Who knows anything about a Savage Axis?

**Mortblanc** · 08-10-2012, 12:47 PM

I just want to know the results of owners.

Results please, not specualtions. I would really like the opinions of owners and not the specualtions of "read abouters" or "saw one at Walmart" specialists.

**Buggyout** · 08-10-2012, 05:39 PM

Awesome review:

http://www.gunblast.com/Savage-Axis243.htm

**Mortblanc** · 08-21-2012, 06:13 PM

OK, I am replying to my own thread.

I now know much more about the Savage Axis than I did the day I obought it. Sure, I had read multiple reviews and heard all the normal BS of the internet, but nothing keys you in like a couple hundred rounds of real life shooting.

No, it is not the greatest rifle in the world. But at $277 OTD at Walmart it is a fantastic buy, and more gun for the money than I have seen in a while.

My first range trip was to check accuracy. For this activity I mount a 6-20x varmit scope I use specifically for this purpose. I do not try to zero the scope, I simply shoot for smallest group.

I used a batch of reloads left over from a 1988 reloading beinge. 53 gns imr4350 and a 150gn pointed soft point Siarra slug. With these 25 year old reloads I was shooting into >2" @ 100yds. Considering the nature of the stale ammo, new rifle still settling into the plastic stock and my 60+ year old eyes and nerves I figured that was acceptable. After the first three shots I announced to the other geezers that haunt the range that I could go hunting with the rifle right now! That is unusual for me. I usually have to piddle to get that kind of group and work down from there.

A trip home and dusting off the loading dies, buying a new can of powder and a couple of new boxs of wonder-slugs, and 2 hours latter I have another 40 assorted reloads to test.

I also swapped the scope out for the 3-9 it would normally wear. It was an old Tasco from the "scope box" under the workbench.

A second trip to the range. Siarra 165gn boat tail hollow point match bullets/45 gn imr4320. The first group is inside 1" @100.

Second load is same powder and charge but a 160 grain poly-tip intended for the .308 Marlin. I bought a bulk order of these slugs intending for them to be my new reserve go-to for every 30cal reload in anything from 30-30 to .300win-mag.

Out of the Savage they made a 1 1/2" group at 100 yds. I was pleased that they grouped my general purpose bulk bullet that well. They also had the same POI as the 165 Siarria so I zeroed the 3-9x scope for this load.

Going back to the 25 year old reloads (I had found more in my search of the ammo cans) I found that they were dead on windage and only a bit over an inch high @ 100 and easily usable in the hunting field. Still holding a little over a 1 inch group.

Nothing I have launched from this rifle has gone more than 2" @ 100 yds !!!! I have not fired a single factory round, but my reloads are shooting very acceptable groups for hunting loads in a 30-06 off the shelf rifle.

The trigger on the Axis is crap. I will need to work on that. It needs a polish and some tweeking. It is still better than any of the milsurp triggers but is honestly worse than my Winchester 94. It can not hold a candle to the Acutrigger or the adjustable unit on my Marlin ATR.

The stock is a black plastic unit that is as good as any black plastic unit. I figure it is about 75 cents worth of plastic and labor which is what allows the production of sporting rifles at the prices they are available today. The manufacturers have eliminated all the tooling, hand fitting, finishing steps and processing associated with wood products and still have a stock that sucks air when you break it from the action. All that with the use of minimum wage labor.

I expect to see the group sizes drop a fraction after I glass bed this one in. They always do. The recoil lug of the Axis is in the stock and not in the action. A partition in the stock fits into a groove in the bottom of the receiver forming the recoil lug. It is different, but it seems to work and it is a cheap solution to the ageless problem of anchoring the action.

The metal seems to be powder coated. Time will reveal the durability of this finish and I have little opinion on it due to lowering my old expectatons of wood and metal to the point that I have purchased more than one plastic and carbon fiber wrapped rifle in the past few years.

I do have an opinion on the value for the dollar I spent, and I am happy with the Axis in that reguard.

I would rather have an Axis and scope at $300 than a Mosin with add-on goodies to the equil value. Plus the Axis comes in your choice of caliber.

**Buggyout** · 08-21-2012, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Mortblanc

But at $277 OTD at Walmart

I didn't realize they were that inexpensive. Hhhhmmmmmmm...........

**Apocalyptic_Sojourner** · 08-21-2012, 10:12 PM

I used to have a Savage bolt action in 30-06 (forget the model number---111 or 110 or somethin), but it was damn accurate, even with a cheezy little tasco scope on it. If you do some research on The High Road (which I never buy a gun without reading about half a billion posts about it), a lotta people compare the accuracy to that of a Remington 700 (which I've never owned). But I think Savage makes some really underrated firearms. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.