Originally Posted by
sharpshooter
Ahhh, pay no attention to him...he trying to point a finger at me. Evidently he does not recognize constructive criticism.
Forget about what the cross looks like, that is not what locates the magazine anyway. The magazine is located by the stock. On the long magazine calibers the rear tab on the magazine hooks over the trigger bracket. On the short models it hooks on the trigger guard, which is slightly longer to accommodate the shorter magazine. Inside the stock are 2 sets of ribs that locate the mag from side to side. You really need to have one in your hands to truly see whats going on.
With that being said, lets talk about the factory magazines. This may be hard for you at this point because you don't actually have one to see, but I will explain as best as I can. The factory magazine has a steel mag box that does the real work, while the cap is just a termination and latch. The stamped box is unique, as it was designed to be loaded 2 ways: from the top as in a blind style box, and from the front like a .22lr magazine. It is easier to load from the front, but if it is installed in a blind mag set-up you have no choice but o load it from the top. The lips are springy enough to allow a cartridge to be pushed straight down and snap over the major diameter. I don't know of any other bolt action rifles that utilize a magazine that can be loaded both ways.
I had quite a conversation with Scott Warburton, the engineer who designed the center feed magazines, and subsequently the Edge/Axis rifles. He started on this new design shortly after the release of the Accutrigger in 2003. By mid 2005 they had already starting changing over from the stagger feed magazine in the higher end rifles. At that point, the magazines available were short action standard bolt face cartridges and long action std and magnum. The .223 and .204 posed a slight problem, and it was all of 3 years later when the first mag came off the press. From then, it took 10 months to de-bug, tweak, tune and correct problems before it was cut loose in 2008.
Before the "Edge" rifle (now the Axis) debuted in March of 2010, I got the inside scoop about a new rifle that was coming out that was a big secret. It was an entry level rifle that costs nearly $75.00 less to manufacture than the basic Stevens 200.
Normally new stuff is at the SHOT Show, but this was held back because they knew that when it made it's splash appearance, they already had 5000 units on hand to appease the requests.
Now that you know a little background, I gonna make you use your brain. Ask your self this question: If this rifle is all about cutting costs, and still providing an accurate rifle, why wouldn't Savage utilize complete poly magazines and save more? Believe me...if they could cut the cost another dime, they would do it....I've seen it.
I can really appreciate your passion and enthusiasm, but I would approach this in an easier way. Savage has the hard part already figured out, and have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars doing it. I would concentrate on the bottom half, it is not as critical as the top. Design and come up with an extension box that snaps on the existing magazine.
Food for thought.;)