Sako S20 Hunter 6.5 PRC

H&Hhunter said:

Gawd dang it you guys.. You've got me all fired up to get an S20 now.

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The current Eurooptic/Beretta deal is hard to beat. If you have both stocks, that gives you four combinations of butt stock and forend to play with.

These S20s are incredibly smooth feeding rifles with excellent factory triggers. I would have preferred a 1:10 twist for the .30 cal options for long for caliber copper bullets in cold temperatures, but the 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5 PRC barrels are 1:8 so no complaints there. I can live with 1:11 in .308 Win and it's more than fine in the Win Mag with the extra velocity and it's likely I won't shoot the 175gr LRX bullets in the .308 Win.

Yep, an S20 in .300 Win Mag is in my future and once I have one I'd probably sell the excellent Tikka T3 TAC that I have in .300 Win Mag. That rifle has dropped three elk and a deer but the S20 is just cooler and more versatile.

If I'm coming across as being a bit of an S20 fan boy it's because I am. I've owned many rifles and still own many rifles, and the S20 is just really special if you like that sort of thing, which I do. I think Sako could make a lighter version of the S20 and charge an extra $1k for it and it'd sell. I know I'd want one ... or two.

I'll post some photos of the two S20s together and shoot the new one and show some results. I'm expecting good things based on how phenomenal the 6.5 PRC is.

H&Hhunter said:

Weight of the S20 is the only thing that’s giving me pause.

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I absolutely get that concern. I got a Vortex Viper PST 4-16x50mm FFP mil/mil optic mounted on the .308 Win today using NF ultralight rings and with a SilencerCo ASR brake on the muzzle the weight is 9lb 12oz. The suppressor will add another 1 lb or a little less. That's excellent as a lightweight "tactical" rifle but will be too much for many as a hunting rifle. Oddly enough, the Sako doesn't feel heavy and I think the thumb hole stock helps in that regard.

I've taken one of my Accuracy International AWs and a POF P308 hunting, and of course my Talkeetna. The AW is considerably heavier, the POF very similar, and the Talkeetna just a little lighter so for me I consider the S20 to be perfectly viable as a hunting rifle carried over the shoulder with a good sling. The QD cups make the rifle easy and comfortable to carry flat against the back.

I can see AI and Sako covering all of my tactical and hunting needs and am at the point of putting everything else up for sale.

Here's the new S20 .308 Win shown with the 10-round magazine and a SilencerCo Omega 300 suppressor. Not sure if I'll run this suppressor or the AAC Mk13-SD that @MachIVshooter recently modified since they're basically the same weight. The AAC is longer and has a lot more volume and so should be somewhat quieter.

I have a number of Zeiss Conquest MC scopes and they look slick on the S20. There's something about the look of a European scope on a European rifle. I might eventually swap out the Vortex scopes on both S20s with Zeiss Conquest RZ600/RZ800 models but I'll need to order 1" rings that are higher than what I have. Maybe some NF ultralight rings if they're available.

troy fairweather said:

How's the barrel afixed?, I'd have to look at what the oal is for the magazine on the long action rounds. I like just about everything about them like the trigger shoe can be adjusted, the stock is a great idea, extractor looks good sized, locking bolt, I like the integrated pic rail. Different bolt knob options would be nice,

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The barrel is threaded into the receiver.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm trying to get hold of Beretta CS to ask them about the 10-round magazines that I bought. All four magazines for the 6.5 PRC (3-round and 7-round) lock in nicely into both rifles with virtually no effort required and a positive "click". The .308 Win 5-round magazines lock into both rifles with little effort, slightly more than the 6.5 PRC magazines and with a less positive "click". This is possibly due to the feedlip geometry and I can live with that since they lock in just fine, but I prefer the louder and more positive "click" of the 6.5 PRC magazines. The 10-round magazines are another animal altogether and require a considerable amount of force to lock in, and I'm talking considerable. It's hard to tell what the issue is even when comparing all eight magazines that I have. Doesn't make a lot of sense but it's surprising that Sako would ship these magazines given the issue. I'm not opposed to breaking out some files and making them work but this is definitely an issue.

As promised, two 5-shot groups after bore sighting. I used some Hornady 150gr SST factory ammunition to bore sight and shoot these groups after making a scope adjustment. Not terrible, not great, but some match ammo would probably look quite a bit better. I've never had much luck with SST loads whether factory or handloads.

All in all I think these groups show potential so I'll rummage through my hunting ammo stash and see what this rifle likes. I have a lot of Remington 168gr TSX Hog Hammer stuff so it would be good if that shoots well and I can have something ready for this hunting season if necessary.

Velocity is up around 2,800 fps from the 20" barrel and a SilencerCo Omega on the end.

With a 100 yard zero the reticle is basically centered in the tube so I only have 11 milrad of vertical, and with the integral rail it's not something I can easily correct for. I don't think it's a problem though since 4.3 milrad gets me out to about 600 yards. 11 milrad gets me out to 1,000 yards assuming the ballistics of the 150gr SST or similar.

troy fairweather said:

The magazines are cheaper then I would have thought at europtics,

What are the differences between the hunter and Precision other then stock, the hunter is Fluted but are the contour the same. The precision is $100 more I believe.

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The stock is the only difference with the Precision stock being heavier.

@troy fairweather, maybe this will help.

I started load development today for the S20 .308 Win using the Barnes 175gr LRX. I haven't found any factory load to be excellent unlike the 6.5 PRC S20 that is exceptionally accurate with factory Hornady ammunition, so rather than waste ammunition I decided to get hand loading. With 12 bullets down the barrel I've already found a very good load.

I have literally hundreds of Barnes 150gr TTSX, hundreds of Barnes 180gr TTSX, and maybe a couple of hundred Barnes 165gr TTSX but decided to start with the 175gr LRX in the hope to have something ready by the start of rifle season. The 150gr TTSX might be a match made in heaven for this rifle and I might take a crack at that next given the encouraging results today. The added velocity wouldn't hurt and a 150gr TTSX at 2,800 fps might be better deer/elk medicine than a 175gr LRX at 2,600 fps.

Looking at the results with the Kimber 84M and 24" Proof barrel shooting the 178gr AMAX and 175gr LRX I loaded up four rounds of 42.5gr, 42.8gr and 43.1gr of Varget. I hadn't cleaned the rifle and the zero was different so I used the first load to get velocity and make a scope adjustment but the last three of the four shots were under an inch so I wasn't disappointed. The next 4-shot group was very encouraging at under 0.70" (see below). I changed targets for the last group and messed up the last shot but the results were still encouraging at around and inch and better than any factory load I've tried. Average velocity and ES for 43.1gr was basically the same as 42.8gr so it looks to me that I could do a minimal amount of tweaking with the 42.8gr load and end up with a very decent hunting load. The COAL is just about at maximum magazine length and the bullet isn't on the lands. To be honest, I don't know what the jump is but I'll play with primers first, and if time allows I'll play with COAL once I've settled on a primer. All that said, I wouldn't be too worried loading up some 42.8gr loads for this hunting season.

The forend of the S20 Hunter model isn't ideal for bag use so I could switch it out for the Precision forend. The Hunter forend feels way better for hunting use and positional, no bag rest type shooting.

By the way, comparing the 24" Proof barrel on the Kimber to the 20" S20 barrel there's about a 50fps drop in velocity from the shorter barrel for the 42.8gr load. That's with both barrels having a SilencerCo Omega on the end of the muzzle. It's not an apple to apples comparison because the COAL for the Kimber is shorter so the pressure is probably a bit higher.

Kimber 84M Proof 24" > 2,618 fps AVG
Sako S20 20" > 2,568 fps AVG

It might be a fool's errand working up a 175gr load for this 1:11 twist barrel. Berger's bullet stability calculator isn't impressed with this combination. It likes the 150gr TTSX and is ok with the 165gr TTSX, both at 30F and 3,000 ft elevation.

I put together some 150gr TTSX loads today but haven't shot them yet. I thought about it and have decided to go with the 150gr TTSX for hunting given the excellent stability in very cold weather and the fact that it doesn't give up much when compared to the 165gr TTSX and 175gr LRX at typical hunting distances. In fact, it beats the other two in some situations.

For anyone wondering about handloading for the S20, I haven't done anything for the 6.5 PRC yet but this .308 Magazine will allow me to get the 150gr TTSX into the lands if I want. I'm starting out about .010" off the lands with a COAL of 2.940". The magazine will accept a COAL of close to 3.000".

On another note, I contacted Beretta to ask about the 10-round magazines and they want me to send the rifle in. Nope, not going to happen. I find myself wishing the Sako/Tikka would stand on their own or partner with a better company.

LoonWulf said:

Why build a modular rifle that has to go back for magazine changes lol!

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Excellent point but Beretta wants the entire rifle back for a magazine that's hard to seat.

The 10-round SA magazine being hard to seat is the only blemish on an otherwise extremely positive experience with both S20s. The 7-round 6.5 PRC magazines snap in easily with a nice "click". I guess injection molding and tolerance stacking could be the problem. Having two S20s with the same receiver and stock means that I can switch all the magazines around in an effort to figure out what the problem is and whether it can be corrected with a file or similar. I think the added length of the SA magazine feedlips cause the magazine to meet more resistance as it's being inserted. The SA magazines have way less movement in the stock once seated compared to the PRC magazines and I bet that's due to interference between the feedlips and receiver. It's a different mold for the 10-round magazine body compared to the 5-round so that could explain why the 10-round magazines require a lot of force in order to snap in. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a small difference in the size and position of salient parts on the magazine body i.e. feedlips and magazine catch, that's causing this issue. Definitely not something that Beretta customer service can fix.

Skylerbone said:

I may have missed it, but the 6.5 PRC magazines; did you measure for length yet or no? I thought I read they won’t get you to the lands but was curious.

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The internal length of the PRC magazine is 3.170". The COAL for a Hornady 143gr ELD-X on the lands is 3.000". The COAL for a Nosler 142gr ABLR on the lands is 3.070" so there's no problem getting bullets to the lands. I don't imagine that the Hornady 147gr ELD Match bullet would be any different.