Savage Axis and the "Stone Soup" farytale; thoughts on "upgradeability."
Two years ago, I was a really, really, good boy and Santa left a Savage Axis under the tree for me (a lefty, 30/06, no scope).
I haven't been as excited about a firearm as I have been for my Axis in years; not so much for the stock rifle was out-of-the-box, so much as the sheer -galaxy- of possibilities in upgrades there are for it; where is it a "gestalt" (A German word which roughly translate to: "a thing which is worth more than the it's individual parts") which has a potential which is low enough to drive off more "serious" shooters (with bigger pocketbooks); while allowing an average-joe like me the potential to buy a sub-MOA-class rifle on the "installment plan": I can buy a useable -stock- rifle, ralitively cheaply, then buy and install each subsequent item and upgrade, while still have a working rifle during actual the accurization process, without breaking my meager budget. Thus, I think of my Axis as a modern parable for the old fairy tale "Stone Soup":
Please bear with me, while I explain...
The Stone Soup fairy tale, as per Wikipedia: "is an old folk story in which hungry strangers persuade local people of a town to give them food. It is usually told as a lesson in cooperation, especially amid scarcity"
Quote:
Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with a few carrots to help them out, so that gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.
The thing is the Axis, while an inexpensive rigle, is merely "good" out-of-the-box, but by no means "perfect" (To be honest: the stock trigger is too heavy and the stock er... stock is a wibbly-wobbley plastic piece of... er... -offending matter-.). However, if you want to spend time, effort, and money on you Axis, based on on my own experience, but what people are saying here on this board, over and over again:" You get what you pay for" with this rifle; which is an inversion of Ol' Comrade Kalashnikov's: "'Better Than' Is The Enemy of 'Good Enough'”; however as an red-blooded American: "...I can get .3-MOA now, but if I spend $300 more, I can get .2-MOA! Can I settle with just... 'good enough'!?".
Going back to the version of "Stone Soup" I remember as a kid:
"If we only had some carrots..." / "If the stock trigger wasn't so heavy"
"A villager says: I have some carrots in my basement!" / "I'll do the $1 'Bic' mod, or get an AccuTrigger."
"If we only had some potatoes..." / "If the stock stock wasn't a wibbly-wobbley plastic piece of -something unpleasant-!"
"A villager says: I have some potatoes in my pantry!" / "Order a Boyds stock ...with EXPEDITED SHIPPING!"
"if we only had some cabbage..." / "Weaver rails..."
"If we only had Salt..." / "Tasco/Weaver/Millet/Nikon O-rings..."
"If we only... Pepper..." / "Tasco/Bushnell/Vortex/Sightron/Nikon/Leopold scopes... (depending on budget.)"
"If only... seasoning..." / "Bull-Barrels/Pillar&Bedding/Slings/Bipods/Muzzlebrakes/Camo/Everythingthing-Else-Under-the-Sun..."
"If... ect..." / "Custom loads.... Ect..."
I'm not saying that the Axis is the "PERFECT" rifle, far from it, not so much as: it is the "perfect" potential blank canvas to express yourself as not only a shooter, but as a amateur gunsmith/armorer; as a chance to show off your talents in both fields!
