Axis front action screw

I went to remove the action from my sons Axis .270 a couple of days ago. I was going to possibly lighten the trigger pull for him to see how he liked it. I stripped out 4 Allen head wrenches trying to get the front screw loose. No dice. It didn’t budge. I have no idea why it is so tight. It hasn’t been touched since the rifle was bought in September. He’s been hunting with it all season. Does anyone have any ideas, short of sending it back to Savage, on how to get the freakin front screw loose? Thanks in advance. Matt

Never heard of such a thing. You know about "Righty tighty, lefty loosy", right?

Sorry.

I would contact Savage and ask them to accept a return for them to deal with. I csay it can be removed, but only if I knew why it was so tight to begin with. If I didn't put it together, can't say for sure. If you do remove it, there's no telling if you will need it enlarged and rethreaded. Dang thing is too inexpensive and cheap to make it worth risking having to mess with that possibility.

foxx, you’re a funny man. I’ve tried my regular ‘ol Allen wrench bits and even a brand spanking new sharp Allen wrench to no avail. I’m with you. I guess I’ll see about sending it back. Such a pain in the butt! I considered taking it to a bona fide gunsmith and see what they can do, but they aren’t medicine men. Although some of them think they are. Thanks for the reply. I was curious rather anyone had had this problem before or not.

Drill out the center.

It threads straight through the receiver just behind the barrel. So maybe pull the bolt and shoot some penetrating oil in there and let it sit. I would also say get a heat gun on the action, but I guess the tupperware stock would become a blob. Or how about an impact drill/driver with a hex bit? Might need those hammer blows to start it...

celltech I’ve donecandctgought exactly what you said. I put some penetrating oil in the action. It didn’t help, but maybe I could’ve let it sit a little longer. I busted out my little pin point propane hobby torch and then snapped to and put it up. Not a smart idea. The only other thing I may try is a bit in my little impact driver. After that it’s off to Savage. Unless I break the screw off. Then it’s drill it out as normal. Or do like foxx said and leave it alone and let Savage deal with it.

^^^Yeah, it can be removed. It can be drilled out, if necessary. If it were mine and I was replacing the stock, I'd maybe cut it off. BUT, if you end up damaging the action's threads and have to resize the hole, etc., it's gonna be an expense to fix. More than what the action itself is worth. I don't think I've ever recommended returning a gun to Savage before, but this time is different, I think.

Use an 1/8 drift punch that fits into the bottom of the socket and give it a smack with a hammer, this will loosen the threads. Then use a 3/16 drift punch to flatten out the socket to snug it back up. You may have to tap the allen wrench back in with a hammer to get it all the way to the bottom of the socket, then it should just back it out.

I may mess with itca bit, but I don’t want to screw with it too much to where Savage doesn’t want to honor the warranty. That’s why I haven’t went to too great of an extreme to try and get it out. I’ll see if I can get something to work. I have a feeling the impact drill is gonna be the tell all. It’ll either get it out or break it off! We’ll see.

Contact Savage and they will send you a UPS Label to ship it back. Expect to be without it for three weeks and once you ship it out give them a call a week later as their customer service is really poor when it comes to updates and return shipping notifications.
The Axis I bought this spring didn't have one of the scope base holes completely threaded and I had to send it back to be cleaned up. When they did send it back they had installed bases which I promptly removed so I could install the Talley rings I had purchased. They will take care of you but you will need to stay on top of them.

Thanks for the info prdatr. Gonna have to wait till seasons over though if I can’t get it. Boy would be awful ticked off if I sent his rifle away over a little hard to pull trigger! To be honest, I don’t even think he realizes it. It’s dad that knows how much better it would shoot with a lighter trigger.

I know what you mean, after I got it back I mounted the scope and headed to the range. The rifle shot fine but the trigger was probably in the neighborhood of 7 pounds so I order a Rifle Basix trigger and put that in. It was too light for me so I bought a trigger gauge and found it was just over 1 pound and I have since raised it up to around 2.5 pounds since it is a hunting rig.