[2] The tight production schedule laid out by the Finnish Defence Forces for the new sniper rifle programme led to them using once again the venerable Mosin-Nagant construction, albeit heavily modified, in the TKIV 85, which was assembled at Asevarikko 1 ('Arsenal 1') in Kuopio, with major input and parts production from Valmet.

[4]: 114 Valmet started also designing a proper sniper rifle completely from scratch on their own, which was also recommended by a FDF HQ major Kari Aro.

[3] The trial rifle turned out very accurate, and a small batch was manufactured for the civilian market before the merger of Sako and Valmet.

The produced rifles however didn't yet incorporate all of the features developed during the development, such as the multi-calibre rifle patent (Finnish patent № 72807), which featured an aluminium bedding block (chassis) to which barrelled actions of different calibres could then be quickly changed.

[5] The main design of the rifle features a forged receiver, to which a 60° rotating, three-lug bolt locks.

[1] The two-stage trigger mechanism is derived from Valmet Suomen Leijona target/competition rifles, and is adjustable between 0.7 and 2.0 kg (7 and 20 N) force.