The Model 75 Varmint features a new single-set trigger. The unset pull weight can be adjusted from two to four pounds, and the set weight is a smooth nine ounces.

Randomly reversing the order, I repeated the experiment several times. He could not tell whether he was cycling the bolt on an empty magazine or on a loaded magazine. The extreme smoothness is due to a number of design details, not the least of which is cartridge-specific action lengths that allow feeding to be adjusted for a specific cartridge rather than attempting to make one action length work with all cartridges.

Grooves machined into the two bottom locking lugs mate with tracks machined into the rails of the receiver, and this reduces wobble of the bolt during its travel.

The safety of the Model 75 is another great idea from Sako. Its two-position design prevents the bolt from rotating when pulled rearward to its "On" position, but there is more to it than that. Pressing down on an override tab located between the safety and the bolt handle allows the bolt to be rotated while the safety is engaged, thereby allowing a cartridge to be removed from the chamber while the safety is in its "On" position.

The Model 75 Varmint With Single-Set Trigger
When first writing about the Sako Model 75 in the August 1997 issue of Shooting Times, I mentioned the possibility of a single-set trigger being eventually offered as an option over the standard trigger, and I must say it was a long time coming. While attending a couple of combination coyote/prairie dog shoots in June 2005, I got to try a pair of the first Model 75 rifles with that type of trigger.

The Model 75 Varmint Layne used on prairie dogs featured a stainless-steel barreled action, a detachable magazine, and a laminated stock.

They were the Model 75 Varmint with walnut stock and blued steel and the Model 75 Varmint Stainless Laminated. Both rifles wore the equally new (and wonderfully bright) Burris 3-12X Xtreme Tactical scope. On one of the shoots I used Federal Premium ammo loaded with the 55-grain Ballistic Tip bullet, and on the other I was issued Black Hills ammo loaded with the 50-grain V-Max bullet. Both proved to be so accurate I had to look for an alibi anytime I missed a prairie dog inside 400 yards.

To merely say that I was impressed with the performance of the Model 75 and its new trigger would be quite an understatement. I grew up on varmint rifles wearing Canjar single-set triggers, so I felt right at home shooting the one from Sako. The rifle can be fired by simply pulling the trigger or by first pushing the trigger forward and then pressing it against a lighter pull. And when I say lighter I mean just that.

In its unset mode the trigger can be adjusted for pull weights ranging from two to four pounds, and I found it to be quite smooth with no detectable creep or overtravel. Pull weight of its set mode is not adjustable, but it does not need to be because it breaks like an icicle in January at a consistent nine ounces.