100 years of cartridge expertise
Legendary Cartridges
The most memorable Sako cartridges that made a difference
100 years of cartridge expertise – Sako's legendary cartridges
Over the past century, we have been doing a significant amount of product development work and innovations in rifles and cartridges. We are proud of our every innovation over the years, but some are more memorable than others – in our and in our customers’ opinion. Here is a selection of some of our legendary cartridge products.
Legendary cartridges
Sako 7.62X53R / 762 KIVP D166
Sako’s production of cartridges began in 1929 with military cartridges and they are still being manufactured.
Sako 9 mm submachine gun cartridge
During the war years, 275 million cartridges were produced at the Sako factory in Riihimäki. Sako continued to produce 9mm cartridges until the 1990s. In the war years, all production took place in a small stone building in the factory grounds. Nowadays, this building serves as Sako’s conference and exhibition facility.
Sako 6,3X53R / 7X53R / 8,2X53R / 9,3X53R
In the 1940s, the production of different cartridge variants of the so-called rimmed military rifle cartridge began. These different calibers allowed hunting in Finland to continue at a time when everything was in short supply. So-called deer rifles were produced by Sako from converted military rifles for the above-mentioned calibers.
Sako 7X33
After the war, Sako started to develop its first in-house rifle model, and the Sako L46 hunting rifle for birds and small game was put into production in 1946. The L46 is Sako’s first in-house rifle model in which the action was designed to meet the requirements of Sako’s own caliber 7x33 developed at the same time.
Sako 7.62X39
Sako supplied the Finnish Defence Forces with 7.62 x 39 cartridges of the caliber used by the RK 62 assault rifle. Production of the cartridges began in the 1960s and roughly 10 million of them were made annually up until the 1990s.
Sako 6 mm PPC and 22 PPC (Palmisano & Pindel Cartridge)
Sako's 6 mm PPC and 22 PPC cartridges are legendary, accurate, benchrest shooting cartridges developed in the late 1980s. The calibers developed by two American benchrest shooters are so-called wildcat calibers. Based on these, Sako also developed 22 PPC USA and 6 PPC USA calibers, for which CIP (Commission Internationale Permanente) standardization was obtained.
Sako 9.3X66 (370 Sako Mag)
A short Magnum caliber developed by Sako’s cartridge guru, Erkki Kauppi, head of the cartridge factory, which is still in production. This caliber became an effective one for the Mauser Magnum cartridges. Federal wanted to start loading the cartridge in the USA and, on Federal’s request, the name 370 Sako Mag was devised to meet US standards.
Sako Super Match Precision Cartridges
These products were developed for 300m competition shooters in cooperation with the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard. The cartridges were loaded with Sierra precision bullets. The products are still being made today for both civilian and military use.
Sako Hammerhead
Sako Hammerhead has been the Sako’s best-selling civilian cartridge through the ages. This legendary big game cartridge was used to shoot, for example, Finland’s largest-ever moose with 24 points on its antlers. The elk was shot by Veikko Sipilä in Ylivieska in 1982 with a Sako L61R Finnbear rifle of 30-06 caliber. In 2020, Sako commissioned a bronze statue of the moose in the courtyard of its headquarters in Riihimäki, Finland.
Sako TRG
Sako TRG Precision Cartridge line was introduced in 2018 for shooters seeking ultimate precision and ballistic performance of a factory round. It is manufactured to the exacting tolerances, with SAKO’s propriety brass annealing process for superior accuracy and consistency in production. In production, we use only premium powder with extreme temperature stability and lot-to-lot consistency, with one piece flow loading method. The calibre selection is comparable with the Sako TRG rifle production. All production batches of TRG Precision are tested with the TRG rifle.
Sako Powerhead Blade
Sako's own copper bullet and the Sako Powerhead Blade cartridge were launched in 2020. Made from pure copper, the lead-free bullet is equipped with a terminal ballistic Blade tip which, together with the 5-stage expansion design, gives the bullet excellent characteristics over a comprehensive range of operation. The bullet works perfectly over short to longer distances, from smaller animals to big game, and all without compromising on flight ballistics.