UPDATE -
Further to my above thread - I took the stock to someone who knew what he was doing and watched as the (now) sticky rubber coating was completely removed from all over the stock using cellulose thinners. (as John Gryphon above suggested!)
If you intend carrying out this process yourself, here is how It was done - it took about 45 minutes.
An old clean T shirt was used as a cloth. It took a lot of thinners (well over a pint) and a lot of elbow grease to rub the finnsh off. If you work on a few inches of the stock at a time, then with patience the rubber coating gets broken down by the thinners and rubs off. (you can also wet an area, wait 30 seconds and then rub)
The black rubber grip inserts/panels seemed to remain - in this case, totally unaffected, but a conscious effort was made to avoid getting too much thinners on them anyway. I would advise having another clean cloth at hand and cleaning off the panels as you progress rather than letting thinners sit on them for any length of time. There is an outer edge/groove around the grip panels which can be very carefully cleaned out using a very small flat bladed screwdriver after the process is complete.
I would advise that you use a garage, shed or work outdoors to do this as the smell of thinners is very pungent in an enclosed area, also there will obviously be bits of black rubber which will come off in the process.
The stripped stock is perfectly usable as is and it very much reminds me of the stock on an original Tikka T3 tactical I used to own. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they were made out of exactly the same type of charcoal black fibreglass material given Sako's relationship with Tikka.
I am thinking of getting the stock hydro dipped now, possibly in a carbon fibre type pattern, the stock is sealed afterwards by being sprayed with several coats of lacquer. I have previously had a black Tikka T3 Lite stock dipped in an Autumn woodland camo pattern, with excellent results. Fortunately I have a company very close by, called "Aqua Graphix" who specialise in this process.
Prior to this, I considered my stock to be getting virtually unusable, such was the "stickiness" of it. I tried cleaning it with washing up Liquid and water which did absolutely nothing. Any attempt then to dry the stock with a cloth then left minute bits from the cloth stuck to the stock.
GMK are well aware of this problem, the person I spoke to said they are not sure if the rubber coating breaks down with age. Getting certain chemicals on it will certainly affect it though as people replying to this thread have found out to their cost. Apparently if this happens within the warranty period, it is looked at "sympathetically".... I should think so too considering the cost of the rifles!
My rifle was years out of warranty, though it has actually seen very little use.
To my mind Sako are producing a product in this type of stock which is not fit for purpose. It is enevitable that cleaning solvents and such like will be used around a firearm. Also isn't it reasonable to assume that a some point, suntan lotion and possibly insect repellent might be used on your face, which is then placed against the stock.
There should at least be a warning given in the owners manual of the potential issues which might result from this.
These stocks are still being produced by Sako and sold on brand new rifles today in the full knowledge that this problem exists. I would bet that customers in the United States would get their stocks replaced far easier than we do here, knowing the Americans propensity to sue for poor quality.
I hope this thread helps anyone who finds themselves being the unintended owner of a sticky stocked Sako 85!
I have included some photos of the stock with the rubber coating removed. As I have stated, it would be perfectly fine to use the stock as is, and in my opinion is infinitely better than using a stock that has gone sticky!
