Opinions on savage axis xp predator

[Vyrtual]

Hey guys, looking to get into some varmint hunting and saw this combo in cabelas the other day. Anyone have experience with this rifle? Pros/cons? It comes all camo'd up and comes with a primos turbo dogg elec game call. Figured it'd be good to start out with in either .204 or .223. I want to save pelts and all my rifles would nuke them.
Anyone own one that could let me know how it functioned? Perhaps a better deal out there? Don't want to spend a heap, let's say around 5-6 hundred bucks at most.

Thanks in advance.

 

[g-manz35]

I bought the standard synthetic Axis with a blued barrel package (223 Rem) on sale for $250 +tax and shipping after Christmas last year. I don' t mind the rifle, but the trigger was terrible. I spent another $105 on a Rifle basix and installed it myself. When I was first developing loads for it it seemed to shoot inconsistant so I took the Cheap Bushnell scope off and put a cheap Simmons that I got off another Savage package rifle. With my hand loads it shoots MOA out to 300 yards. With the new trigger on it I can shoot it quite well. The gun is still far better than I am. I also put a Bipod on it and despite the flimbsy stock it does not seem to throw off the accuracy. I have taken 5 coyotes with it so far using 53 gr V-max. For the most part they are fur friendly, but I had one exit the other day and it made a bit of a mess. I personally like this rifle, but in hind sight with all I've done to it I would have rather bought an International Trophy Hunter. I believe they come with a Nikkon Prostaff scope and cost $509 at WWS. I'm not really into gunsmithing and would have prefered not to replace the trigger on my Axis myself. The ITH comes with the Accutrigger which I am a fan of. The Snow camo Axis sells for $500 and I believe it would be counter productive to buy a Camo Stainless gun with a terrible trigger.

The only other option for the trigger is to do the do it yourself trigger job which did not intrest me. At some point if I wanted to sell the gun I could not sleep at night knowing that the work I had done on the gun may endanger someone else. As it is I would not sell my gun with the after market trigger installed. I would reinstall the original trigger(by simply pulling one pin and sliding it back in) and disclose it to the buyer. Hence I would rather spend a little extra and get a stiffer stock, better scope and the Accutrigger.

That's my experience and opinion. I hope it is of value to you.

G

Edit. Upon further research I think the scope on the International Trophy hunter may actually be a Weaver. Can't say for sure. Sorry!

Edit#2. I also just realized that you where not talking about the snow camo Axis with stainless barrel, but rather the full camo with the barrel painted. My bad!

 

[Vyrtual]

Thanks a lot for the great review man, that helps a lot!
It was trigger locked so I didn't have a chance to check the pull and I have no experience with savages. Thanks again dude.

 

[g-manz35]

I have heard of the triggers being measured at 6 to 7 lbs pull which seems about right to me. Mine also had a lot of creep. I found it really hard to shoot something small like a fox or skunk. The trigger felt like it would creep a bit-catch-creep a bit -catch etc etc. The Accutrigger is not everyones cup of tea, but I like mine. It's on a mod 116 that I own. I measured it at 2.5 lbs and it breaks crisp. Once the fir seasn is over I may pull the stock off of my Axis and give it a camo job. I will try practicing on some cardboard etc till I'm confident I can do a good job. I may even camo my crap scope if I think it will stick properly. Snow camo is no real advantage to me as I shoot coyotes all year round. I have a real problem here and need to thin them out a bit. The funny thing about that flimbsy stock is how nice it is to hold/shoot. I've got rather big hands, but I like that little stock. It's got a shape I like to hold. Go figure!

Now that the fur is coming in and the pelts seem like they may be worth something this year I'm trying to develope a load with 55 gr Nosler Varmagedon bullets. I've tried Barnes Varmint Grenades without success in the accuracy department. I'm hoping the Varmagedon work as I think they are more fragile than the V-max and I'm hoping this means no exit wounds. I have never shot a 204, but two of my brothers and one nephew have them. They love shooting them, but I get mixed reveiws on their effectiveness on coyotes. I'm not about to start a calibre debate on it so I'll leave it at that.

G