heads up for anyone who has purchased either of these two rifles in the stainless barrel configuration this year. please pass it along, the safety of all of us are at hand. TIKKA - SAKO - BERETTA recall! Since November 2004 a serious problem has surfaced affecting stainless steel Tikka and Sako rifles. There have been several instances of "self-destruction," some involving personal injury. Nothing has been posted (as of 12-26-2004) on any of the three Web sites. One user's report noted, referring to the SAKO Finnlite model, "They have all been pulled from the shelves." This is no minor problem as can be seen if you examine some of the photos at http://tinyurl.com/4k36x (scroll down to "Re: Sako Blow-up" posted by "Lawndart") you will see the a result one shooter. The current thinking is a problem with the stainless steel barrels and some report offers to replace just the barrel while others report offers to replace the entire rifle. A poster at another forum (http://tinyurl.com/6mfuo) wrote: "recall on [Tikka] T3 Stainless rifles with serial numbers starting with 419140 and going to 461951." This information should not, however, be accepted as all-inclusive. Several shooters wrote they had received a "recall notice" from Beretta. Also, several people provided telephone numbers: Beretta 800-636-3420; in Canada, contact Stoeger's 800-263-1945. Another shooter posted this information: "I had one of the recalled rifles (.308). After a lot of research and BS'ing with people at Beretta's customer service I finally got the direct phone number (301)-283-2191. Cheryl (ext 1212) is in charge of this "situation" and was very helpfull (once she called me back). The best thing to do is to call that number then hit "0" for the receptionist. You won't get through to Cheryl but chances are you will get through to Peter. I spoke with him twice and he got my message to Cheryl with a quick response." What comes through "loud and clear" is shooters' disgust with the Beretta-SAKO-Tikka hierachy which apparently is refusing to publish any useful or explanatory information on any of the three websites. If you even think you might have one of the affected products, do NOT attempt to fire the rifle without assurance from the manufacturer that your rifle is safe to fire. Websites: Tikka, SAKO, Beretta USA
Here is the number for the STR Department that is handling the recall: 800-503-8869. This is the number that was in the paperwork I was sent. I had a Tikka T3 that was recalled. You can reach cheryl at this number along with Randy Bimson, the Customer Support Manager. I talked with both Randy and Cheryl although they seem pretty busy and are very slow to return calls. Yo can also email them at: [email protected] I shipped my T3 back to Beretta on Nov. 9th and recieved my brand new T3 back on Dec 22. They sent me a whole new rifle. I am not sure if they are doing that with all the recalls. A couple days after I recieved my rifle I also recieved a nice Beretta knife. Don't get me wrong, the knife is nice but I was disappointed that I didn't get to use my T3 for deer season. I had just bought the T3 in July of this year. Oh well, at least it didn't blow up when I was sighting it in. Take care... Bill, Jr
