Howdy TGT,
As most of you know, I recently returned back from a successful hunting safari in the Eastern Cape. The rifle that I took with me over was my Sako S20 and I figured since it proved itself so thoroughly in the mountains of the Eastern Cape, it was high time for a proper review of the rifle. So here we go:
I bought this rifle on Cabelas.com as a "Display Model/Cosmetic Damage" in June of 2022 for $1131.09 after military discount. The calibers available at that specific point in time were 6.5CM and .300 WM. Since I like women, I picked .300WM. Upon arriving at the Cabelas in Allen, I proceeded to the rifle counter where an old timer was working. I gave him my last name and order confirmation number and he disappeared into the backroom. He emerged with a box that looked like it fell of the back of the UPS truck a few hundred times. Upon inspection of the rifle, I saw no obvious issues other than the slightest bit of discoloration on the barrel. The old timer remarked on the discoloration and said "looks old and ugly". So from that point forward, I have dubbed this particular rifle "Old Ugly". It really is not aesthetically pleasing like a Mauser 98 or a Rigby, but it performs like an ugly girl on prom night. Might not look great but takes that hard work like a champ.
So the basic idea of the S20 is that underneath the stock and forend is a metal chassis. This chassis allows the user to swap / mix&match between the "hunter" and "precision" stock/ forend. My particular model was a hunter, which provides for a thumbhole stock and shorter forend resulting in a more lightweight frame for the rifle. Ive been able to handle the precision setup at Scheels before and it is very nice. Supposedly the precision is heavier but I am unsure as to how much. Recoil was not bad at all but its an 8lb win mag with a thinner (to me) barrel so its going to be present. With a suppressor, all of the recoil is gone and its like shooting an x39 out of an ak.
Weight for the Hunter: 8.23lbs
Barrel Length: 24"
OD of Barrel at muzzle: 0.727"
One point I have to make is just how nice the adjustable trigger is on these. Sako factory triggers are typically really nice but this is on a whole new level. The trigger is adjustable for pull weight as well as trigger position? you can move the trigger in or out to get the perfect LOP / spot on your trigger finger. This picture illustrates this a bit better than I am. I adjusted mine to the desired 2lbs and it is just damn perfect.
I had every intention of bringing my Sauer 100 in .308 to South Africa, but due to shortages with specific bullets that rifle likes, Old Ugly quickly moved up to the number 1 spot. To start, I placed my Zeiss Conquest V4 scope on top in some Vortex Pro rings. This scope is my test scope that is placed on new rifles during break in and load development. It is a work horse.:
So how did it shoot?
Short answer: Excellent. Long answer, I keep stocks of factory ammo for each caliber that I invest in and the reason for this is to have "barrel breakin" ammo that doesnt cost alot. Nearly every factory load I shot through this rifle whether it was suppressed or not, were at or around 1 moa. Hornady 150gr interlock factory ammo gave groups of .56" consistently. I shot atleast 200 rounds during this time with accuracy improving over time. One grip I have is that no one loads 200+ factory ammo that is somewhat cost effective. I could give a sht less if this thing shoots 150s well, I like heavy bullets.
For handloads, I tested out MagPro, H4350 and H4831SC with my plains game bullet of choice, 175gr LRX. Here are the best groups I received along with relevant powder charges:
Magpro (have to find what the powder charge was, it was near or at max): .348" Amazing accuracy but it was just no consistent enough day after day shooting. The curse of double base powders?
H4350 (69 grains):.675"
H4831SC (76 grains): .405"
On the Chrono, H4831SC gave the best / most consistent velocity, so I stuck with that as my powder of choice. Avg velocity was 3025 fps with an SD under 10. I will note that these groups were repeatable whether there was a suppressor on the rifle or not.
The magpro best group. That is 5 shots...
Here are some more groups from H4831SC
How did it hunt?
Well the barrel is long and for some reason in the USA we do not do over the barrel suppressors just yet, so with my SiCo Omega 36m, it was a bit top heavy on the rest, but felt great on shooting sticks. Hunting over in SA, I had the opportunity to buy a AimSports Triton No.5 which allows the barrel to enter halfway into the suppressors length before engaging threads. Now this combination allowed for the rifle to have near perfect balance. With the Leica on top, loading with a Harris Bipod, the rifle was at about 11 pounds which is perfect for me.
In the field, its performance was stellar. I fired 7 shots and 7 animals were DRT or very close by. I shot the animals in the following positions and distances:
Blesbok, 298 yards, sitting in high grass with a BOG type shooting bipod
Gemsbok, 47 yards, prone in high grass on an old damn wall with the harris bipod
Black Wildebeest, 287 yards, sitting in high grass with a BOG type shooting bipod
Zebra, 254 yards, prone with the harris bipod
Kudu, 193 yards, standing on a steep decline on a hillside on African shooting sticks
Impala, 205 yards, kneeling with giant boulder as a rest with the harris bipod
Springbok, 256 yards, prone with harris bipod
I will only hunt with sub MOA rifles for this reason. You never know when you have to make a shot off of a questionable rest and I like to take my fatigue out of the equation as much as possible. Old Ugly got it done just as much as I did and I am glad it is the rifle I decided to bring. I am also glad that this particular rifle ended up in my hands.
This sounds like the best rifle on the planet, what's the catch?
I had two bolts that attach the stock to the chassis come loose more than once. Blue loctite fixed this issue permanently. I also had the trigger position screw come loose in a practice session and once again blue loctite saved the day. One other minor grip is that I had to buy two extra stock spacers to get my gorilla arm LOP that I require. $15 shipped from Midwest so no big deal. I also do not like the built in pic rails. I feel they are too small and adding another rail on top of them is just too retarded. I was able to make my scope work but just barely. They would have made them just one section longer and I would have had no issue with it.
In summation:
Here is Old Ugly, the only full picture I took of it the entire trip. It is wearing the Aimsports Triton No.5 in this picture. This was immediately after shooting my black wildebeest which required us sprinting into high grass and then bear crawling way too fking far to get set up for a shaky "2 seconds to make the shot" type shot off a sitting bipod. I took this picture because I was thankful that my arms, back and legs were no longer on fire from hauling that big btch across the high plains and that the stalk/suffering was not fruitless. Funny the attachment we grow with people and weapons when they go through hell and back with us! In summation, this rifle is a definite keeper. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one (especially at the price I got this one for) and for awhile was considering my next .308 purchase to be one. The S20 will be accompanying me back to SA in 2024.
As most of you know, I recently returned back from a successful hunting safari in the Eastern Cape. The rifle that I took with me over was my Sako S20 and I figured since it proved itself so thoroughly in the mountains of the Eastern Cape, it was high time for a proper review of the rifle. So here we go:
I bought this rifle on Cabelas.com as a "Display Model/Cosmetic Damage" in June of 2022 for $1131.09 after military discount. The calibers available at that specific point in time were 6.5CM and .300 WM. Since I like women, I picked .300WM. Upon arriving at the Cabelas in Allen, I proceeded to the rifle counter where an old timer was working. I gave him my last name and order confirmation number and he disappeared into the backroom. He emerged with a box that looked like it fell of the back of the UPS truck a few hundred times. Upon inspection of the rifle, I saw no obvious issues other than the slightest bit of discoloration on the barrel. The old timer remarked on the discoloration and said "looks old and ugly". So from that point forward, I have dubbed this particular rifle "Old Ugly". It really is not aesthetically pleasing like a Mauser 98 or a Rigby, but it performs like an ugly girl on prom night. Might not look great but takes that hard work like a champ.
So the basic idea of the S20 is that underneath the stock and forend is a metal chassis. This chassis allows the user to swap / mix&match between the "hunter" and "precision" stock/ forend. My particular model was a hunter, which provides for a thumbhole stock and shorter forend resulting in a more lightweight frame for the rifle. Ive been able to handle the precision setup at Scheels before and it is very nice. Supposedly the precision is heavier but I am unsure as to how much. Recoil was not bad at all but its an 8lb win mag with a thinner (to me) barrel so its going to be present. With a suppressor, all of the recoil is gone and its like shooting an x39 out of an ak.
Weight for the Hunter: 8.23lbs
Barrel Length: 24"
OD of Barrel at muzzle: 0.727"
One point I have to make is just how nice the adjustable trigger is on these. Sako factory triggers are typically really nice but this is on a whole new level. The trigger is adjustable for pull weight as well as trigger position? you can move the trigger in or out to get the perfect LOP / spot on your trigger finger. This picture illustrates this a bit better than I am. I adjusted mine to the desired 2lbs and it is just damn perfect.
I had every intention of bringing my Sauer 100 in .308 to South Africa, but due to shortages with specific bullets that rifle likes, Old Ugly quickly moved up to the number 1 spot. To start, I placed my Zeiss Conquest V4 scope on top in some Vortex Pro rings. This scope is my test scope that is placed on new rifles during break in and load development. It is a work horse.:
So how did it shoot?
Short answer: Excellent. Long answer, I keep stocks of factory ammo for each caliber that I invest in and the reason for this is to have "barrel breakin" ammo that doesnt cost alot. Nearly every factory load I shot through this rifle whether it was suppressed or not, were at or around 1 moa. Hornady 150gr interlock factory ammo gave groups of .56" consistently. I shot atleast 200 rounds during this time with accuracy improving over time. One grip I have is that no one loads 200+ factory ammo that is somewhat cost effective. I could give a sht less if this thing shoots 150s well, I like heavy bullets.
For handloads, I tested out MagPro, H4350 and H4831SC with my plains game bullet of choice, 175gr LRX. Here are the best groups I received along with relevant powder charges:
Magpro (have to find what the powder charge was, it was near or at max): .348" Amazing accuracy but it was just no consistent enough day after day shooting. The curse of double base powders?
H4350 (69 grains):.675"
H4831SC (76 grains): .405"
On the Chrono, H4831SC gave the best / most consistent velocity, so I stuck with that as my powder of choice. Avg velocity was 3025 fps with an SD under 10. I will note that these groups were repeatable whether there was a suppressor on the rifle or not.
The magpro best group. That is 5 shots...
Here are some more groups from H4831SC
How did it hunt?
Well the barrel is long and for some reason in the USA we do not do over the barrel suppressors just yet, so with my SiCo Omega 36m, it was a bit top heavy on the rest, but felt great on shooting sticks. Hunting over in SA, I had the opportunity to buy a AimSports Triton No.5 which allows the barrel to enter halfway into the suppressors length before engaging threads. Now this combination allowed for the rifle to have near perfect balance. With the Leica on top, loading with a Harris Bipod, the rifle was at about 11 pounds which is perfect for me.
In the field, its performance was stellar. I fired 7 shots and 7 animals were DRT or very close by. I shot the animals in the following positions and distances:
Blesbok, 298 yards, sitting in high grass with a BOG type shooting bipod
Gemsbok, 47 yards, prone in high grass on an old damn wall with the harris bipod
Black Wildebeest, 287 yards, sitting in high grass with a BOG type shooting bipod
Zebra, 254 yards, prone with the harris bipod
Kudu, 193 yards, standing on a steep decline on a hillside on African shooting sticks
Impala, 205 yards, kneeling with giant boulder as a rest with the harris bipod
Springbok, 256 yards, prone with harris bipod
I will only hunt with sub MOA rifles for this reason. You never know when you have to make a shot off of a questionable rest and I like to take my fatigue out of the equation as much as possible. Old Ugly got it done just as much as I did and I am glad it is the rifle I decided to bring. I am also glad that this particular rifle ended up in my hands.
This sounds like the best rifle on the planet, what's the catch?
I had two bolts that attach the stock to the chassis come loose more than once. Blue loctite fixed this issue permanently. I also had the trigger position screw come loose in a practice session and once again blue loctite saved the day. One other minor grip is that I had to buy two extra stock spacers to get my gorilla arm LOP that I require. $15 shipped from Midwest so no big deal. I also do not like the built in pic rails. I feel they are too small and adding another rail on top of them is just too retarded. I was able to make my scope work but just barely. They would have made them just one section longer and I would have had no issue with it.
In summation:
Here is Old Ugly, the only full picture I took of it the entire trip. It is wearing the Aimsports Triton No.5 in this picture. This was immediately after shooting my black wildebeest which required us sprinting into high grass and then bear crawling way too fking far to get set up for a shaky "2 seconds to make the shot" type shot off a sitting bipod. I took this picture because I was thankful that my arms, back and legs were no longer on fire from hauling that big btch across the high plains and that the stalk/suffering was not fruitless. Funny the attachment we grow with people and weapons when they go through hell and back with us! In summation, this rifle is a definite keeper. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one (especially at the price I got this one for) and for awhile was considering my next .308 purchase to be one. The S20 will be accompanying me back to SA in 2024.
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