Axis Loading Problem

Hey all, I'm new here so thanks in advance for any input.

I recently won a Savage Axis .270 in a raffle and have never owned one before. Haven't even shot it yet. But after inserting the bolt and loading the magazine I've found that the bolt doesn't always want to engage the shell going forward. It just seems like the bolt doesn't always go back far enough to catch the shell and just closes without loading. Even if I make a point to pull the bolt all the way back.

Is this a common problem? Is there some special way of loading the magazine I should be aware of?

Any info or advice will be appreciated.

Are you sure the magazine is fully locking into place?

LOL I thought I did. But on further review it looks like there was one little click to go. Don't I feel like a fool now. Works great and thanks. Now I gotta go shoot it.

Don't worry and don't feel stupid. If that's the worst mistake you make today, you are doing better than most of the rest of us.

Congratulations on your prize Savage. You can read a lot about it and other Savage rifles on these pages. Generally speaking, it is a good shooting rifle.

All the best,
Thomae

I have been having the same issue as the OP. Sometimes the bolt will not engage the shell, other times when it does (and I'm talking pulling like a natzi), the bolt will have to be pulled back a little to get it to feed into the chamber correctly. It is a pain, and I am reconsidering taking it out after caribou next month.
I have fooled with loading the shells a bit forward, which sometimes works. Also, one has to be really careful that the magazine is all the way in... even if it looks like it is. Having been a big enthusiast for the Edge/Axis (I own one in .223 also), I am beginning to feel a little disappointed and apprehensive. Anyone else have this problem?

Make sure that the front baffle is turned the right way. If you notice it has one short lug. The short lug should be on the right side for long action cartridges. This lug is what limits the bolt throw.

Sharpshooter, you were right. I am so embarrassed! That made all the difference in loading and ejecting shells. Back to being a big fan!

I joined this forum because of this problem and I was at my witts end, cannot think you enough for the information Sharpshooter. 30second fix to a big head ache.

+1 to what John said above. I traded for a used Axis in .270 and thought I'd gotten cheated pretty bad because the guy hadn't informed me of a pretty serious feeding problem. Turns out the bolt baffle just needed rotating! Fantastic.. I think I won pretty good on this upgrade from a H&R handi-rifle ultra comp in .270 with $45.

Thanks so much for the tip. I just picked up a new Axis in .243. First time to the range to sight it in and had the same feeding problem as described above. I checked out the setting of the "short lug" and sure enough it was rotated to the right (for long action shells). I rotated it to the left and voila - no more feeding problem. It seems to help if the loaded mag is inserted with the bolt closed but haven't tried it enough times to bear this out. Inserted with the bolt open and after rotating the lug, I did get 1/6 that didn't load quite properly - had to back the bolt off about 1/2" and then push it forward.

I also started having feeding issues on my new .223 Axis and have looked at this short/long lug, but it appears that the bolt fully clears the mag regardless of which way the lug is oriented. I'll use the shorter bolt throw position.

I think my issues relate more to the magazine not getting fully seated into the receiver, as there seems to be a "last minute" snap-in at the rear of the magazine if it is not fully seated initially, but looking at the mag I can't see anything that would act as a "last minute" latching mechanism unless it is the small "button-hook" at the top of the metal housing at the rear of the mag. It could be that this "button-hook" should catch the top edge of the rear wall of the mag well. I wonder if this "button-hook", or the metal just below it, needs to be pried out a bit more to ensure catching. However, I'll try to ensure the mag is fully seated every time.

edit: The "last minute" snap-in referred to above, after some more examination, seems to be just the mags plastic rocking floorplate catching a bit on the metal body of the mag and shouldn't have any effect on loading. I'm not overly impressed with the mag on this rifle.

Phoenix - Be real careful if you try to "adjust" that metal tab on the rear of the magazine. It snaps off reeeeeaallll easy. Don't ask me how I know that.

Also, I find mags that fit too tight tend to be a little bit of a headache. Most of my Axis mags end up getting the latch filed down a few thousandths to make them happy. A 3 sided file works nicely. Remove a little material (little = .002")at a time and try it. I've noticed a mag that snaps into place with light upward pressure tends to work fine. Mags that need to be pressed upward to snap into place tend to be troublemakers.

Of course, your mileage may vary...
Good luck with it.

I'm still trying to get a handle on what is happening re loading. The front bolt baffle is confusing and the owners manual is really of no help on this. My new Axis in .243 SS came with the bolt baffle "short side" rotated to the right (looking back to front). First time at the range, at least one round would not load properly from the mag. It would go into the chamber a considerable distance but then would crank sideways and up to about the 11 o'clock position. Had to back the bolt off about 1/2" and then push it all the way in and lock it.

Read on one of these threads that the "short end" of the baffle should be rotated to the left. I did this, went to the range, and the same thing happened during loading. Only this time the shell jammed down and to the 5 o'clock position. Same procedure - back the bolt off and push it home. Annoying to sway the least.

Rifle fires and ejects fine regardless of which way the baffle is rotated and it is also very accurate either way.

Tried holding the mag firmly in place while loading and it helped a bit on one trial but was not consistent. Not likely this is a cure.

Looked at how the rounds were stacked in the mag and made sure that they were staggered nicely before putting it into the rifle. This seemed to help but not enough trials to see if this is a repeatable cure.

None of this is making much sense to me --- what say you?

the frt baffle only has to do with bolt travel


drybean

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 22BVGord

I'm still trying to get a handle on what is happening re loading. The front bolt baffle is confusing and the owners manual is really of no help on this. My new Axis in .243 SS came with the bolt baffle "short side" rotated to the right (looking back to front). First time at the range, at least one round would not load properly from the mag. It would go into the chamber a considerable distance but then would crank sideways and up to about the 11 o'clock position. Had to back the bolt off about 1/2" and then push it all the way in and lock it.

Read on one of these threads that the "short end" of the baffle should be rotated to the left. I did this, went to the range, and the same thing happened during loading. Only this time the shell jammed down and to the 5 o'clock position. Same procedure - back the bolt off and push it home. Annoying to sway the least.

Rifle fires and ejects fine regardless of which way the baffle is rotated and it is also very accurate either way.

Tried holding the mag firmly in place while loading and it helped a bit on one trial but was not consistent. Not likely this is a cure.

Looked at how the rounds were stacked in the mag and made sure that they were staggered nicely before putting it into the rifle. This seemed to help but not enough trials to see if this is a repeatable cure.

None of this is making much sense to me --- what say you?

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Do you have the bolt closed when the magazine is installed ?

I have tried it both ways - bolt open and bolt closed when installing the mag. It seemed to work better if the bolt was closed but haven't had enough trials yet to see if it is that much better. Make sure the back end of the mag is seated before clicking the front end in - otherwise a jam can happen and a little pry job from the top can be in order.

Did a little more experimenting. Put 3 rounds in the mag and then loaded it with both the bolt being open and the bolt being closed.

After a number of trials, 3 rounds with the bolt closed produced no failures to load. With bolt open, it still gave the odd failure to load.
With 4 rounds in the mag it was either the 2nd or 3rd rounds that give a problem loading but once in, all were fine on extraction. Rounds 1 and 4 loaded/extracted virtually all of the time.

I would phone Savage but I'm not seeing a toll free number for international calls (from Canada) or for their rep in Canada.

Until proven otherwise, I feel it is a magazine problem. If all it takes is to only put 3 rounds in the mag (optional to put one in the chamber) then close the bolt and load the mag - I can live with this and hope that the spring mechanism in the mag will break in to eventually allow 4 shells. I will try to locate another mag as well.

Cont'd..... my gun supplier was kind enough to swap out my .243 mag for a new one. With the bolt open and after ten times loading and ejecting with 4 rounds in the mag each time - there was not a hiccup in either loading or ejecting. The front baffle was rotated to the right - looking from back to front - as this is the way the rifle came.

2 out of 2 times I tried loading 4 rounds per mag with the bolt closed and the mag would not seat properly in the back so the front, of course, would not snap into a lock position either. Enough already - there is a problem here. I'm happy to live with the new mag as I normally load a mag with the bolt open anyway.

I'm thinking that yes, Savage may have a QC problem with the .243 mag if there is a loading problem with an Axis. The new mag definitely has a more definitive "snap" than the old mag when loading it into the rifle.

While at the range, I tried some 80 gr Federal and the accuracy left much to be desired at 50 yds compared to the grey box of Win .243 Power Points. I'll try some 80 gr Win. when I can find some.

22BVgord :

Here is a list of Savage Warranty providers that I got from Savage recently. I don't know where you are in the Great White North, but if the loading issue continues, you can try touching base with the closest one to you. I'd contact one but I'm in the middle of the stock stiffening bubba work on my Axis .223 but started having loading issues like you on my rifle too. If by the time I'm finished with the stock stiffening I don't hear anything here on a resolution, I'll contact one of the warranty suppliers myself and find out what they've got to say or offer.

SAVAGE ARMS INC. WARRANTY STATIONS
FOR ALL SAVAGE / STEVENS MODELS
CANADA
Randy's Gun Repair					Grech Outdoors Inc.
3335 Hierlihy Road, Box 1003					115 Fergus Street South
Tabusinntac, NB E9H 1Z5					Mount Forest, ON N0G 2L0			2L2
Randy Doucet					John grechoutdoors@wightman.ca
P: 506-779-4768					P: 519-509-4867/F: 519-509-4866
Complete Gun Repairs					Armurier Alain Depot Gunsmith
71 O'Leary Avenue					1504-2 rue Principale
St. John's, NL A1B 2C9					Canton-de-Granby, QC J2J 0K8
Terry Wall completegunsmithing@nf.aibn.com					Alain Depot gunsmith45@hotmail.com
P: 709-738-6310/F: 738-6313					P: 450-777-5770/F: 777-4875
Ultimate Accuracy
5 Karlovac Ave.
St. Andrews, MB R1A 4C3
Lyle R. Linkaitis lylelink@mts.net
P: 204-785-2609

Thanks for the contacts. I'm in AB, but it is nice to know we have some possibilities in CA - what with the costs of shipping, dealing with the border issues, time, etc.

Question.? Why are there no spare magazines for any of the Axis models available anywhere.? All seem to be OUT OF STOCK.? or on Back order all over the Web etc.? This is not Good for anyone considering buying the Axis rifle.? Wish they bring back the Model 200. PERIOD.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have this issue with my 3 week old Savage Axis II in .223. The problem is almost exactly as others have described: every once in a while the bolt doesn't load a shell correctly so I cannot completely close the bolt, have to pull it back 1/2" before the bolt will lock properly. About a week ago I replace the synthetic stock with a Boyds Lightweight Thumbhole stock and the problem became a little worse. With the new stock, the magazine won't even snap into the rifle unless the bolt is open (not a big issue), but in order for the first round to properly load, I have to hold the bottom of the magazine up against the rifle while I move the bolt forward. When the magazine is empty, it now takes two hands to remove the magazine, I have to use a thumb to push down from inside the chamber.

All in all, it's a real PITA to use and not up to the same level of quality as with other Savage rifles I've used. I'm guessing the problem is a combination of a poorly designed magazine and magazine seating area. There is no positive way of knowing if a magazine is seated properly and you have to "tinker" with it each time you load a new magazine. Like others here, I haven't found anyone who has spare magazines in stock, and I'm not even sure it's strictly a magazine issue.

I'll probably have to call Savage to get some help on this but am loath to shipping my new rifle back to them (and all the hassles associated with that) and would rather try to fix the problem myself if possible. Has anyone found a fix for this issue? What about a single shot sled, would that at least eliminate the loading issues?