Axis .22-250 with poor accuracy.

I picked up an Axis a couple of years ago in .22-250. The idea was that I wanted an inexpensive rifle that I could shoot coyotes and pigs with, keep it in my truck and not worried about it getting messed up, leave it at deer camp, etc. So I bought a regular plain jane Axis.

I put a Leupold 4-12x Vari X II on it. I've had the scope for years and on several rifles and it's been a good scope. No issues. I mounted the scope, got 3 different brands of ammo and went to sight it in. I really wanted to shoot something like Remington soft points for the pigs. I think I picked up some Federal and Hornady too. All 55gr.

The rifle just doesn't shoot well at all. I'm talking 2.5" 5 shot groups. I double pulled the scope off, made sure the bases were tight, put it back on, made sure the rings were tight and everything was fine. I made sure the action screws were tight. I made sure there is no contact between the barrel and stock. I shot it off 3 different rests. I kinda got frustrated with it and put it away. Pulled it out recently and it's the same thing. Very poor accuracy and it isn't all strung out just vertically or horizontally. It's just one big ugly group.

So, what specific things have you done that have helped on your Axis?

I thought about putting it in a Boyd's stock but then I hate to throw good money after bad. I've sure been thinking about sending it down the road. Anything I should try before I move it on?

I bought the axis too a few years back... The Stock on the axis is super flimsy and if you pinch the stock and the barrel together, they will probably touch. My first suggestion is to put a CBI barrel on it and a Boyd's stock at the very least. If you don't want to go that far with it, then you can try sliding the rifle into your shooting bag pretty much all the way to the trigger guard. That will keep the pressure off the for end and may help prevent the stock touching the barrel under recoil forces. The other thing is that the Axis has a lot of flex in the grip area and I could feel the gun flex under my palm when I squeezed the trigger.

I went the CBI, Boyds route on mine (Pillar bedded and glass bedded) and she'll put 5 in a nickel @ 100 Yards now. However, If I had to do it over again, I probably would have chosen a better platform to start with. IE the 110 or 111 series.

You could also try to epoxy the for end to stiffen it up and you could also fill in the butt stock with expanding foam to help stiffen that up... I even put fishing sinkers in the butt stock to add a little weight.

I definitely won't be rebarreling it. I think before I put that much money into it I'd just look for an upgrade. I kept reading about how accurate they were for the price and figured it would be just ideal for what I was wanting to do. But you are right, that stock is very flexible. I was as careful as I could be about front rest placement and tried to place it the exact same every shot but I think there is still too much difference from shot to shot.

I say that, the only way I might would rebarrel is if I found a good takeoff Savage barrel. And even then it wouldn't take long to get out of the range of what I'd be willing to spend to get it to shoot.

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Originally Posted by Coastal

I say that, the only way I might would rebarrel is if I found a good takeoff Savage barrel. And even then it wouldn't take long to get out of the range of what I'd be willing to spend to get it to shoot.

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Savage barrels can be pretty ugly on the inside sometimes, and I've heard from other guys here, that they had to put a couple hundred rounds down the barrel before it started to shoot better. Other then the epoxy tricks I mentioned above, you may just want to send it down the road and upgrade to something a little better.

If it's a 1/12 twist, you may want to try some 50 Gr. bullets... Mine never shot the 55s very well until I went to a 1/9 twist on my CBI Barrel.

My Axis is a .223 heavy barrel. It took about 200 rounds before it was an MOA rifle. And it still does not like light bullets. Most std factory ammo in mine shoots 1 1/2" to 2" groups.

To get less than MOA I use match grade bullets and good handloads. Mine is around 1/2 MOA now with careful hand loading and Sierra Matchking bullets (if I was a better shot it could probably do better :) ). Norma and Hornady have some pretty good match bullets as well.

Before scrapping it I'd get some Federal Gold Medal match ammo and try it. If it does not get you below MOA then something might be wrong with your rifle.

Forgot to ask, does yours have a standard contour or heavy varmint barrel? That can make a difference as the barrel heats up. If it is a thin barrel then wait for it to cool between shots.

As mentioned, the factory plastic stocks do not like to have a lot of pressure on the fore end. Just rest it on the bags when you shoot. I put a Boyd's stock on mine so I could use a bipod.

Try another scope. You are just assuming the scope is good because of prior history.

Yeah, I can swap out scopes pretty easily. I'll try that before I get rid of it.

It's just the standard weight barrel but I gave it plenty of time between shots the last couple times to the range and really let it cool down in between just to see if it would help. I tried to be really consistent on where I rested the forearm on the front rest so that it would be the same for each shot. Same stuff I do with my other rifles but I was being super careful to try to be consistent. Last trip I sighted in my new Savage Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor and with the same or even less care about what I was doing it was grouping 1/2" or less. Same techniques. Same rest. Same day and conditions.

I did clean up the Axis's trigger after I got it and before I ever shot it. I lightened it up and the trigger isn't bad.

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Originally Posted by charlie b

My Axis is a .223 heavy barrel. It took about 200 rounds before it was an MOA rifle. And it still does not like light bullets. Most std factory ammo in mine shoots 1 1/2" to 2" groups.

To get less than MOA I use match grade bullets and good handloads. Mine is around 1/2 MOA now with careful hand loading and Sierra Matchking bullets (if I was a better shot it could probably do better :) ). Norma and Hornady have some pretty good match bullets as well.

Before scrapping it I'd get some Federal Gold Medal match ammo and try it. If it does not get you below MOA then something might be wrong with your rifle.

Forgot to ask, does yours have a standard contour or heavy varmint barrel? That can make a difference as the barrel heats up. If it is a thin barrel then wait for it to cool between shots.

As mentioned, the factory plastic stocks do not like to have a lot of pressure on the fore end. Just rest it on the bags when you shoot. I put a Boyd's stock on mine so I could use a bipod.

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I'm probably not going to go that far for it. Not for this rifle. I was hoping for something under 1.5" groups with some fairly easy to get factory soft points and call it good. I wasn't expecting it to be a tack driver but 2.5-3" groups at 100 just isn't gonna do it for me.

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Originally Posted by Coastal

I'm probably not going to go that far for it. Not for this rifle. I was hoping for something under 1.5" groups with some fairly easy to get factory soft points and call it good. I wasn't expecting it to be a tack driver but 2.5-3" groups at 100 just isn't gonna do it for me.

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Well that's certainly "minute of pig or coyote" so I'' throw my hat in the ring. I would buy some cheap ammo and shoot another 100 rounds or so down the pipe. Do you reload? I have one I bought a couple of years ago in 243 for javi's and yotes because I got tired of lugging around a 788 in 22-250 and wanted something lighter. It shoots MOA with factory so that is fine with me.
I pulled the action out of the stock before I did anything and wiped off the oil and it sat crooked in the stock so I carefully put it back in and used a Weller torque screwdriver to torque it down and get it straight. Only other thing I did was to put a Rifle Basix trigger in it but it didn't impreove accuracy.
Dunno. Maybe you got one that is finicky. I had a Weatherby Youth Model S2 in 243 that was like that. ONly liked one brand of ammo and ecerything else was just like what you are going through.

My .223 Remington Axis rifle with factory 50gr and 55gr and 62gr wolf ammo was all I could afford... and It was a brand new rifle with a brand new cheap simmons scope. the tupperware stock flexed like crazy. so I took it to my buddies range and started shooting.. I didn't even try to break in the barrel I just shot it like crazy... all of my inital groups were 2" with the 50gr and 55gr and 1-1/2 with 62gr bullets (by the way my rifle has a 1-9 twist barrel) remember all I shot was wolf ammo.. so while at walmart they had UMC ammo on sale 16.99 for 50 rounds so I bought some.. and lo and behold those 55gr bullets were hitting at 1-1/4 @100 yards.... so I bought all of my reloading tools dies powder bullets scales trimmers press and all of the stuff to "roll my own" Now I have reloaded of and on since 1974, so I am not a newbie but not a pro either so I started looking at things I could do to enhance accuracy and the first thing was reducing trigger pull.. after removing a coil and 1/4 I got my trigger pull down to half of what it was..then I looked at the recoil lug.. on the 223 the recoil lug is a 2 part set up a machined lug sits in a pocket in the stock and then when the barreled action sits down it aligns up with the lug and fits into the pocket in the receiver.. so I glued the lug to the receiver making it one unit and then bedded the stock in that area where the action bolt snugs up to the receiver.. after doing all of this I now am grouping dime size at 50yards and exactly 1" at 100 yards using cheap Prvi Partizan match bullets of 69gr and 75gr.. I just spent the money on Berger 55gr fb hp and I am now happy to report 5/8 group @ 100yards... also to report another quirk of this gun a cold bore is a inaccurate bore but if you warm it up and speed shoot the groups get tighter.and I only clean after 50ish rounds or when accuracy fades whichever comes first

MaddHatter,

What powder are you using? I used to get great results with H322 but I hear Varget is great too.

I am using CFE223, IMR 4320 IMR 8208XBR H414 and IMR 4350 now the H414 and IMR 4350 are full cases with the 69gr and 75gr bullet with 25.4gr of either one straight from a Quick Load Data and it is very accurate however bullet velocity is somewhere around 2650fps but is very accurate out of my rifle as a matter of fact these two powders are the ones giving me the tightest group to date... IMR 4320 is the best powder I found for the 55 gr Berger bullets so far but I am in the process of totally re-working my Tupperware stock reinforcing it to make it ultra stiff and heavy..as of right now that factory stock now weighs about 10lbs give or take.. and the fore stock is completely weighted and filled with epoxy so there is no warp age or bending the forearm ... and I drilled a hole into the top of the cheek piece and slipped in about 7lbs of 130gr lead bullets then filled it in with liquid epoxy to make the rattle go away....so my next trip to the range will tell if all of this was for naught

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Originally Posted by MaddHatter

My .223 Remington Axis rifle with factory 50gr and 55gr and 62gr wolf ammo was all I could afford... and It was a brand new rifle with a brand new cheap simmons scope. the tupperware stock flexed like crazy. so I took it to my buddies range and started shooting.. I didn't even try to break in the barrel I just shot it like crazy... all of my inital groups were 2" with the 50gr and 55gr and 1-1/2 with 62gr bullets (by the way my rifle has a 1-9 twist barrel) remember all I shot was wolf ammo.. so while at walmart they had UMC ammo on sale 16.99 for 50 rounds so I bought some.. and lo and behold those 55gr bullets were hitting at 1-1/4 @100 yards.... so I bought all of my reloading tools dies powder bullets scales trimmers press and all of the stuff to "roll my own" Now I have reloaded of and on since 1974, so I am not a newbie but not a pro either so I started looking at things I could do to enhance accuracy and the first thing was reducing trigger pull.. after removing a coil and 1/4 I got my trigger pull down to half of what it was..then I looked at the recoil lug.. on the 223 the recoil lug is a 2 part set up a machined lug sits in a pocket in the stock and then when the barreled action sits down it aligns up with the lug and fits into the pocket in the receiver.. so I glued the lug to the receiver making it one unit and then bedded the stock in that area where the action bolt snugs up to the receiver.. after doing all of this I now am grouping dime size at 50yards and exactly 1" at 100 yards using cheap Prvi Partizan match bullets of 69gr and 75gr.. I just spent the money on Berger 55gr fb hp and I am now happy to report 5/8 group @ 100yards... also to report another quirk of this gun a cold bore is a inaccurate bore but if you warm it up and speed shoot the groups get tighter.and I only clean after 50ish rounds or when accuracy fades whichever comes first

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My Axis .223 Heavy Barrel has shot many .5 groups with the 50gr Speer,52gr Sierra, 55gr V-max ,52gr Berger,Sierra 69 gr using Varget . It is usually sub MOA with 40 gr VarmagedDons using H335. Oddly it does'nt seem to like the Hornady 55gr SP. groups are usual 1-1.5".

I guess it's just the toss of the coin whether you get an Axis ythat will or will not shoot. I have one in 243. It has over 200 rounds through it and it's still a freakin "copper mine". The accuracy at 200 yards has been nothing to brag about shooting 5 round groups, letting the barrel cool between shots. Realistically, mine is a 200 yard deer rifle that will put rounds into 3 inches most of the time from a rest. I'm also noticing very flat primers shooting handloads that are in the mid range of powder charges and using the book OAL. An example, the last load I tested yesterday was with the Sierra 100 grain Pro Hunter over 7828SSC powder, all charges were in the middle of the listed charges, at least 1.5 grains below maximum and the bullet seated to the book OAL. One round blew the primer right out of the FC case and that ended any more testing. Pulled all the bullets when I got home and threw away the FC cases (they had just been annealed and was on the 4th loading.)

I would not blame the load or rifle on that primer issue. It just means your brass is worn out. .223 military brass only goes 4 reloads before primers fall out.

Flattened primers. Compare to a factory load first. I had an old 7mm-08 that had flattened primers with all factory ammo. I even tried neck turning the brass and they still came out that way.

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Originally Posted by charlie b

I would not blame the load or rifle on that primer issue. It just means your brass is worn out. .223 military brass only goes 4 reloads before primers fall out.

Flattened primers. Compare to a factory load first. I had an old 7mm-08 that had flattened primers with all factory ammo. I even tried neck turning the brass and they still came out that way.

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No, I knew it was time to toss that brass after having the primer blow out of the case. This is the first Savage rifle that I've owned that will not shoot sub MOA. I'll keep working with it. I just find it hard to believe that it's still fouls so bad from copper!

My .223 did not tighten up until several hundred rounds through it, and then only with premium bullets. I have cleaned the copper out of mine twice now (well over 2000 rounds). Each time it takes about 50 rounds to settle back down again. And, the telltale streaks of copper in the bore are there as it shoots 1/2moa groups. Tomorrow I am going to try a milk jug challenge at 1000yd with it.

My 12BVSS in .308 was worse. It finally became a 1 MOA rifle after about 400 rounds. It is more sensitive to copper so it got cleaned out after every 50 rounds. That was when I discovered KG12 to remove copper. Now it is my cast bullet rifle.

One thing I did with the .308 was to use Iosso paste on it several times. That helped the groups and copper significantly.

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Originally Posted by charlie b

My .223 did not tighten up until several hundred rounds through it, and then only with premium bullets. I have cleaned the copper out of mine twice now (well over 2000 rounds). Each time it takes about 50 rounds to settle back down again. And, the telltale streaks of copper in the bore are there as it shoots 1/2moa groups. Tomorrow I am going to try a milk jug challenge at 1000yd with it.

My 12BVSS in .308 was worse. It finally became a 1 MOA rifle after about 400 rounds. It is more sensitive to copper so it got cleaned out after every 50 rounds. That was when I discovered KG12 to remove copper. Now it is my cast bullet rifle.

One thing I did with the .308 was to use Iosso paste on it several times. That helped the groups and copper significantly.

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I have Iosso too and use it regularly on this Axis after removing the bulk of copper. I can fire only five rounds and get dark blue patches cleaning the bore.

Yep, mine does that too. That's when my Axis shoots the best for some reason. If I look in the muzzle I can see copper streaks in the grooves and a bit on the lands. The key for mine is that it stays about the same from session to session.

But, the 12 does not like it that way. Maybe because of the stainless barrel? Don't know. I had to remove all the copper from it after every session.

I bought an axis 243 for my boy, it would only pattern bullets. The only thing that fixed it after $100 in wasted bullets was sending it in for a new barrel. Luckily ours was warrantied.

Had the Axis to the range today to retest the Speer 100 gr BTSPs. This time they were loaded in Winchester brass with 7828SSC. Rounds were all over the paper! I've seen better shotgun patterns. All loads were almost three grains under the max charge of 46 grains. Still seeing flattened primers. Bullets were seated to 2.649" almost 25 thousandths OTL yet I had one round I had to mortar the bolt to get the case out and it was showing a partial case separation. None of the rounds tested grouped smaller than 6" at 200 yards. SD and ES figures looked very good but the targets stunk! Packed up in disgust. Pulled the scope when I came home to check the base screws and they were tight. Action screws, tight. ring screws, tight. Put it all back together and was re bore sighting the scope when I noticed the elevation quit working, the adjustment had no effect on vertical movement. Changed scopes to the only one I had which is an older Korean made 6X24X40 AO. I figured while I was at it, I recrowned the barrel. Now waiting on a Weaver slotted base and windage adjustable Grand Slam rings to replace the cheap factory pieces.

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Originally Posted by BB68

I bought an axis 243 for my boy, it would only pattern bullets. The only thing that fixed it after $100 in wasted bullets was sending it in for a new barrel. Luckily ours was warrantied.

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That will probably be my next move if replacing scope, rings and mount does no good.

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Originally Posted by GaCop

Had the Axis to the range today to retest the Speer 100 gr BTSPs. This time they were loaded in Winchester brass with 7828SSC. Rounds were all over the paper! I've seen better shotgun patterns. All loads were almost three grains under the max charge of 46 grains. Still seeing flattened primers. Bullets were seated to 2.649" almost 25 thousandths OTL yet I had one round I had to mortar the bolt to get the case out and it was showing a partial case separation. None of the rounds tested grouped smaller than 6" at 200 yards. SD and ES figures looked very good but the targets stunk! Packed up in disgust. Pulled the scope when I came home to check the base screws and they were tight. Action screws, tight. ring screws, tight. Put it all back together and was re bore sighting the scope when I noticed the elevation quit working, the adjustment had no effect on vertical movement. Changed scopes to the only one I had which is an older Korean made 6X24X40 AO. I figured while I was at it, I recrowned the barrel. Now waiting on a Weaver slotted base and windage adjustable Grand Slam rings to replace the cheap factory pieces.

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Korean made scope is a Tasco, forgot to mention that.

I carried mine to the range for the first time Monday. I carried a box of Winchester Power Points and a box of Remington Corelokts, both in 55gr. I have never seen a rifle that didnt like one of the 2 makes of bullets and is always where I start. The Winchesters shot like crap. The Remingtons shot right at 1 inch with the horrid factory trigger. I just installed a Timney in it today and am going back to the range tomorrow. I fully expect the groups to shrink considerably with the new trigger.

If you have good trigger control habits the new trigger may not shrink groups "considerably". Course if it's a factory Axis trigger it might. How's that for an ambiguous response?

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Originally Posted by wbm

If you have good trigger control habits the new trigger may not shrink groups "considerably". Course if it's a factory Axis trigger it might. How's that for an ambiguous response?

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Yes, it was the horrendous factory trigger. It was over 6#s and gritty. There was no way to shoot good groups with that trigger no matter how good of trigger control one has.

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Originally Posted by charlie b

I would not blame the load or rifle on that primer issue. It just means your brass is worn out. .223 military brass only goes 4 reloads before primers fall out.

Flattened primers. Compare to a factory load first. I had an old 7mm-08 that had flattened primers with all factory ammo. I even tried neck turning the brass and they still came out that way.

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Yup, I tried that too w/o any improvement.

Well, it turns out the Tasco scope is defective too. It got me on paper at 100 yards but the elevation adjustments are maxed out and it's still shooting 3 inches low. I was shooting 87 grain V-Max over 41.9 grains of H414 in Hornady brass. This brass has had the necks turned in the past. LOA was 2.210" Velocity averaged 3188 fps with an ES of 15 and an SD of 5. Fired primers looked good. It put three into .411" at 100 yards.

So what happened with Coastal/ 22-250?

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Originally Posted by gumbo333

So what happened with Coastal/ 22-250?

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Hasn't been any updates from him?

I haven't taken it back to the range yet. I ended up stiffening up the stock with rockite which added a bunch of weight but did stiffen it up a whole bunch. I'm going to swap out scopes and go try it as soon as I get an afternoon free to get to the range. We will go to the range next week for sure. I just swapped barrels on my son's rifle and put a new scope on it. He is chomping at the bit to go shoot it so the first free afternoon I have I am sure we'll be shooting.

UPDATE---


I finally got back to the range today after the rockite treatment. I decided not to swap out the scope just yet and see if the rockite in the forend would help things any. I grabbed what ammo I had left which was Remington 55gr soft points, nothing premium. Nothing with a polycarbonate tip or anything like that. Just plain ol green and yellow box Remington soft points. We had a front blow in today and it had just gone from rain to a periodic sprinkle with heavy overcast skies and a north wind blowing 10-15. Fortunately the range is set up north south so I was shooting with the wind mostly at my back and not a direct crosswind. But not ideal conditions. We had to make sure my son's rifle was still on for a hunt this weekend so I grabbed the .22-250 and figured I'd see if we made any difference with the rockite.

Here are the pics.

1st group.
https://i.imgur.com/PR8q1oQs.jpg

2nd group
https://i.imgur.com/Eu0x1KMs.jpg

So that was a huge success. It went from 4" groups to 1". I suspect that some different ammo is going to shrink the group size down a bit more too.