New to Savage--tried an Axis, big mistake!

[thermaler]

Haha, how old are you?
54 in 3 months--old enough to get the AARP/NRA discount ammo card.

[fgw_in_fla]

I have no problem qualifying. SOmeday I'll tell you about shooting with my son & his Mossberg 835. I think 30 inch w/ full choke.
3.5" rounds take 2 peolpe if you weigh under 140 lbs.

After that weekend my chirpractor kept asking me "is it really worth it?"....

I had to respond with yes, of course..... We're MEN... That's what we do as MEN.

I mean, after all..... You want to take up knitting or something? Maybe make a little patchwork quilt?

[thermaler]

BTW, my cheapo project for today--my home "adjustable monopod" that I made from 2 x 4 scraps and glued rubber doorstops to. Notice the slope of the doorstop matches that of the stock, you raise and lower the rifle by sliding it fore or aft. : )http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s388/triggerpull/91e1ddb2.jpg

[thermaler]

I have no problem qualifying. SOmeday I'll tell you about shooting with my son & his Mossberg 835. I think 30 inch w/ full choke.
3.5" rounds take 2 peolpe if you weigh under 140 lbs.

After that weekend my chirpractor kept asking me "is it really worth it?"....

I had to respond with yes, of course..... We're MEN... That's what we do as MEN.

I mean, after all..... You want to take up knitting or something? Maybe make a little patchwork quilt?
Well, you might appreciate this--my 870 tactical build before Remington came out with one. Got my rifled sabbot tube on for the pic
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s388/triggerpull/ff368acf.jpg
Here are my favorite sabbot rounds; Winchester partition golds to the left and Hornady SST's to the right. I love the way they look like miniature ICBM's in silo's : ) I've never had much luck with Winchester ammo in any rifle--but for some reason it's da bomb out of my shotgun (a 385 grain puppy)--I've done a 4" grouping at 50 yds and 6" at 100 (forgot about that) and it leaves holes bigger than 50 caliber. : ) Even the AR and AK noisemakers are taken aback when I show up with this at the range.
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s388/triggerpull/4f2ece46.jpg

[fgw_in_fla]

Odd that you should mention trouble with Winchester ammo.....

I had still another problem with win brass. I think they send all the defective brass here to central Florida. And I end up getting it.

I fire 3 Federal cased 90gr .243 Noslers to sight in & then fire a Win cased round. As soon as I pulled the trigger I knew something wasn't right. I eject the case & it's covered with soot. Flashed over.
I fire another..... same thing. I stop & close the box. Retreive a different box of ammo with Rem cases. No problem after I removed a bunch of soot from the bolt face & chamber.
I hate Win brass. Or maybe it hates me. Either way, I avoid it. THe onl reason I have it was the local supplier only has Win brass. I was waiting on some Fed & Rem from Midway
By the way, cool looking shotgun. I have an old Jacksonville PD mossberg with wood furniture. A little heavy but handles nice. It's an old 500 that I reworked for close range use. I thought about tacticalizing it but I like the way the wood looks & feels.

I'm done for the day..... See y'all tomorrow. Monday sucks.

Frank in Fla

[thermaler]

Odd that you should mention trouble with Winchester ammo.....

I had still another problem with win brass. I think they send all the defective brass here to central Florida. And I end up getting it.

I fire 3 Federal cased 90gr .243 Noslers to sight in & then fire a Win cased round. As soon as I pulled the trigger I knew something wasn't right. I eject the case & it's covered with soot. Flashed over.
I fire another..... same thing. I stop & close the box. Retreive a different box of ammo with Rem cases. No problem after I removed a bunch of soot from the bolt face & chamber.
I hate Win brass. Or maybe it hates me. Either way, I avoid it. THe onl reason I have it was the local supplier only has Win brass. I was waiting on some Fed & Rem from Midway
By the way, cool looking shotgun. I have an old Jacksonville PD mossberg with wood furniture. A little heavy but handles nice. It's an old 500 that I reworked for close range use. I thought about tacticalizing it but I like the way the wood looks & feels.

I'm done for the day..... See y'all tomorrow. Monday sucks.

Frank in Fla I always thought it was just me--so others are "winchester challenged?"

I started out with a plain old wooden 870 express. One day I was having fun sorta rapid firing (hard to do with a pump-action) which I tend to do hard cause I don't want to short stroke. I ended up taking a big splinter from the wooden forend deep down into the palm of my hand--a big reason I go plastic.

[thermaler]

Well, went out and shot some remington 130 core lokt and Hornady 130 superformance sst today through my born again 270. Definitely a big difference and vast improvement--the only movement in the rifle was due to me or my bipod, which came loose over the course of shooting though I didn't figure it out til later. the stock does seem to be just touching the barrel on one side--so I'm going to sand that down a bit. Nonetheless, I could tell that the rifle was going to put the rounds where I aimed as long as everything was steady.

Although I zeroed with the core lokt--the impact point shifted so much when I changed over to the hornady ammo that I had to rezero, but the accuracy was definitely a step up. Doing a 5 shot group seems more challenging than with my AR. Still have a ways to go--but I prefer knowing the limitations are with me rather than the gun.
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s388/triggerpull/4313edb4.jpg

[mattm0812]

What distance was that?

[M.O.A.]

Not bad what is that a 3" bull at 100 yards?

[thermaler]

Sorry I didn't bother writing anything on the target--I just shot a quickie cell phone pic.

The bulls circle (inner black line) is 1 1/2"; the 5 shot grouping just under MOA; 100 yds.

Incidentally, I figured out that placing the butt stock in just the right place on the shoulder makes all the difference between a relatively comfortable and accurate shot and a painful one that flies wide. This is probably obvious to most of you--but I'm new to this bolt action stuff and still have "AR memory." : )

[M.O.A.]

Yap it a little different ;-)

[dacaur]

Its been great to watch this thread progress from a rant to a happy customer..... Before the internet it might have ended with someone unhappy with a rifle and perhaps savage losing a customer for life, technology is amazing isnt it? Now for the happily ever after all you have to do is find someone with an edge/axis stock they are looking to unload and start shooting the .308 too =)

[thermaler]

Its been great to watch this thread progress from a rant to a happy customer..... Before the internet it might have ended with someone unhappy with a rifle and perhaps savage losing a customer for life, technology is amazing isnt it? Now for the happily ever after all you have to do is find someone with an edge/axis stock they are looking to unload and start shooting the .308 too =) Well, there's still some bugs to fix--and it sure would be nice if it came with a decently rigid stock to begin with--part of the reason I stuck it out was the gun is so darn simple and easy to work on. I still think they should beef it up a bit and take a few pounds pull off the stock trigger--then it would be an exceptional value. Also I'd like to hear from people who have banged several thousand rounds in 270 or 30 06 to see what kind of longevity can be expected.

[fgw_in_fla]

You'd be amazed at how much difference a light pull trigger can make. It's pretty easy to do,too.

By the way, I banged out 50 to 75 rounds every saturday for 3 months during last winter (2010) with my '06. I used to shoot until you could see the heat waves coming off the barrel - no exaggeration - I though I'd fry it for sure. I still shoot it once in a while. When I can handle the pain in my shoulder. As on late, the .270 & 25.06 are the biggest calibers I play with. But the '06 still shot under .75" at 100yds with my home made ammo. I believe they're more durable than folks give them credit for.

That's not bad for factory ammo & a rifle you hated last week. Open up the forend & give the barrel a little breathin' room. It'll make a difference. That & the trigger & you'll be a shootin' mo fo..

Lookin' good so far.

Later y'all

Frank in Fla

[thermaler]

Thanks--a work in progress--but there's hope. : )

[vegas steve]

Its been great to watch this thread progress from a rant to a happy customer..... Before the internet it might have ended with someone unhappy with a rifle and perhaps savage losing a customer for life, technology is amazing isnt it? Now for the happily ever after all you have to do is find someone with an edge/axis stock they are looking to unload and start shooting the .308 too =)

from what i've read the op had to do an enormous amount of mods to get his gun to shoot,including buying another gun to get parts to fix the first one.doesn't seem like much of a success to me.

[dacaur]

well, he chose to hack up his stock rather than send it in to savage, but thats neither here nor there (plus its the short version, i know there is more to it). He did mods to stiffen the stock, but the general consensus is that his barrel was touching the stock which caused horizontal stringing. My stock without mods shoots great.

[mattm0812]

well, he chose to hack up his stock rather than send it in to savage, but thats neither here nor there (plus its the short version, i know there is more to it). He did mods to stiffen the stock, but the general consensus is that his barrel was touching the stock which caused horizontal stringing. My stock without mods shoots great.

How do y'all get your stocks to shoot? I can only get my barrel to shoot bullets. :noidea:

[fgw_in_fla]

Matt-
Maybe you should get a part time job as a comedian?....

[thermaler]

I got the 308 mostly cause Savage seems to limit the availability of parts--I couldn't find a ready source of factory new parts and it seemed cheaper to buy a complete new gun than parts when buying from savage direct. The fact that aftermarket stuff is very hard to find for the Axis is a huge negative for sure IMO. I sure learned a lot--and it wasn't a cheap lesson though some of it was due to my inexperience. Would I get one still knowing what I do now? Given the parts/aftermarket issues and the inconsistencies with stocks that are hit or miss, so to speak--had I researched the options better--I probably would have coughed up a few extra bucks for something else.

That said, if all I was looking for was a cheap, lightweight, entry-level hunting rifle that I believe will still drop the game even if I couldn't get stellar target shooting results without some "afterwork"--than the Axis does have a place as a good buy. Keep in mind I'm a newbie to non-AR rifles so my opinions and experience with the rifle should be taken with a grain of salt.