Colt Sauer
 

I’ve recently gotten a Colt Sauer rifle in some horse trading. My first impressions were “Wow”, what a gorgeous rifle! The unique features in this rifle have intrigued me for years, now I have one to test drive. A few things of interest. Rear bolt lugs that cam outwards into action abutments makes for one of the smoothest actions ever. Potential to switch barrels with 2 bolts on the recoil lug(this one came with an aftermarket 338 WM barrel). So does anyone one here have any real world experience with these or the Sauer 80/90?
Thanks.

Growing up in South Africa the Sauer 80/90 was fairly common, albeit far from the typical working mans rifle (those were Musgraves, CZ's, Zastava's. Sako's if you were a bit more dedicated and serious). Steyr's and Sauers were for the guys who wanted to demonstrate some conspicuous expenditures!

An acquaintance of mine had one in 8x68S that he did well with. I worked on a ranch owned a German who had a pair in .30-06 and .375. I shot both a few times and shot a few head of game with the .30-06.

Smooth for sure. I liked the stock ergos, triggers were good, and they were accurate. They were also quite heavy with that chunky action (just like the rear locking Steyrs and S&L's).

Despite their 'high-end' appeal and pleasing function I would like to see one that has gone through heavy use and a lot of shooting (thousands of rounds). I am skeptical of that camming lug system to hold up to heavy use....

They are an interesting design. With the receiver being cut thru the recoil lug with the 2 cross bolts it should make for and interesting “switch barrel”. My brother has one in a 375 H&H and I have tried to talk him into putting a barrel on which he would be more apt to shoot more than the 375 .

I like the idea of switch barrel for sure. One thing I’m going to overhaul yet is the barrel channel. It needs to be relieved in a few spots, and free floated. But that’s just my preference.
Another thing of note I had to correct! The head space ring was missing for the 300 WM barrel, so I had a friend mill me one that I honed to .025” to index the head space. The 338 barrel was indexed to bottom out the threads so less complex.

alternatives
 

The same actions were sold to Carl Gustaf as surplus and they made them into the Carl Gustaf 3000. They have "Carl Gustaf" milled into the side of the receiver with the Sauer brand mark on either side. German action with Swedish barrel. Unfortunately, they also have Swedish (birch or beech?)stocks which I have always found butt ugly!
I have one on its way to me now in the mail and am curious to try it out.
I also have a Shutlz and Larsen with the rear lug system. Some have said that these rear lug lock-ups are not as accurate, which my experience has not shown.

I've got one of the Sauer 80's in the guise of the Carl Gustaf 3000. Mine is in 6.5x55. As you say the bolt is amazingly smooth, a great single stack mag, and I've had great accuracy with it.

I like the Schultz and Larsen rifles. I’ve had 5 over the years. All shot as well as any other high end hunting rifles I’ve owned. Very little effort to get them shooting Sub MOA

I have one in 9.3x62.

A family member picked one up a year or so ago, in 300 win mag. Slicker than snot and very well made and good looking gun. However I found the factory rings and bases to be a PITA to work with, so I ordered talleys and mounted a leupold scope properly

AFAIK he hasn’t shot it yet due to a shoulder injury. Will be interesting to know how it performs.

limited experience but of the 3 i handled, i found them slick as all get out, but heavy to me....years later had a sauer 202 which i thought was great, but that is different beast

Sauer 80 and 90 are great rifles. The Sauer 80 had issues with not opening directly after the shot on high pressure Caliber like 8x68S . This got sorted out.
I like my 9,3x62 Carl Gustav 3000 and my 300 Weatherby Sauer 90. well build rifle’s.