The supplied takedown wrench is easy to use, and color-coded barrels make switching a snap. The Quad package comes in a compartmented metal case.

The 22-inch sporter-weight barrels are cold hammer-forged, rifled 1:9 inches for the .17s, 1:16.5 for the .22 LR and 1:16 for the .22 WMR. They are not threaded; rather, they slide into the receiver, where a flat lower surface on the barrel shank indexes it. The matching surface in the receiver is a spring-loaded plate that allows the shank to enter at a slight angle, so you needn't remove the stock to change barrels. As you push the barrel home and the muzzle down to align it with the receiver axis, a big circumferential groove on the barrel shank engages a single lug at 12 o'clock inside the receiver. The plate at 6 o'clock also engages that groove.

You secure the barrel by tightening the takedown screw that bears against the plate. This machine screw accepts a supplied T-handle Allen wrench through a hole in front of the flush magazine latch and behind the front guard screw.

To remove a barrel, you simply open the bolt so it is retracted about a quarter inch, loosen the retaining screw, then lift the barrel slightly as you pull it forward. Inserting a barrel is as easy, and you can select one quickly, too, because they're color coded. Check the O-ring in the groove just forward of the shank. Blue means you have a .17 Mach 2. Red is .17 HMR. Green signals a .22 LR barrel, yellow a .22 WMR.

The two detachable, five-round magazines are of the same external dimensions; a block is used to shorten the box for the .17 Mach 2 and .22 Long Rifle. Additionally, that magazine has a vertical front rib whose top mates with a cut in the Mach 2 and Long Rifle barrels. The magnum magazine lacks this rib, the magnum barrels lack the cut, so you can't seat a short-cartridge magazine to a magnum barrel.

Seating the long-cartridge magazine to a barrel chambered to short cartridges is easy enough, but, of course, the long rounds won't chamber. The upshot: You can't feed the wrong cartridge. Incidentally, you must unseat the magazine to remove .17 Mach 2 and .22 Long Rifle barrels. Not so with the magnums. Magazines slide in like sausages. As with all rimfire boxes, they need fingernail lips, so there's no hangup when you want to reload with the rifle canted or with grit or snow in the well. The magazine catch is quick to find but invisible from the side. The action has two locking lugs and a single extractor. Bolt lift is only 50 degrees, firing-pin travel .2 inch. The single-stage trigger adjusts from two to four pounds (you must remove the stock to do this, but it is a quick, straightforward operation). A two-position sliding safety locks both trigger and bolt.

(Inset) A flat on the barrel shank engages with a spring-loaded plate; a receiver lug grips the barrel, too. Loosen the takedown screw, then lift and pull the barrel. Switching barrels takes 20 seconds.

A black, glass-reinforced poly-propylene stock comes with two accessory spacers that add 1/8 inch apiece to length of pull. The stock--conservative in profile--has fissures designed to improve grip and wears standard QD swivel studs.

Sako's Quad rifle measures just shy of 40 inches overall and weighs 53⁄4 pounds. The Quad combo package, with all four barrels, comes in a foam-padded metal case with double latches, back and front.

The rifle feels good. It balances well. It wouldn't bother me if the fore-end were a bit more slender. The buttpad spacers are a great idea. They are thin enough to permit incremental changes in length. An old-fashioned codger with traditional tastes, I'm not keen on the sculpting of grip and fore-end.

Fit of receiver and bottom assembly to the stock is tight. Not all barrels sink snugly into their channel.

Bolt movement is very smooth, with a crisp feel during lockup and primary extraction. I prefer a round knob to the triangular Quad's, though it pinches comfortably between thumb and forefinger. It could be tucked closer to the rifle. The right-hand bolt release is less obtrusive and works fine. So does the safety; it comes off easily goes on a bit too hard. The red dot under the safety's tail and the red cocking indicator under the bolt are visible but tastefully small. The cocking-piece profile lends a touch of elegance to the rifle's appearance. It is unmistakably Sako in form.

As Beretta owns both Sako and Burris, I wasn't surprised to see a Burris 3-9x32 scope built just for the Quad. It is compact but with target-style, finger-friendly windage and elevation knobs. You'll want to use high rings to ease barrel changing, though depending on the position of the objective bell, medium rings work, too. On the scope's adjustment stems you'll find color-coded collars that match the hues of the Quad's barrel bands. The collars don't move the sight mechanism; they're provided as indexing markers so you can zero for each barrel, then index the ring to allow quick return to zero after barrel changes.