Savage 223 Axis

I've searched around but haven't found an answer to our situation....

I use a Weatherby 243 my bud sighted in 20 years ago in college and it's never needed an adjustment so I'm kind of a newbie at this.
Santa brought my boy a camo Savage Axis 223. We took it to the range tonight and had an awful time. The target (25 yds) had 5 bullseyes- 1 in the middle and 1 in each corner. We only aimed at the center bullseye but every shot grouped in the bottom right bullseye. After the first shot I gave two clicks up and two left. Next shot moved about an inch but was still about 4 inches low and 4 inches right. I gave both adjustments about 6 more clicks each. Shot barely moved. Tried again with 10 more clicks each and shot. The last shot was only about an inch higher and 1/2 inch left of the very first shot. Is this normal? I thought it took very few clicks. Can anyone help us please? We leave in a day to go hunt and we want to use this for varmints or whatever.

It's totally stock with the Bushnell scope. The ammo is Remington UMC Jacketed Hollow Point 50 gr. http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/s...7825/cat100114

The markings for the adjustments are probably for 100 yards so at 25 yards they are only moving the impact one-quarter the marked value.

1/4 inch per click at 100 yards is the norm for scopes, so if a rifle is shooting four inches from zero at 25 yards it would take 64 clicks to get to zero. This is because it takes four times as many clicks to move one inch at 25 as it does at 100.

Thank you both of you- makes good sense. ...we'll stick to 100 yds tomorrow.

...I had nylon sights put on a 300 Savage and we were trying to dial them in at 25 yds so we gave the 223 a try too.

Was the rifle one of the XP package-dealies with the scope included? I would hope the boresighting would have been better than four inches off at 25 yards.

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Originally Posted by DrThunder88

Was the rifle one of the XP package-dealies with the scope included? I would hope the boresighting would have been better than four inches off at 25 yards.

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I recently purchased a Savage Trophy hunter XP .270wsm, when I went to sight it in with the factory boresighted Nikon, wasn't even on paper at 25 yards.
Did the old redneck boresight trick, got it on paper and within 24 rounds it was dead on at 100 yards.

I took the scope off after reading the screws sometimes ship loose and added a lil threadlock. Bore sighted it and shot at 100 yards. We were able to play with it and get it within an inch or two of dead on. I'm sure a better shooter would do better. The gun went with us hunting and we had a blast with it. Used up 2 40 shot boxes. Thanks for the help!!!

..yes, it was an xp package that included the scope

Can anyone tell me if this gun also goes by a different name? I'm curious if it's a 223remington and/or a 5.56mm? What bullets can be interchanged with this gun, if any?

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by sjeth2

Can anyone tell me if this gun also goes by a different name? I'm curious if it's a 223remington and/or a 5.56mm? What bullets can be interchanged with this gun, if any?

Thank you.

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Oh, boy. That there's a BIG can of worms! :)

.223 is the commercial version of the original 5.56x45mm NATO. They are very similar, but not identical. Most everyone agrees you can safely and effectively fire .223 in a rifle chambered for 5.56 wit no issues, but there is disagreement as to whether you can or should fire 5.56x45 NATO rounds in a rifle chambered for .223. It is my understanding that using the NATO rounds in a .223 is hard on the gun and can cause premature wear, etc. Does it really matter? I don't know. For the sake of simplicity, and erring on the side of caution (necessary or not) I'd suggest not doing so. Stick with .223 in your Savage .223. Rifles chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO often will call themselves 5.56/.223 or something similar. Rifles chambered .223 Rem will just say .223 Rem.

To answer your question, it is a .223 or .223 Remington. It is NOT 5.56 or 5.56x45mm NATO.

any rifle i bought with a package scope has the scope taken off and put in a pile of parts. i prefer too choose my own. i bought a bore sighter about 10 years ago. in that time i have had friends with package deals still needing the scope boresighted. of course 2 of them were remmy 770s. the other one a savage 17 hmr in synthetic a dunams special

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Originally Posted by foxx

Oh, boy. That there's a BIG can of worms! :)

.223 is the commercial version of the original 5.56x45mm NATO. They are very similar, but not identical. Most everyone agrees you can safely and effectively fire .223 in a rifle chambered for 5.56 wit no issues, but there is disagreement as to whether you can or should fire 5.56x45 NATO rounds in a rifle chambered for .223. It is my understanding that using the NATO rounds in a .223 is hard on the gun and can cause premature wear, etc. Does it really matter? I don't know. For the sake of simplicity, and erring on the side of caution (necessary or not) I'd suggest not doing so. Stick with .223 in your Savage .223. Rifles chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO often will call themselves 5.56/.223 or something similar. Rifles chambered .223 Rem will just say .223 Rem.

To answer your question, it is a .223 or .223 Remington. It is NOT 5.56 or 5.56x45mm NATO.

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There are those who say it is ok to interchange the two different rounds. However, Savage says no. I got the word from Savage CS. Because they do not recommend interchanging the two cartridges does not mean there IS a danger. There was no mention of that. The statement was that using 5.56 ammo in an Axis is not recommended. To me this means it will void the warranty if you use the 5.56. I could not get Savage to say absolutely that there is a danger in using 5.56 ammo.

The big difference between the commercial 223 Rem. and the 5.56 NATO is the throating for the 62 grain M885 round. The military chamber is long throated for that cartridge where the commercial chambering is not. The Wylde chambering came about to eliminate any problems between the two.

I've been using ex-military 5.56 ammo in my Savage Axis 223. No issues at all. I've weighed the projectiles at 55 gns.
It's probably along the same logic as 7.62mm / 308win ammo - you can use 7.62mm in 308win, but not 308win in 7.62mm firearms.
There are higher pressures in the commercial ammunition, and other minor differences....

The chambers are slightly different and the 5.56 is throated longer so if you load a 5.56 round into a short throat 223 rifle, you could jam the bullet way into the lands causing high pressure.

Personally I think its okay if you make sure the 5.56 ammo you are using fits and does not jam the bullet into the lands.
First shot check for pressure signs etc.

From what I remember the Shoulder position is also different, but very slightly.
The 223 no-go gauge is the same length as the 556 go-gage
The 223 field gauge is the same as the 556 no-go gage

Or something like that but dont quote me.

Pressures are 55k for the 223 and about 60k for the 5.56.

As for above, I shot some of that remington UMC ammo in my old Savage 7 twist that would shoot handloads at 1/4 moa.
The Remington UMC junk shot about 1.5"-2" so needless to say I did not care for it.