This rifle is the runaway winner of the “What? You Mean It’s Not For Sale?” heartbreaker prize at this year’s Media Day At The Range. The Sako TRG is a multi-caliber precision rifle system, and it absolutely blew our minds. Even though (boo!) we didn’t get to shoot it . . .
With appropriate conversion parts, the user can switch the TRG chassis between .308, .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua. Without tools. Actually that’s not quite true. It does require a few hex keys and a spanner wrench, but said tools are all part of the gun itself.
The crucial hex key is actually recessed into the bolt handle shown here. This hex key lets you remove the fore-end panel, which itself contains all the other hex keys you need to completely service the rifle.
The barrel-swap spanner wrench is also incorporated into the bolt handle. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and it’s absolutely brilliant. And that’s not all…
The skeletonized buttstock is instantly adjustable for drop, LOP and comb height. And monopod height. With only your fingertips. And all of the adjustments lock. And the stock folds. And when it folds, it locks the bolt handle in place.
Can I say it’s f***king brilliant now? I want to, but Farago says I can’t drop the F-bomb yet.
But I think I’ll get there eventually, because (in the immortal words of Al Pacino) “I’M JUST GETTING STAAARTED!” When you switch the system from the long-action .300 Winchester Magnum or .338 Lapua to the short-action .308 Winchester, most switch-barrel rifles punish you with a bolt throw that’s about nine inches too long for the short .308 cartridge. The TRG spares you this misery when you shorten the bolt throw by simply reversing the bolt release. Again, with no external tools required.
I’ll go ahead and say it now: this thing is fucking brilliant.
And none of this brilliance is being imported into the US for civilian sales. It’s going to be a long night while I cry myself to sleep about that.
You’re such a tease.
I love the articulated look of that little monopod.
I thought the same thing about the monopod.
Just gonna put this out there – that monopod is.. sexy.
Must have… NOW!!
SO MUCH WANT.
Yeah, guns like this give me a tingle in my nether regions.
What is the reason behind the non import?
Because we suck and they hate us.
Or we are wayyyy too awesome and they’re just jealous 🙂
Maybe your import laws just suck?
Well sako i loosing money but not allowing us lowly civilians buy one. And thus I will return the favor. Me personally (and only for me i’m not calling for anyone else to do so) I will never buy any sako products ever again. They just lost my money permanently.
They’d better tighten up that money, then.
I laughed out loud.
I’m sorry, but this comment makes me laugh.
What a waste of energy. Do you own anything by Sako? Have you ever even seriously looked at anything by Sako?
And you’re going to do this, why? Because they’re not importing this rifle that would probably cost five grand, easy? Do you know why they’re not importing it? What’s the likelihood you’d buy it if it hit the states? Do you have any other rifles in that price/performance class?
Seriously… “Boycott! RAWR!” has about as much meaning as “Like this on Facebook.”
Matt, it’s unfair to harangue a guy for using what may be the only psychological defense many guys have against the pain of gun-manufacturer rejection, the one-man boycott-for-a-day. I used the same defense when Suzette Lang turned me down for a dance in eighth grade. “Well, I don’t want to dance with you either, ever.”
Well, don’t leave me hangin’. Did you ever dance with her?
Sooo is he boycotting all manufacturers who have/do/will sell LE and police only products? Cuz that leaves him with high point and… Possibly keltec if you don’t believe the whole ” but they build army guns! So they can’t suck!” BS
LOL, now THAT is funny
I on the other hand, still want a Sako TRG42 (in 338L of course) to keep my TRG22 (in .308) company. Then I need to find a load using Vihtavuori powder, to make it a 100% Suomi bit of awesomeness.
But I have to EARN it by becoming awesome with the TRG22.
Frank, are you like 11 years old?
I have cramps now.
That is beautiful.
That cinches the matter; you’re not at the real SHOT Show. You’ve been bamboozled. Without any free booze.
So much want that my pants just got tight! And yearly bonuses pay out soon. Too bad I can’t get one of these. Guess I’ll just have to pull a Charlie Sheen. Yep, hookers and blow for everyone!
Hang on. It’s not for sale and you weren’t allowed to shoot it but oh, they let you fondle it. See how it slides and clicks just the way we printed it off our CAD system? And you still gave them press coverage?
Unless I missed something in your report, your integrity has been compromised.
I don’t follow re: integrity.
Plastic Vaporware.
Think, fool’s gold. Oooo, shiny!
OK, but I still don’t see what that has to do with TTAG’s integrity. It’s not vaporware. They’re making it, they’re just not selling to non-mil/non-LEO consumers. There’s lots and lots of stuff at SHOT like that. I still like reading about it. I like reading about tanks, too.
I hear you, but no. I want TTAG to protect me and you from companies like Sako who treat us like the have-not’s in this world. “Oh, you’re not Mil/LEO?. Well then step aside, sonny…”
No, I won’t reward that kind of behavior with good press and neither should TTAG.
Fair enough. Although, if they did open it up to civilian sales, you’d still have to wait a year to get one, and spend $17,000 to do it.
And A-10 warthogs. And I’m not even a pilot.
I just like the sound they make. BZZZZZZZZZT (echo echo echo)
You can get one of these the same way people get lots of stuff. Buy a friendly LEO some donuts. Get him to buy it. Then maybe he’ll sell it to you for a thousand, else pay you back the $17,000 note he signed when you gave him the loan. This is just a miniature example of the way so many Def/LEO items are actually sold in the real world, from Nigeria to Taiwan and Chile.
But really, do you know what you can buy for $17,000? Stuff you could actually have fun with! For the life of me I find the interest in over-built sniper guns hard to fathom. There are f’g beautiful guns you can use for actual self-defense, hunting, even running a revolution in Bolivia. These rifles are utterly useless unless you’re supported by at least a well-armed platoon. Or do prairie dog guns now cost as much as an entry-level Merkel doube rifle?
I hope not. A good prairie dog shooter is on my ‘get’ list.
If you want a Sako praire dog gun, buy a T3 and save yourself at least $16k.
It’s the Sako M10. For military and leo only. The base price is $17000, accessories are more.
Wow. That’s near double my guess. Wow.
Good LORD that’s a lotta money!
For that you can buy fine versions in .338 Lapua and .308 and let your bud use the one you’re not keeping busy. What’s the marketing concept, saving luggage room on a C17?
So, it’s a Barrett MRAD except with SAKO rollmarked on?
Hooahhh!!!
So sexy. That monopod is seriously hot.
Not gonna cry that I cant buy it, since it’s 17 large. I can see who its marketed to, I can buy other Sakos and thats good enough.
I will cry about not being able to go to Media Day At the Range though. I will have to be content with just the show floor as usual. Saw the Media Day bus and was trying to quickly think of a way to sneak on =)
Joe actually got to shoot it after Nick and I moved on; he rang the 900-yard gong with boring consistency.
Why not me? Waah!
Hmmm.
OK. Nerd points for learning how to drive a serious CAD and simulation program. I’m guessing SolidWorks.
Buuuut… Let’s get back to talking about, oh, I don’t know… actual guns for a moment.
Of what practical use is this rifle? Sure, it’s really trick. Sure, the black-nylon-clad, mall-ninja, donut-stalking “operators” who staff SWAT teams are going to become so priapristic that they’re going to spill their low-fat, double-whip frappuchino out of their laps whilst riding in the back of their almost-new MRAPs. But what actual problem does this solve?
I’m having real trouble creating a scenario where this rifle is needed by “law enforcement.” What does Sako think goes on in law enforcement, something like the following?
“Operator Sierra-Six, subject Bichon Frise’ appears to be 200 yards past your combat effective range for 7.62×51. Recommend you change out your bolt for .300 WinMag. Adjust your Bravo Delta Charlie for new round, chamber and wait for command to eliminate potential threat.”
LEO’s don’t need any more toys, especially at this price tag. Give the Spastic Ninja Brigades a Rem 700 in .223 with a Weaver 4X scope and call it good. When cops actually come up against a real (that is, non-imaginary) need to hit something beyond 200 yards, they can worry about going up in rifle power. Better yet, give them a .22 Hornet. Give the dogs a quarter-mile downrange a fighting chance…
Now as to military sales: This really doesn’t solve any military problems either. The DOD already has plenty of rifles available in any one of the subject calibers/chamberings, and they’re working quite well as it is right now, for a lot less money than this rifle.
This rifle, and the LEO/military sales restriction means that this entire idea is nothing more than a scheme to bilk the taxpayers royally, and for that, Sako should be held up for cynical ridicule, not praise.
What a burden. You know,…that we have so many of these 1st world problems to occupy our minds. We’ve got it so good, we’re actually bitching about not being able to buy a rifle that costs 17-grand?
Yes I owned/built Sakos
Sako is from Sweden, Sweden is a socialist nation. Socialists love Obama, nuff said
Well, that’s a rather convoluted chain of logic.
That’s no logic, it is ridiculous reality in the minds of the paranoid majority.
SAKO is from FInland.
Too bad you are wrong about the gun. IT IS NOT A SAKO TRG. I believe it is an AI product!!! Must be a blind reviewer!!!!!!!
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