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Sako TRG 22/42

The History of Sako

Sako (Suojeluskuntain Ase- ja Konepaja Oy) is rifle and ammunition manufacturer located in Riihimäki, Finland. It was founded in 1921, after the rifle repair workshop, opened in former Helsinki brewery, became independent of the civil guard. The workshop grew into a weapons factory, which produced hunting rifles as well as cartridges and moved its headquarters from Helsinki to Riihimäki. The first civilian rifle bearing the name Sako, was the L42, prototyped in 1942 and commercially manufactured a few years later.

After the World War II, domestic hunting culture thrived and Sako invested in development of hunting rifles. Due to this investment, domestic sales increased along with export to the USA and the rest of the world. In the 1980s, Sako merged with another firearm manufacturer, Tikkakoski and gained a valuable rifle line called Tikka. The production of military and law enforcement weapons started when Finnish defence forces ordered assault rifles and cartridges from Sako.

The company has changed multiple owners since 1921, but has ultimately been sold to Italian Beretta Holding in 2000. In 2006, Sako celebrated its 85th anniversary by launching a new hunting rifle family, Sako 85. In 2020, Sako introduced S20, the first truly hybrid rifle, designed for both; hunters and tactical shooters. Another novelty presented by Sako in 2020 was a brand new, lead-free Sako Powerhead bullet.

Sako TRG 22/42 Rifle Review 

Sako TRG is one of the global icons in the precision shooting world. It has been in production for a long time already, serving as a crown jewel for the company. Sako has produced TRG-21 and TRG-41 from 1989 to 1999 and then replaced them with TRG-22 and TRG-42, which are still being produced. They added A1 and M10 models to their inventory in the 21st century.

TRG-22 is one of the best-known Finnish precision rifles, while TRG-42 is its Magnum version. Many countries, especially European, purchased TRG-42 rifles, while a few other countries opted for the lower-calibre TRG-22 rifles and both rifles serve the governments of several nations as their primary sniper rifle. The stock is fully adjustable and reinforced with high-tech aluminium and the bolt is at a 60° angle for fast bolt throw.

The TRG-42 is a rifle for serious long-range competitions and can be equipped with a vast array of accessories to meet the most demanding requirements. TRG-42 has double plungers for more effective cartridge ejection since 2013. The receiver is stabilized with 3 fastening screws, while the receiver includes 16.5mm (some may say 17mm) dovetail, which also includes 6 mounting holes for mounting purpose, 3 at the front and 3 at the back. This mounting surface is the same as the one on Sako TRG 21/41. This means, Sako kept this part of the rifle the same on TRG 21, 41, 22 and 42 rifles, so the mounts that fits one of these rifles will fit the other 3 as well. Another Finnish rifle with very similar receiver mounting surface is Tikka T3, which also has 16.5mm dovetail, so many mounts from aforementioned rifles fit T3 and vice versa. Despite the similar receiver mounting surface, Tikka T3 is mostly equipped with hunting mounts, while the TRG 22/42 is equipped almost exclusively with tactical mounts – picatinny rails and monoblock mounts.

Sako TRG 22, chambered for .308 Win.

Figure 1: Sako TRG 22, chambered for .308 Win. (Source: https://www.scopelist.com/sako-trg-22-308-green-fixed-stock-phosphate-metal-finish-jrsw716.aspx)

Sako TRG 22/42 Calibers

TRG-22 is chambered for:

  •  6.5mm Creedmoor

  • .260 Rem.

  • .308 Win.

TRG-42 is chambered for:

  •  .300 Win. Mag.

  • .338 Lapua Mag.

Sako TRG 22, chambered for .308 Win.

Figure 2: Sako TRG 22 receiver, chambered for .308 Win. (Source: https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/products/147156-sako-trg-22-308-win-r28641.html)

Scope Mounts Interchangeable With Sako TRG 22/42

Even though Sako’s traditional mounting system is tapered dovetail, they chose 16.5mm dovetail mounting system for their TRG 21 and TRG 41, which stayed the same through the years, so the successors of 21/41 - Sako TRG 22 and TRG 42 inherited this same mounting system, along with Tikka T3 and some of the Tikka rifles that came before the T3. Therefore the mounts for all these rifles can contain either “TRG”, “21/41”, “22/42” or “Tikka T3” in their names and they will still fit all of them.

Best Scope Mounts for Sako TRG 22/42

Picatinny Rails for Sako TRG 22/42:

For mounting a Picatinny rail, we can make use of the 6 holes placed in the dovetail. With the help of these holes, we can install a Picatinny rail on top of the dovetail and then install any mount that fits the Picatinny.

Detachable Repeatable Mounts for Sako TRG 22/42:

If you would like to have repeatable mounts, we advise you to mount Picatinny rail on the receiver and then repeatable monoblock on top of this Picatinny rail. For repeatable monoblock we would advise you to go with Spuhr QD.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you have this rifle or any other rifle at home, we would really appreciate it if you could send us some photos of the rifle receiver (mounting surface of the rifle when there are no mounts installed), because it would help us expand our rifle mounts database. If you send us a photo of rifle receiver which we don’t already have, that would be of great value to us and we will definitely reward you for your help.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade.eu

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VIDEO

Introduction

In recent years we can observe that a trend of Picatinny rail has become widespread and global. It is driven by the NATO standardized rails, more commonly known as the Picatinny rail standard. Picatinny rail being the New Jersey Arsenal that developed it in 1995.

These mounting options are revolutionary. The biggest and best advantage being that the Picatinny rail can be used its entire length and not bordered to a few pre-designed slots like for example the Weaver rail standard was before.

The other main advantage is the ease of use and interchangeability. If a product is meant for a Picatinny rail design it will fit all Picatinny-rails, no matter the manufacturer or date of production.

Picatinny/Weaver Rail

Picatinny Rail and Weaver rail profile

Design

The Picatinny rail is almost exclusively crafted from a single piece of metal (in some cases aluminum). In this manner, the axis of the Picatinny rail is perfectly straight and aligned with the axis of the firearm. Therefore the rifle scope which is mounted onto this kind of configuration is certainly aligned with the rifle / gun and the trajectory of the ammunition.

Weaver rail design on the other hand is usually manufactured in two separate pieces, greatly increasing the possibilities for the axis to be crooked, overlapping, and out of line.

It is always harder to align two separate pieces to a third line than it is to align one piece to another. In this way, the lapping of two mounting rings on a single-piece Picatinny rail is no longer required.

The single-piece rail will assure that both rings are perfectly aligned to each other and that no unwished stress is transferred to the riflescope.  

Picatinny compare to Weaver Rail

The Picatinny rail itself is an evolutionary step forward from the older Weaver rail. The main difference between Picatinny rail and Weaver rail is the spacing of the slots. Picatinny rail design has them evenly placed exactly 5.23 mm from one slot to the other, 3 mm deep. For this reason, the mounting options are repeatable and the same as other firearms using the Picatinny rail standard.

Interchangeability was a major driving force in the development of the new standard as different NATO armies need to be compatible with each other.

Weaver rail has 3.8mm wide slots and these slots can be placed anywhere on the Weaver rail and in any number that the producer wished.

Advantages of Picatinny design

A big advantage for using the Picatinny rail design is the ever-present recoil stop. Furthermore, the manufacturing of the rail is not very technically demanding and can be done without the use of state-of-the-art machines which greatly reduces the cost of the finished product, making it very affordable.

The Picatinny rail is easy to mount and usually, this type of configuration does not transfer negative stresses and forces from the fired weapon to the rifle scope.

In addition, the Picatinny rail with its very long useable surface works well for mounting longer rifle scopes or to achieve optimum eye relief.

The durability and toughness are other big pluses for this solution.

Manufacturers of Popular Models

A majority of the Picatinny rings are fixed, but a number of best rated European manufacturers (EAW, MAK,..) have, in recent years, put a lot of effort into the development of detachable ring with100% repeatability, with which it becomes easy to remove the scope from the weapon without the use of tools.

No re-zeroing is needed with such mount options, but these models tend to be expensive. 

Weaver and Picatinny Rings

Picatinny rail and weaver rail share one more thing. It is possible to use the Weaver ring and the Picatinny ring on the Picatinny-rails, but it is usually impossible to use the Picatinny ring on the Weaver base. The reason being the above-mentioned positioning and spacing of the slots.

  • Picatinny mounts have a 5mm recoil stop that goes into the rail slot and since
  • Weaver rail only has 3.8mm wide slots such rings do not fit on Weaver rails.

Due to this reason, the Picatinny-rails are popular and prevailing on the market in recent years and eventually, these options will completely oust the Weaver rail from the market.