The Sauer 505

The German company of J.P. Sauer & Son began life in Suhl, an old town in the iron-rich region just southwest of the Thuringian Forest. Celtic miners had plied the valleys of the rivers Hasel and Lauer from the fifth century B.C. The boulder-littered landscape prompted the Celtic name “sol,” and its derivative, “Suhl,” showing up in a feudal document in 1318. The first written account of arms manufacture in Suhl appeared in 1503.

In 1753, a fire leveled much of Suhl’s manufacturing infrastructure and took many lives. It destroyed the shops of 82 gunsmiths, 60 stockers and nine of the town’s 10 barrel-makers. Gone too were records confirming the genesis of Sauer as a gun-builder in 1751. Yet, the company continues onward to the present day and lays claim to being the oldest arms manufacturer in Germany. Standing on the foundations of this rich history is Sauer’s latest carriage-class hunting rifle — the Model 505 bolt-action.

Classic & Clean

A chassis holds the 505’s cleanly sculpted receiver, which has no external moving parts between bridge and receiver ring. It is not drilled and tapped for a scope. Dimples either side of its nicely rounded crest accept the clamps of Blaser’s saddle mount, known officially as the Sauer Universal Mount. It secures even heavy scopes, detaches in a blink and returns the sight reliably to zero when re-latched. The 505’s six-lug bolt (three in-line pairs) has a 60-degree lift and glides like a race-engine piston. Excepting a slot for the Sako-style extractor opposite the plunger ejector, the bolt face is enclosed. The bolt release is a small tab on the rear left side of the trigger bow. Nudge it up, and the bolt slips free.

Instead of a safety, the bolt has a cocking switch per Blaser’s straight-pull R8 so the 505 can be carried safely with a loaded chamber. Unlike the Blaser switch, which releases to the rear with an upward press of the thumb, the Sauer has a separate red button in the switch that relaxes the spring and makes the rifle safe.

To fire, thumb the switch ahead. Its center is just below bore-line so your thumb won’t contact the scope’s ocular bell. Pushing a switch is faster than pulling a hammer, and the motion brings your hand into the grip instead of lifting it off firing position. Unlike a hammer or a safety that blocks the trigger or firing pin, the switch makes accidental firing impossible as it relaxes the spring that powers a blow to the primer. It also yields a clean-looking, almost weather-proof bolt tail.

The 505’s single-stack magazine is a slim, essentially flush polymer box with a recessed release button up front. The box, and a follower with radiused trough, are of sturdy, lightweight polymer. Capacity is three standard or two magnum cartridges. Optional magazines for each hold five rounds.

Cold-hammer-forged barrels for the 505 are chambered for 19 cartridges — .222 through 10.3×60 R. Barrels range in length from 20″ — as on the .308 sample rifle borrowed for this review — to 24″ magnum chamberings. Sauer offers several other special-order lengths. Standard contour appears as 0.67 on the spec sheet (muzzle diameter for the .308) and there’s a 0.75 option. The blued chrome-moly steel barrels are plasma-nitrated for a hard surface. “DLC” or Diamond-Like Coating is optional; so too sights. I’m told German 15×1 muzzle threading will be replaced by 5/8×24 threads on standard barrels stateside.
Want to change barrels? Switching is straightforward on the 505, if not as quick as on your 870 Remington pump.

Quick Change Artist

A 5mm hex key, integral with the push-button rear sling swivel, fits the forend release and three screws securing the free-floating barrel. The release is not a screw and won’t respond if treated as such! Insert the key in the belly of the forend and push against light spring pressure while giving the key half a turn counter-clockwise. The forend slips off forward. To swap barrels you must loosen two clamp screws and remove the third. The key fits these fasteners but they’re snug enough (recommended 45 inch-pounds) you may need more torque than can be applied with a sling swivel between thumb and finger!

At this writing, Sauer’s 505 is cataloged with stocks of polymer, carbon-fiber and graded walnut, variously available in pistol-grip and thumbhole style, with or without adjustable comb. Compact versions are listed too. The .308 overnighting in my rack has a thumbhole stock of black polymer. Loosening the top butt-pad screw with the hex key releases the comb for adjustment. Rubbery grip panels fore and aft help with rifle control in rain and snow.

The forend is pleasingly slim and tapered while the push-button front swivel is intelligently placed on the nose of a smartly shaped Schnabel where it won’t snag. The 17 ½” measure from trigger to swivel is just an inch greater than the trigger-to-swivel span on my age-silvered .270 Winchester Model 70 and the forend is more slender where my hand grasps it. Prone or sitting, I can snug a leather sling as quickly and comfortably with the Sauer as with the Winchester.

Quick-Change Trigger

A surprise on the 505 is its trigger. Expecting adjustable weight and a crisp break, I was treated to what may be the best trigger pull I’ve ever felt on a sporting arm — this after many years and hundreds of rifles! Sauer’s trigger has weight settings of 350 to 1,250 grams (0.8, 1.7, 2.2 and 2.8 lbs.). The heaviest 505 pull is what you might expect from ordinary sporters at their lightest!

To adjust the Sauer trigger, remove the forend to expose a hole on the left side of the chassis in front of the trigger. The hex key rotates an internal block to four detent positions from light to heavy pull.

Consistent, creep-free trigger pulls just shy of 3 lbs. should satisfy any hunter. While a long-accepted standard on hunting rifles, a clean consistent 3-lb. break is elusive on many. The rare 2-lb. trigger sends me to a glass of celebratory Merlot.

Adjusted to its second-lowest (II) position, the 505 fires at 1.6 lbs. on my Timney scale, same as my rimfire match rifle. Delightful! The “I” setting barely registers half a pound on the scale yet the sear won’t release on bolt closure. The two heaviest settings gave me 2.2 and 2.8 lbs. on the scale. Spot on! The trigger holds variation in pull weight at each setting within about 10%.

Firing the 505 with its 1.7-lb. trigger pull is almost like wishing a bullet away. The benefit of such a light, clean release to field accuracy is hard to overstate!

Rifles with outstanding triggers and interchangeable barrels are not new from Sauer. The modular 202 arrived in 1993 with a traditional safety. In 2016 I reviewed the then-new 404, Sauer’s first rifle with a cocking switch. Its alloy receiver trimmed ounces. The six-lug bolt locked directly to the barrel and the bolt head could be changed with the magazine and barrel so one action accommodated the full range of 13 chamberings, .243 to .375 H&H. The 404’s trigger had four settings, 1.2 to 2.2 lbs. The trigger face could be slid 0.3″ fore and aft with the take-down key incorporated in the front swivel.

The 505 is in many ways an updated 404. Unlike the 404, it does not have a detachable bolt head. To swap a barrel for one using a cartridge of a different head size, you need another bolt. It comes dear at over $500. Figure double that for each barrel.

Field Trials

While I’ve yet to hunt with the 505, I got to know its predecessor on the windy steeps of western Scotland where rain lashed us at the shooting bench. But even the handsome Turkish walnut on the 404 in my custody shrugged off the weather. I rang steel plates to 1,000 yards. Feeding was faultless; twin ejectors kicked cases briskly. An afternoon of hammering from .300 Magnum recoil couldn’t tug the Leica scope from the grip of Sauer’s Universal Mount.

Reluctantly yielding the walnut to hunt with a synthetic-stocked 404, I slipped through a soggy Scottish fen toward a red deer my ghillies had spotted from afar. Squall’s wind in our faces and horizontal rain in our teeth, we bellied to a rise. The stag was quartering off. The Leica’s crosswire on a rear rib, I crushed the trigger. My Hornady ELD-X bullet landed audibly and powered through to the off shoulder. The deer collapsed.

While not enamored of thumbhole stocks on the carry, I had to admit that rifle’s was comfortable at cheek. So is the 505’s. With long arms and big paws, I simply prefer an open grip that does not lock the palm of my trigger hand so near the trigger where my finger then must curl scorpion-like to press with its first joint. I also find the polymer thumbhole stock and short barrel give the 505 a tilt to heel. Balance would improve with a slightly longer barrel or a suppressor up front.

The sample 505 delivered good accuracy with a variety of hunting and match ammo. Three 152-grain hollow points from Lehigh Defense loads nipped into 0.4″, a trio of Sako 162-grain Powerheads into 0.7. But getting five bullets to behave was harder. I can’t fault wind or a hot, whippy barrel. The 40-degree air was nearly still, the mid-weight barrel stiff at 20″ and allowed to cool from shot to shot. The trigger was hardly to blame; and I tried more than half a dozen proven commercial loads. Perhaps my pulse was stronger that it appeared at 12x. Still, the 505 is clearly capable of fine hunting accuracy with factory-rolled soft points. Five 165-grain Sierra GameKing held within 1 ¼”.

Inexpensive? No. Sauer’s 505 starts at just over $3,000. But it’s a cleverly engineered, supremely well-fitted sporting rifle whose quality and attention to detail come through the first time you cycle that buttery bolt or caress the trigger. The Sauer 505 is a top-shelf hunting arm in every respect!

JPSauer-usa.com

Subscribe To GUNS Magazine

Purchase A PDF Download Of The GUNS Magazine June 2025 Issue Now!