Savage Axis rifles.

Chuckbuster

Chuckbuster

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Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know, but I have always found the Axis to be on the homely side, yet, like the not so pretty girl at the prom with the promise of hidden treasure, I am finding myself drawn to them the more I think about them. The price point doesn't hurt either...and now they have versions for those of us who manipulate the bolt from the correct side of the rifle. So, am I out of my mind or what? What do people who actually have them think of them?
 
Don't own one but checked a few out at the LGS The stock can be more or less flimsy. You may or may not want to do something with the trigger. I hear they all shoot though, just like a Savage should.

I'm considering one in .243 if I get serious about coyote hunting. Not sure I want to lug my rather heavy .223 FCP-K around all the time and I'd cry alot less if I dinged up up the Axis.
 
I had 2 sold one. Working on finding a replacement for the other.
Triggers suck thats all there is to it. Put timneys in both mine. The stock sucks as well flexes a lot and I mean a lot. Would be nice if short action calibers came in a short action. I also found that mine starts to rust if not oiled within a few hours of bringing it back inside. The action feels a little cheap like its not real good steel or something. Kind of aluminumish. But for $300 what do you expect right.
I had the 223 out today shoots pretty darn good though. The 30-06 shot pretty good as well.

All in all I would pass on one and get something a little better.
 
i use to like my axis it 30,06 i actually don't find the trigger bad like everyone else, only thing i change on the gun was i put a 4x12x50 scope on it and it shoots great, but i dont ever shoot it anymore. (dont hunt anymore, and if i ever go to the range i only take out my old war guns,)
 
There was another one of these threads not too long ago. Most of these guns will easily shoot .5MOA with good handloads. And a lot of guys put a rifle basix in for $89 to make that feat a little easier. Of course it's not going to be perfect (flimsy stock, rougher action) but for $300 you can have a LOT of fun and not worry about beating the snot out of it.
 
I've got one in 22-250. The thing is a tack driver. I did the trigger mod that is common it helped a bit. Yes, it's ugly. But it's cheap and accurate. I left the scope on it that it came with. It works.
 
Trigger is poor, the trigger mod helps a lot. I don't really notice it when I'm hunting, just on the shooting bench. 3/4" grouping with my thrown together load. I put a 6-24 4200 on mine.
 
I too was strangely aroused by the axis, so I got a .223. Put the scope it came with on my cooey .22 and put a higher quality 3-12x40 and wow can it shoot!! I will stiffen up the stock with epoxy and metal rods cause I wouldn't mind a bipod but I can fire nice groups with the trigger as it is. We will see how much I like it when gopher season ramps up but I like the rifle, especially for the price point!!
 
JRodko said:
There was another one of these threads not too long ago. Most of these guns will easily shoot .5MOA with good handloads. And a lot of guys put a rifle basix in for $89 to make that feat a little easier. Of course it's not going to be perfect (flimsy stock, rougher action) but for $300 you can have a LOT of fun and not worry about beating the snot out of it.
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I did a search for any similar threads and none turned up. What I did get was a bunch of EE ad threads. Do you have a link?

Back to the rifle though, I was thinking it would be a good shooter that I wouldn't obsess about in terms of dings, rough use and the elements.
 
Chuckbuster said:
Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know, but I have always found the Axis to be on the homely side, yet, like the not so pretty girl at the prom with the promise of hidden treasure, I am finding myself drawn to them the more I think about them. The price point doesn't hurt either...and now they have versions for those of us who manipulate the bolt from the correct side of the rifle. So, am I out of my mind or what? What do people who actually have them think of them?
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I'm a south paw and picked up a lefty Axis in .223 a few months ago to keep under the back bench in the truck. Stock is flexy, but easily stiffened. The trigger is long, gritty and heavy. There are a few aftermarket options available, but I chose to clip the spring and do a little stoning. it's light, accurate and can get all beat up without hurting my feelings. :)
 
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I picked up one of the scoped packages from SFRC, and for a $400 coyote gun all in, I could ask for nothing more.... Easily shoots sub MOA with factory hunting loads if I do my part (sighting in before going into the field). Who knows maybe I just caught a good barrel... The trigger resembles a rusty light switch tho...
 
I had one in .223, and like most people have already said, the trigger sucks, the stock is on the flimsy plastic side, but the thing shoots straight. A few more minor complaints, but not necessarily bad thing for everyone are (as was already mentioned) they are all long action with a block in the mag to hold whatever caliber you are using and i found the fore and rear grips to be a little narrow for my hands, i like a little bit beefier stock to hold on to.
For a beginner, someone on a budget or as a woods beater it's hard to beat, but get a new trigger for sure if you can.
 
Hush guys your positive posts on these rifles are probably going to drive the EE prices up on them above retail prices. ;)
 
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shaolin555 said:
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I picked up one of the scoped packages from SFRC, and for a $400 coyote gun all in, I could ask for nothing more.... Easily shoots sub MOA with factory hunting loads if I do my part (sighting in before going into the field). Who knows maybe I just caught a good barrel... The trigger resembles a rusty light switch tho...
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You forgot to paint the bipod and bolt body. :p
 
Nice job, really improves the look shaolin555,
I really was surprised by the level of performance that was squeezed out of this rifle. My father in law had me sight one in and find a decent factory load for it. I think they have a "cheap" feel, but Jerry at Mystic has proven that they will take some serious abuse. There are plenty of there out there that after a home-bedding job and a slight trigger tune that are submoa to maybe even the .5 range, kinda depressing for those of us that have spent upwards of 1500.00 to accomplish this! I think that if looks are not the top, and you have any budget concern whatsoever, that you likely cant go wrong.
shaolin555 said:
imagealwq.jpg


I picked up one of the scoped packages from SFRC, and for a $400 coyote gun all in, I could ask for nothing more.... Easily shoots sub MOA with factory hunting loads if I do my part (sighting in before going into the field). Who knows maybe I just caught a good barrel... The trigger resembles a rusty light switch tho...
Click to expand...
 
As it happens I just bought an Axis in .223 at the Calgary show..The $379 combo with 3-9 scope. the intended use is for a farm yard varminter, for the price, if it shoots 1.5 groups I would be satisfied. Anything better would be a bonus.
I have a digital trigger gauge and right out of the box it was a real tough 6.2 lbs. I wan'ted to shoot it before messing with the trigger so i got a few bullets of varying weights from a buddy of mine. They included 5 of each .35 gr, 40gr, 52 gr, 55gr and 75 gr.
While it is very tough to shoot test loads with a 6.5 lb trigger, to say the least, I was very pleased with the results of the first tests with the rifle. The largest group was with the 75 gr at a C/C grouping of .599 ", the smallest was a very tight "basically one hole" .249" (40 gr Barnes Varminator). All bullet weights stabalized and made very nice round holes (one 75 gr was a flier at about 1.25 out of the group but still a good clean round hole). Anouther bonus was the consistency of the group center in respect to the point of aim. The first group I fired was about 1.5 in right and 1.5 in low, I didn't change the scope "0" thru all the test and every bullet weight printed basically to the same POI.

Now lets mention the trigger. This is my first experience with a Savage trigger. They are different than most modern bolt guns in that the actual trigger weight is set by the pressure the firing pin spring pushing on the sear lever/bolt release. I totaly removed the spring from the back of the trigger and manually set the trigger/sear engagement with my finger. The lowest trigger release with spring totaly removed was 3.1 lbs.. Thats as good as it will ever get without changing firing pin spring and stoning the sear engagement to an almost positive angle ( not a good idea with this design). However you do need some spring tension on the back of the trigger to reset the sear/ trigger engagement. All the U-tube videos I've watched recomend shortening the factory spring. I think it is better to replace the factory spring with a much lighter wire diameter & tension but make it the same lenght as the original. The spring I instaled only has a tension reading on my scale of .7 lbs by it's self but the gun still has a trigger pull of 3.2 lbs. The rear spring really only needs enough power to cantilever the trigger arm to reset sear efficiently, the firing pin spring and negative angle keeps it there.

I haven't shot the gun since the trigger mods, the damn wind blows every day it seems but i have every confidence it will do just as good with a lot less effort on my part.
 
bearkilr said:
You forgot to paint the bipod and bolt body. :p
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Common lol it's a hunting rifle haha I don't use a bipod in the bush and I don't often leave the bolt open ... Lets keep in mind it's a 3-4 hundred dollar bush beater... Which means krylon, not armacoat or cerakote.... For fancy paint jobs you'll have to see precision forum, my skills won't impress anyone lol
 
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