Button rifling also creates a great deal of stress in a barrel as well, since the process displaces the steel rather than cutting it away. The way to handle this is to either heat or cryo treat the barrel after the rifling process is complete. I'm betting that Sako heat treats their barrels to relieve all the internal stresses before they are assembled. Whatever they do to them, they are genuine match-grade barrels and they are guaranteed to shoot 1MOA out of the box, so they must be doing something right.

I personally believe that this rash of defective barrels is probably a combination of a flawed batch of stainless steel aggravated by the fact that the barrels are of a light contour already, and then are deeply fluted to further reduce weight. Remember, that while there is a run of FinnLights (the only Sako's showing this problem) that are recalled, there are MANY more guns, FinnLights and standard stainless steel Model 75's that are just fine. Sako's been making safe, reliable and quality guns for a long time, and like any other company they are experiencing a serious but isolated issue with their foundry delivering them substandard barrel blanks.

I think that perhaps they have not delt with the problem as aggressively as the should have, but I also understand that a company cannot be too hasty to take the blame for a few incidents until they have all their facts straight. I can also understand their reluctance to broadcast this recall to anyone and everyone, because as we've seen here, there are many who see one incident like this and swear off buying that type of gun ever again no matter what. Sako and Berretta USA were caught between the proverbial "rock and a hard place" with this, and they haven't shirked their responsibility to right the discrepancy, they are just doing so quietly.

Oh, and I think it's also inportant to note that every other major mass producer has had their share of blown up rifles due to causes other than operator error. Yet the same people who swear off Sako will take their Remington M700 out without a second thought that MANY of them have exploded for one reason or another. Heck, I watched an M700 partially self-destruct not 6 feet from me only 6 months ago, but I'd still but an M700 if the mood struck me, because I rationally understand that that gun was an exception, not the rule.

I think everybody who's all freaked out about this needs to take a deep breath, relax, realize that this is NOT indicative of Sako rifles of the past or future, and let Sako and Berretta USA deal with this issue. If you own a FinnLight, call them and see if it's recalled. If not, enjoy your great shooting rifle. I know for sure when I finally buy my Sako 75 off layaway I won't hesitate to shoot it as much as possible.

Mike