The Axis has changed how I judge rifles.

I bought my kids a savage axis 243 win youth rifle. I bought it because of the caliber and because it was cheap and didn’t know how much they would shoot it, so I thought a cheap rifle would be fine. Even though the gun was cheap I cannot believe how accurate that action is with the ammo I like to use.

I really liked the caliber (good on deer, not much recoil, and cheap ammo) and decided I wanted a 243win as well. I tried many different rifles but there always seemed to be something that didn’t grab me e.g. how the stock fit, trigger, how the bolt cycled etc...

The kids didn’t take to the 243win preferring other rifles, so I decided since it was an accurate rifle that I would get a few mods added boyd stock, a rail and timney trigger,

http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/...psk4diahnf.jpg

I am really happy with the result and I am starting to look at my next rifle purchase a bit differently. The idea is that I want an action that shoots the bullets I want to use accurately, When I have that I can get a boyd stock (can even custom the lop, recoil pad) and trigger that will make a great rifle for me. Rather than trying a more expensive rifle that fits well but how it shoots the bullets you want to use is unknown. Just my thoughts.

I was in a similar boat.

The 30-06 I picked up last year for a cheap hunting rifle. It took a little bit (~60 rounds) to break in but the rifle really shoots good now. It's in a Boyds FT stock and I'm using that after spring on the trigger, pulls at 3.5 lbs.

I just picked up another axis with a heavy barrel chambered in 243. This one is intended to be a target rifle for my wife and daughter. Planning on going with a Boyds VT stock and an after market trigger, probably the rifle basix.

Great rifles. Funny that I was warned away from them in another forum, lol.

There are people who will warn you away from them in this forum too! It's just as well. If people all thought they were as great as we Axis fans do, Savage would be justified in jacking up the price!

I do always look at them as works-in-progress. They're not as feature-rich as some other out-of-the-box, bargain rifles, but their Savage lineage makes them easy to wrench on and truly customize. However, I will also note that this too may no longer be the advantage it once was for Savage with more barrel and stock options for the other Johnny-come-lately, barrel nut rifles out there.

I've done about a half dozen different builds using Axis actions. I was finding the rifles on clearance at Cabela's a few years ago right around $175 (although I was able to snag at least one for under $150). Now they're all up around $300.

Hands down my favorite action to work with. I still have the first one I built, and that one won't be going anywhere for a long long time.