6.8 SPC Axis

Finally ordered my barrel from AR Performance over the weekend ... picked it up at the post office at about 12:30. By 3:30 the OE barrel and bolt head were on the bench and the ARP barrel was headspaced and locked down with a new barrel nut.

The OE Axis stock needed just a little trimming with a utility knife to float the barrel since the OE 22-250 barrel was a sporter profile compared to the magnum profile ARP chose for his threaded 20" barrels. BTW, the new barrel is just under 2 lb 15 oz, compared to the OE sporter barrel at 2 lbs 9 oz.

Like some other reports from people using 223 bolt heads opened up to 6.8 SPC size, my extractor is a bit fussy. Think it's going to take a little bit of grinding to clean up the horns that protrude into the area where the rim of the cartridge goes. Some rounds fed fine in my function test on the bench while some would not chamber due to contact with the extractor.

I plan on taking it out to a neighbor's farm tomorrow, sight it in and letting my son get used to it ... it's to be his first deer rifle.

That's a Silencerco Harvester on the end of the barrel. Glass is a Leupold VX-2 2-7x Ultralight mounted in Talley lightweight low/extended rings.

Before I even ordered the barrel I put a Rifle Basix Sav-1 in it ... sweetness.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...d4443a2afe.jpg

You did good...that's going to be a great hunting rifle for your son.

That's awesome. 6.8 is a great round. Good job.

Good lookin setup. Let use know how it shoots.

Took it out the other day when my son got home from school.

Bore sighted it (and realized I put the scope on rotated 90° out of place so up-down was right-left and vice versa ... oops).

I managed to get it sighted in at 50 yards using a box of SSA 115 OTM I had on hand. The Harvester is a joy to use with this rifle ... it's quiet enough to shoot without ear pro and have no discomfort ... and probably more important that built in brake really works!

I had my son shoot about 30 rounds just to get use to shooting a rifle that kicks a bit. His first group ever with it was about 3" across at 50 yards ... not great, but certainly minute of deer at the range I intend to let him pull the trigger on this season! Took it out to 100 yards and he was just about keeping it on the little 5.5" stick-on targets we were using.

When he was done I took the Harvester off and shot a 5 round group ... no noticeable shift in POI from my sight in rounds ... and man! ... that light rifle kicks like a mule without the brake action of the Harvester.

I fixed the scope mounting issue and took it out the next day and got it back on paper and started working on setting a 200yd zero.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/ARPSav200yd.jpg

Not too bad for a 7x scope IMO ... at 200 yards I couldn't really see the corner target I was aiming at, but rather was referencing off the tangents of the green circle on the large center target.

This combination is going to be great for its intended purpose and I'm sure that group would be a bunch smaller with a 9 or 14x scope (or younger, better eyes than mine).

Loving the Harvester ... if I had the money right now I'd for sure be taking advantage of the package deal Silencer Shop is running on it with a $99 Spectre II so I could have one for my son to keep on this gun while I'm using my 260 Rem.

Why did you go with the SAV-1 over the SAV-2? I'm just curious for my own build.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Broke_Okie_Ty

Why did you go with the SAV-1 over the SAV-2? I'm just curious for my own build.

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Heads up: According to Rifle Basix Wb site, Sav-2 does not work with the Axis. Sav-1 does, though.

Had this rifle out in the field for the past two weekends. Last week was the youth only rifle hunt and I had my son in the blind Sunday afternoon in search of his first deer. My goal for the day was for him to have success ... the plan was to give him the go ahead on the first legal deer that showed up. We saw a small doe that was moving around too much for him to shoot at and scampered off without giving him enough time to get things lined up and pull the trigger. A little later a couple smaller bucks came out giving us something watch and break the monotony of the deer blind on a hot day. Since we have an antler restriction of at least a 13" inside spread (antlers outside the ears) these two weren't legal shooters. Then this 8-point came in and stopped broadside to us at 50 yards just at last legal shooting light. My son put the 110 gr AccuBond through the heart and he ran about 30 yards before expiring in plain sight of us.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medi...6_19_43_00.jpg

I took the rifle out on the stand on Saturday morning for the general season opener and got to watch a number of bucks chasing a dozen doe around the grain field I've got a tripod overlooking. I picked out the biggest one and put a round through his ribcage at about 100 yards. He ran about 20 yards toward me and flipped over by the fence-line between the pasture and the grain field ... then he got up and started walking slowly - broadside to me - toward the deep puckerbrush. I put a second round in him just to make sure I didn't have a long tracking job (though it was probably not necessary). He expired at the edge of the brush about 30 yards from where I put the second round in him.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medi...1_09_03_52.jpg

All in all this is a great rifle, the 6.8 is great deer medicine and the Rifle Basix trigger fixes the main shortcoming of the Axis very nicely! The ARP 6.8 SPC barrel is an awesome host for the Silencerco Harvester which makes this a hearing safe hunting rifle. Harrison at ARP wasn't happy with these barrels as the manufacturer used the wrong button when making them so he is blowing them out as a 2 for 1 special. Everyone who has reported back on these barrels has been happy with their performance, making these a great deal. At least one of the barrels has shown up on the EE at 68forums ... since ARP is shipping 2 barrels for every purchase there will probably be more coming up on the resale market as folks decide they don't really need a second barrel sitting in their safe. I may get there myself ... but I'm kind of a packrat. ;)