicher Pro Hunter in the calibre I am after. I rang the shop up to find out a bit more.

The bloke from the shop was pushing me very stongly towards the Steyr. He was (kind of) rubbishing Sako and Tikka rifles in the process. I appreciate that everyone has their own preferences but most of the people I’ve spoken to have said that I won’t go far wrong with a Sako.

I eventually got a quote of £1060 for a Pro Hunter with synthetic stock and plastic coating on the metal parts, Wildcat mod and Warne rings and mounts. The price includes postage to my local RFD. It is quite a bit less than the cheapest Sako package I've seen.

My question is, personal preferences aside, how does the Steyr compare with a Sako 85 in terms of build quality, reliability, longevity, accuracy etc. If there is not much between them on these things then the Steyr at the price quoted looks like good value.

As ever, I am grateful for your help with this.

Cheers,

Dovebob
 
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I assumw this is the Sportsman?

I own a 243 Pro Hunter and have done so for a couple of years and find it a very capable rifle. At first I struggled to find a decent factory round that it liked to give me a 1" group at 100m but it likes Federal Powershock 100gr and is very accurate.

I then started developing some home loads for foxing and run a 75gr Vmax which is extremely accurate, happy to target foxes over 250 yards.

Back to the rifle, build quality of the rifles is good, the bolt is excellent and very smooth, not sloppy at all.

Safty system is good, three position.
1 Bolt locked down and safe
2 Bolt raised and safe
3 Ready to fire

Magazine has a 2 position attachment, in position 1 the bolt can be moved but it wont feed a round into the chamber, click mag into position two and working the bolt will load a round.

Trigger, can be adjusted slightly but also has a set trigger, move safety to position 2, push the blade of the trigger forward, move safety to position 3 and there is a very clean/light trigger to fire.

Finish, not sure what you mean by a plastic finish to the metal parts, mine has a mat bluing that they describe as extremly tough, it is not. When I had a T8 mod on it the bush at the rear must have rubbed a little on the barrel and it is slightly marked. Not a huge deal but the finish is not as tough as they say.

Stock, the early Mk1 has a bit of an issue with the fore end flexing, MK2 are better and stiffer. With a mod on the barrel is free floating shooting of a bipod or sticks, no isues for me.

I compared against a Tikka at the time, the steyr felt better built.

I suspect the Sako is a better rifle all round but the steyr does have some great points and I have been very happy with mine, it is accurate, well built and will last me well.
 
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Agree with sandersj89 comments although I have no experience with the others two, I have the MK2 rifle in 25-06 synthetic, I did change the moderator to a Ase ultra which balances better.
Really impressed with the 3 stage safety and two stage magazine, makes everything a bit safer.
I am running 117g sierras through it for all deer with sucess - nothing has run so far.
Extremely accurate and I have 100% confidence in the weapon.
Tonyc
 
i had one the biggest heap of **** i have ever owned if the stock had been much more flexible it would have moved in the wind . I had it glass beded and the honey comb filled in with resin but with a moderator on and a bypod most things in front of the barrel were quite safe even the hills in argyll . No moderator and bypod one hole groups at 100 yds no bother with them on no chance maybe i was unlucky but i soon got rid and then got an old SAKO to go with my other 4 and never looked back . If i won a manlicker in a raffle i would give it away unless it was a wooden one . I would look for a good seconhand sako or tika howwa seem to have a good write up as well there are plenty of good offers out there just shop around even on this sight there are some good deals from menbers , Just dont rush out and bye have a look at whats out there
 
Mechanically the prohunter is excellent. Great safety, accurate barrels, good trigger. Not everyone is happy with the plastic stock - the vast majority of criticism I hear relates to the forend being too flexible, but this is a common complaint on nearly all factory synthetics. Aftermarket replacement stocks are rare, though you can get a mcmillan.

I personally love the timber stocked versions, and would have one ahead of a Tikka any day. At 2/3 the price of a sako 85, thay are good value. Don't think I could live with a plastic one long term.
 
hi i have a sako 75 finnlight and a sako 85 hunter i am pleased with both i guess you gets what you pay for and one purchase would last a lifetime of hunting. i particularly like the optilock scope mount for the sako hold zero and doesnt mark the scope, excellent trigger and build quality very good in my opinion. regards ian
 
My advice is stick with your'e original choice mate,i was told by no doubt the same numpty you spoke to that the sako looked like it had been put together by a child compared to the styer,thats before he quoted me more than they were advertising them for,the sako in my opinion is the better of the two and at least you could rebarrel it if you ever had to,you'd have to just throw the styer away.
 
Dear All,

I am in the process of choosing my first rifle for deer. I had pretty much settled on a Sako 85 Stainless Synthetic (thank you for your answers to my last thread)

However, this weekend I read an advert from one of the big retailers in Shooting Times. They were selling the Steyr Mannlicher Pro Hunter in the calibre I am after. I rang the shop up to find out a bit more.

The bloke from the shop was pushing me very stongly towards the Steyr. He was (kind of) rubbishing Sako and Tikka rifles in the process. I appreciate that everyone has their own preferences but most of the people I’ve spoken to have said that I won’t go far wrong with a Sako.

I eventually got a quote of £1060 for a Pro Hunter with synthetic stock and plastic coating on the metal parts, Wildcat mod and Warne rings and mounts. The price includes postage to my local RFD. It is quite a bit less than the cheapest Sako package I've seen.

My question is, personal preferences aside, how does the Steyr compare with a Sako 85 in terms of build quality, reliability, longevity, accuracy etc. If there is not much between them on these things then the Steyr at the price quoted looks like good value.

As ever, I am grateful for your help with this.

Cheers,

Dovebob


The metal finish will be a phosphate or Parkerising of some sort, not the toughest im afraid, the plastic coating could be ilaflon (Basically Teflon) or Duracoat, or AN-other surface coating. I use a few metal coatings and they can shift if you give them enough welly, well all those except Cerakote, which is pretty much the market leader.

The Steyr I would say is disposable, before you make up your mind look long and hard at what there is, if it was me, I would look at the new Browning X-Bolt, bl**dy superb cant fault it, sell quite a few.
Get what you want not what a shop wants to sell you. :)
 
The Pro Hunter is a very good rifle, very robust, well made and accurate. I have not owned this rifle but used the Pro Hunter in .243 many times and every time had great results and an all round good feeling about the rifle.

However I Have chosen Sako 85 Hunter Laminate as I do feel pound for pound the Sako is superior.

ATB Colin.
 
I have no idea where the bad feelings comes from regarding Steyr Mannlicher rifles? Admittedly there was a flexing issue with the mk1 pro-hunter stock which only caused a problem if shot from a bipod and that was rapidly fixed. I have never owned a pro-hunter but do own two Scout rifles which are superb, I personally would not go back to a conventional design. S/M have been making quality rifles for a very long time and thier barrel quality and trigger are second to no-one. Maybe it is more the personality of the individuals dealing and selling this line of rifles which is causing bad feeling?
 
Got two classics in 308 & 25.06, both solid feeling rifles with a great safety which intuative to use, I have set trigger on both mine .I love the look of the (wood stocked) rifles & the 25.06 has had some stick weatherwise this year & looks fine with a it of post outing TLC (gives you another chance to admire it )
Go trad !!!!
 
I have both a, Pro hunter Mk2 and a tikka T3. I would go for a pro hunter any day over the tikka. My Pro hunter is fantastic rifle, Extremely accurate and shoots most factory ammo with no complaints. The stock is a lttle flexy but no more than any other synthetic stocked rifle on the market and if you think this is a problem its easy to rectify with a tub of resin that will cost youy no more than £6. The safety system is far better than a T3 Tikka and owning both a T3 & a Pro hunter i would say the Pro hunter has a far better trigger system as well.
As for the finish of the action and barrel, if you can afford the extra go for the stainless finish on any rifle you buy if your worried about or marks from a moderator as this is the easiest to keep clean from marks or scratches.
Regards to muddys comment for what its worth :rolleyes: My pro hunter will shoot just as accurate with or without the Mod fitted and is the only rifle ive actually owned that will have the same point of impact with the mod fitted or not.

I have owned quite a few rifles over the years and would rate the Pro hunter as the best so far.
Fester
 
I'd go with the Sako if I were you. There are a lot of people who think that the Pro Hunter is the bees knees .... then you meet other people who have had problems. You don't meet many who have had problems with Sako.

If the salesman rubbishing Sako/Tikka is with the shop I think it is, they are main agents for Steyr & he would, wouldn't he?

For interest, I had a Steyr Scout and got rid of it after 12 months!
 
Hi, I shoot a 10 year old .308 Pro hunter 1 (Not stainless). I agree with virtually all the comments on this thread. The rifle is safe, accurate and has a good trigger. The fore end on my rifle was a bit flexible which caused a very occassional flyer (Outside 2") with a bipod and moderator fitted. As it was an old rifle, I was not afraid to modify the stock a bit. I bedded the recoil lug with Devcon and stiffened the stock with resin in the 2 rear plastic boxes, enlarged the barrel channel and moved the bipod stud back into the front resin box. It now shoots sub MOA in any configuration all day. The metal finish is not as robust as the literature would have you believe and mine has marks on the barrel and action from a previous owner. I shoot with people who own Sako in .308 and .270 and they are no more accurate than the Steyr. I like the pro hunter, for its trigger and accuracy, but if I had the money and was buying again I would probably buy the Sako synthetic stainless. You will only do it once and hopefully you will have it a long time.

Stew
 
Dove,

As always, it comes down to personal preference. I believe any modern rifle is more than up to the task of killing deer in normal conditions, however, the Steyr is not my cup of tea by a long chalk. I would reiterate a comment made by Dawn Raider in that I believe the Steyrs cannot be re-barreled or certainly not easily should you ever need or want to as they are not a screw fit but an interference fit pressed into the action.

I like having the comfort with a rifle of knowing that I can upgrade or semi-customise the original rifle should I feel the need to and in my book that means Sako, Remington or Howa.

Stick with the Sako.

Kind regards,

Tim
 
Dove,

As always, it comes down to personal preference. I believe any modern rifle is more than up to the task of killing deer in normal conditions, however, the Steyr is not my cup of tea by a long chalk. I would reiterate a comment made by Dawn Raider in that I believe the Steyrs cannot be re-barreled or certainly not easily should you ever need or want to as they are not a screw fit but an interference fit pressed into the action.

I like having the comfort with a rifle of knowing that I can upgrade or semi-customise the original rifle should I feel the need to and in my book that means Sako, Remington or Howa.

Stick with the Sako.

Kind regards,

Tim

This was my experience to a tee. I went and looked at both rifles and then spoke to various people, gunsmiths, engineers and rifle nuts and I went for the Sako.

You will find several rilesmiths that use the sako actions on their custom guns, I know of no one who does that with the new Steyrs. This speaks for itself.

ft
 
Thank you all for your replies. There is no substitute for the advice of those with experience - its much appreciated.

Regards,

Bob
 
If you want a strange safety system, cheap and nasty stock, variable reputation for accuracy and fancy the challenge of trying to deal with The Sportsman (and come away without losing the will to live) then go for the Mannlicher SBS every time. Or, you could get the Sako and just enjoy years of trouble free shooting but wheres the fun in that! JC
 
I have two tikka's, a 595 and a T3. The T3 stock is a bit plastic, but it is stiff and they all shoot well. I have used a friends mk2 at range a few times and on the odd fox , nice trigger, good safety but horrible stock. His stock has been stiffened with resin and the sling/bipod mount point has been moved back six inch's to reduce flexing but still if you put any forward pressure on the bipod your 1/12 inch free float opens to half a inch between barrel and stock. They do shoot well when sorted out thou, oh and you have the problem picking up the 3rd round out of mag. That not limited to the pro hunter thou as the tactical scout is the same.
 
I have bought the same package you describe through one of Sportsman agents, with a Wildcat Sound moderator in .243 thus far very impressed, accurate and practical in use. I also have a Sako Finbear which I bought new from Holand and Holland 25 years ago, the Sako is the better gun but what would you pay for a gun like that now?

I have no qualms in recomending the Manlicher it does appear to be a good practical gun, and if I knock the gun I will not be so upset.

Dodge
 
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