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Hello Everyone:
So - what (if any) differences are there between a Savage Axis and a Savage Edge? I'm thinking of trading my 30.30 Marlin for a Savage Edge 7mm-08, but I have no knowledge of this caliber. How is it for deer hunting? Does anyone have any gems of knowlege or experience for me? I appreciate the help.
Regards, Shawn
I think you will find that the 7mm-08 is a wonderful hunting cartridge. It will put down everything in North America that I can think of.
The Edge and the Axis are identical. Savage changed the name over copyright issues. The 7-08 is obviously a .308 case necked to 7mm. The Savage 11 that I own shoots well with bullets up to 140 grains in the 1-11.5 twist barrel. Savage later went to a 1-9.5 barrel which will shoot heavy bullets. My favorite bullets are the Nosler 120 grain BT and the Hornady 139 IL. The 7-08 is an overachiever. Looking at paper ballistics it might not impress, but in the field it is a very fine, light recoiling round.
7-08 will be flatter shooting at more yardage. In the 100-150 yard range I think you'll get more energy or thump. But the 30-30 drops so fast past 200 yards its mostly good for brush hunting
I meant you would get more energy out of 30-30 at 100-200 yards
The Edge is an econo rifle plain and simple. It is designed to get someone in the woods on the cheap and fills a market for those that may not normally hunt or that does so infrequently and just want's a cheap rifle. The Axis/ Edge series need a good bit of work to be on par with the standard 10/110 series of Savages. In my opinion and though your Marlin is a lever action I'm pretty sure most would agree that it is of much better quality, materials, design and workmanship than and Edge/Axis.
If the Marlin you have is a JM stamped rifle (pre 2007) and is in good shape it is worth a pretty fair amount more than a used Savage Edge I'd probably guess close to double. The older Marlins have become collectable almost overnight since Remington took over in 2007. Don't look at asking prices but look at what both rifles have sold for (completed auctions) on the big gun auction sites.
When The Savage Edge was announced, I being a Savageaholic went right down to the local gun shop and ordered one sight unseen based solely on the reviews I had read online and in the gun rags, The same rifle in question as a matter of fact, an Edge in 7-08. When it arrived Man was I disappointed. It was certainly no 110 series Savage. After a couple of boxes of shells through it I couldn't get rid of it fast enough and took a real beating when I sold it for a fraction of what I had in it.
When it comes to cartridges Just my $.02 but .308 is nearly identical to 7-08. So close you have to look carefully at the two side by side to put them back in the proper box. Throw what you read on some chart out the window because in the real world there is virtually no difference in recoil or performance between them at practical ranges. Any small difference in performance doesn't become apparent for several hundred yards which is typically well outside of most normal hunting ranges
.308 is much easier to find ammo and components for as well as being cheaper to buy ammo for (locally to me anyway) and much easier ammo to find.
Hopefully this info can save you some headache and help you get a square deal.
Good luck
Shawn, If you want to trade, You should be able to get a pretty nice 110 series rifle for your Marlin.
Hi: I certainly appreciate the advice. It was my initial thinking that my Marlin was probably much more gun than the Edge, in terms of quality and workmanship. I think I'll take BHJ's advice and hang on to it and either look for a nice Savage 110 model, or I'll spring for the extra and pick up that Browning .308 my buddy has decided to sell. Again, thanks for the help!
Cheers,
Shawn
this is good solid advice. I've used both and have abandoned the 7-08, not because there's anything wrong with the 7-08, but simply because there's so little difference ballistically between the two up to 300 yards that there's no sense in bothering with it anymore for me. I have several .308's, and find them to be much less temperamental as far as load development and consistency. The .308, in my experience, is the easiest chambering to find a good load for, often multiple good loads. I can't say that for my experience with the 7-08, although it does perform very well when you find a load it likes. The .308 is like the fat girl at the prom; easy to get along with and eager to please. May not be the prettiest or the flashiest, but it won't give you headaches or break your heart, either.Quote:
Originally Posted by big honkin jeep
as barrel-nut says, i myself am a .308 owner and fan. as far as the axis/edge goes, yes it is a budget rifle. do not expect the workmanship of a more expensive setup but don't expect garbage either. that being said the axis/edge is a VERY capable rifle. my axis .308, along with many others no matter what the caliber is well capable of 1" to 1-1/2" groups at 100 yards with a $150 bushnell scope and factory ammo. i actually get 1" or less.. if the previous owner hasn't done so already you may want to do a simple trigger job that will take you all of 10 minutes and a sacrificial "clicker" ink pen to reduce the trigger pull poundage down. they are nice, very capable hunting rifles. as for the 7mm-08 cartridge these are a few numbers to ponder over. this comparison is with factory hornady american whitetail ammo, 139grain 7mm-08 to 150grain 30-30. you will go up in felt recoil, somewhere in the range of maybe 20% more so if recoil is an issue for you i want you to keep that in mind. here are a few ballistics numbers that you may find interesting. at 100 yards the 30-30 is cruising along at 1959 feet per second with 1278 lbs of energy, the 7mm-08 is 2608fps/2098lbs. @ 200 yards those numbers are 1581/832 and 2387/1758. @300 yards 1276/542 and 2177/1463. there us no sense in going anywhere past that for the 30-30 because it simply does not have any energy to warrant hunting at those distances where-as the 7mm-08 continues to hold strong @400 yards 1978/1207 and @500 yards 1790/989. since it is estimated that the minimum energy required to take "deer-sized" game is 800lbs the 30-30 definitely does not equal a 7mm-08 beyond 200 yards so consider how/where you hunt. if you're inside 200 yards all should be good, beyond that and you could have issues. now remember that inside that 200 yards yes the 30-30 will have sustainable killing power but the same 7-08 has nearly 65% more energy at 100 yards and 110% more energy at 200 yards. that's double the knock down power over the 30-30. knock down energy is what it is. we all know that shot placement is probably the single most important thing to consider when hunting any animal but with numbers that strong between the two my money would go towards the 7mm-08. other factors to consider are availability of ammo. 30-30 you can find anywhere, 7mm-08 though popular may at times have less available choices on the shelf. im in no way an expert on ballistics and such but these are just the numbers to consider. happy hunting!
actually you get 65-100%+ more energy from the 7mm-08 at those distances.Quote:
Originally Posted by craigsoutdoorsports
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe the 7mm-08 has the most ft/lbs energy out of the entire 08 family at distance. Of course it depends, but when you assign pretty standard values for the ammo, muzzle velocity etc..it is packs quite a punch.
i'm not sure on that, maybe someone else will know? keep in mind that the .338 federal and .358 winchester are all umbrella'd under the same .308 platform as the 7mm-08. greybeardgunner, a good comparable cartridge to the 7mm-08 is the .280 remington. they are near identical in ballistics with the slight advantage going to the .280 rem. i could never understand why the .280 remington never took off as one of the most sought after rounds for hunting. now remember, the .280 rems ballistics slightly nudge out a .270 win and the .280 rem is slightly nudged out by the 30-06. no, the 7mm-08 is not the same as a 30-06 (inside 400 yards), but its not terribly far off either. now outside 400 yards the 7mm-08 seems to have a slight advantage over the 30-06 when comparing apples to apples. either way, the 7mm-08 is an extremely capable round for nearly all game inside this country. far more capability than the 30-30 in my humble opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosco