Help with Sako AI bolt face.

[Northern]

I am in a bit of a pickle...

My problem is, I bought a single shot Sako AI rifle from an estate sale 3-4 years ago.

I intended to use as a project rifle, so I was not in a hurry and it has been living in my safe since. The barrel is marked 223.

Now I pulled it out of the safe just to see over it again, and tried to put a 222 snap cap into boltface and noticed some clearance around cap. I took out my 222 Sako AI Hunter, placed snap cap into its bolt face and there was much less clearance.

So.. I am starting to wonder if previous deceased owner opened up the bolt face to PPC and didn't bother to mark the barrel properly?

How much clearance around the bolt face should there be, if its indeed a ppc bolt face, instead of 223?

[drewh]

measure the opening with calipers, a .223 should be around .380 and ppc should be .440-450.

[Chuck Miller]

Does the bolt number match the actíon, barrel is a factory Sako unit? Most of the Sako factory singleshots we're chambered in PPC's. You may just have a PPC Singleshot action with a 223 barrel screwed on it. Regardless not a bad problem to have.

[Bill K]

I would make sure of what the chamber is. Either try fitting a PPC case in the action, if it is 223 R then it would not go.
You may even want to make a chamber cast to double check what it is.

[Daryl]

If the chamber is .223, the PPC case will not fit. If the chamber is P
PC, the .223 case is too long to chamber.