Help

[pheasant16]

Brother in law just bought a hunting package. He asked me what's different about the Axis rifle and my old model 12 or 16.

Told him I know just the place to help. I don't have any idea. Been away from new products for many years. I'm still pre-Accutrigger and Accustock.

Thanks.

[kslefty]

Most noticeable difference to me is the detachable magazine is all plastic. I have only had one and it was just something I bought for a friend of my son as he turned 18.

[thermaler]

The stock on the Axis is easily removable and good for making ice-cubes in the freezer. : )

[LabRat2k3]

The barrel is the same and that is it, everything else is different.

[thomae]

There are many differences:
Savage model 1X series are short actions, Savage 11X series are generally long actions. The action length of the Axis falls in between the two. The action length for the Axis is constant regardless of whether it is chambered for .223, .308(or a derivative thereof) or a 30-06 (or derivative thereof) There are several different lengths of magazines and corresponding different lengths of the plastic trigger guard assembly.

The barrels and barrel nuts are the same and are interchangable.

The Bolts are different. The bolt heads and front baffles are usually interchangable.

The recoil lug on the traditional Savage/Stevens rifles circles the barrel and is attached to the rifle by being sandwiched between the action/receiver and the barrel nut.
The recoil lug on the Axis is held in the stock, and fits in a slot milled in the bottom of the receiver.

kslefty is not quite correct about the Axis magazine. The magazine box, spring and follower are standard Savage center-feed centerfire magazines and are interchangable with other Savage rifles of the same caliber/caliber group. The baseplate of the Axis detachable magazine is made of plastic (or composite, or whatever it is officially called) , but according to posts by forum members it is the same baseplate that Savage is now using on several of its non-Axis rifles (the lightweight hunter series comes to mind, but frankly I do not precisely recall which models use the plastic baseplates.)

The various triggers similar but different. The stock factory Axis trigger (straight out of the box) generally has a very heavy pull, but with a little work, it can be smoothed out and trigger pull reduced to approximately 3.5 pounds. It then becomes an acceptable (IMHO) hunting trigger. It is also very easy to retrofit an accutrigger onto an Axis.

Because of the differences in recoil lugs and different action lengths, without a great deal of work, the Axis stocks are not interchangeable with any other model rifle stocks and vice versa.

There are currently no commercially made aftermarket Axis stocks in production. There are some individuals who are making their own stocks, but nothing manufactured in any large quantities.

The Axis does have a good reputation for accuracy despite the shortcomings of the factory stock. There are quite a number of forum members who have reported very good results with Axis and Edge rifles.

I am sure I have left something out, but I hope this helps.

[pheasant16]

Thanks all.

After years of collecting goodies,swapping stuff, etc, etc, I find I have 3 go-to guns for the past many years, one for dogs, one for deer, and a little Ithaca for birds. The rest collect dust. Now I hope for someone to shoot left handed so I can pass 'em down. As soon as one son in law passes Hunter Ed he gets his pick of anything in the case. Last one took a pump rifle, think this one will shoot left handed so he has a much wider choice.