Hi folks. I see posts all the time asking what would be a good rig to start out with on a tight budget. There are always the same options coming up, but I came across something different that I thought may be of interest.
For those of you who may not be aware, Savage now makes their Axis line with a heavy barrel in certain calibers. I bought one in .243 Winchester, for fun to see what it would do ($420 + tax). I put on a cheap scope that I had laying around with good rings, and bought a cheap bipod for it.
I put a couple of boxes of 100 grain factory ammo through it, to sight it in. Federal shot pretty good, Winchester not so much. I loaded up a bunch of 105 A-Max bullets with a couple different powders and went back out to the range. I shot 10 groups with the two powders, five different charge weights of each. Not counting one flyer (which may or may not have been me), every single group was sub MOA! The smallest three were 0.240, 0.269, and 0.323. I'm going back out again to retest for consistency, but having three out of ten groups well under sub 1/2 minute tells me I didn't just fluke out. I'm going to stretch it out as well to see how good it holds together.
All in, I'm under $700 into this rig and it seems to be pulling well above it's $$$ weight. I know Boyd's now makes stocks to fit this heavy barrel version, and although the Canadian dollar would make the purchase painful right now, if you really hated the plastic stock, there IS an option.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there for anyone who may be looking to get into the sport on a tight budget. It's a good option to the higher priced alternatives out there.
For those of you who may not be aware, Savage now makes their Axis line with a heavy barrel in certain calibers. I bought one in .243 Winchester, for fun to see what it would do ($420 + tax). I put on a cheap scope that I had laying around with good rings, and bought a cheap bipod for it.
I put a couple of boxes of 100 grain factory ammo through it, to sight it in. Federal shot pretty good, Winchester not so much. I loaded up a bunch of 105 A-Max bullets with a couple different powders and went back out to the range. I shot 10 groups with the two powders, five different charge weights of each. Not counting one flyer (which may or may not have been me), every single group was sub MOA! The smallest three were 0.240, 0.269, and 0.323. I'm going back out again to retest for consistency, but having three out of ten groups well under sub 1/2 minute tells me I didn't just fluke out. I'm going to stretch it out as well to see how good it holds together.
All in, I'm under $700 into this rig and it seems to be pulling well above it's $$$ weight. I know Boyd's now makes stocks to fit this heavy barrel version, and although the Canadian dollar would make the purchase painful right now, if you really hated the plastic stock, there IS an option.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there for anyone who may be looking to get into the sport on a tight budget. It's a good option to the higher priced alternatives out there.
