.204 Ruger Axis Kentucky Critter Getter

So in a nutshell here is the story, I have had an Axis action from a 22-250 for quite a while. The original plan was to use it as a donor for a 6.5 Creedmore build. Unfortunately, finances didn’t pan out the way I had hoped and had set to the side. Then about 2 months ago a friend with 65 acres right outside of Shelbyville KY, let me know that I was welcome to come hunt on their property for all manner of Varmints including Coyotes, Raccoons, Fox and Bobcat and whatever else. Needless to say, I was pleased. I have a Savage 93R17 HMR which I am very happy with and would have been fine , but truth is I just wanted something with some more zing to it and that I had built myself.

Enter the Varmint Cartridges. Now I don’t have a ton experience with these, and there were quite a few that I was interested in including a 220 Swift, which I found out needed a long action, .223, 22-250ai, 204 Ruger, 222 Remington and a few others. Hadn’t narrowed it down to anything specific but while doing all this research and trying to decide on which one I wanted, ran across a pretty good deal on a barrel on Ebay for a .204 Ruger. So that was easy!!

The Build:

Primary Purpose: Varmint hunting specifically Coyote, Bobcat, Fox , etc..up to and around 200-250yds. Also, would be used for some paper punching practice at the range out to about 350yds.

Rifle System Components:

Stock: Boyd's Pro-Varmint Custom 12 ¾ LOP
Barrel: 24’’ Stainless Steel Fluted 1:9 Twist threaded 1/2x28 tpi
Muzzle Break: Ross Schuler
Barrel Nut: Stainless Standard Savage
Trigger: Rifle Basix SAV-1
Trigger Guard: Stainless Steel Boyd’s
Action: Stainless Steel Savage Axis (previously a .22-250)
Bolt Handle: Stainless Steel Glades Armory with crosshatch pattern. The one made for the Axis with primary extraction.
Scope Mounts: SS DNZ Hunt Reaper
Scope: BSA Tactical Mil-Dot Rifle Scope 30mm Tube 6-24x 44mm Side Focus Glass Etched Mil-Dot Reticle Matte

Costs including taxes and shipping.

Original Axis: $285.14
Rebate: $50.00
Sold Stock: $35.00
Sold Barrel: $70.00

204 Ruger Parts:

Axis Action: $130.14
Barrel: $162.99
Muzzle Break: $45.00
Boyd's Pro-Varmint Stock: $154.00
Glades Armory Bolt Handle: $70.99
Scope Mounts: $73.82
Go and No Go Gauges: $8.00 Rented
Bolt Head: $36.12
Trigger: $89.00
Mag and Follower: $47.00
Scope: $130.00

Total Cost: $964.06

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0806.jpg

The scope rings are wrong in this picture, and I am missing the mag, but you get it! :smile-new:

Rifle Assembly Steps

1. Clean and Polish Barrel and Receiver
2. Remove Axis Trigger and Install SAV-1 Trigger
3. Remove .478 Bolt Head and add .223 bolt head for headspacing.
4. Assemble barreled action and headspace
5. Disassemble bolt and clean and lube
6. Add new bolt handle and assembled .223 bolt head.
7. Stock modifications, install Pillars and Bed(More on this later)
8. Install SS Trigger guard.
9. Install Scope Mounts.
10. Mount Scope
11. Install and Time Muzzle Break

Step 1
So when I got the barrel it had quite a few scratches probably from field use. Some were very minor but two of them were noticeable to point it was affecting my OCD. These needed to be removed!! Also, there was a small burr on the threads for the break and some unbeknownst sticky gunk near the shank.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0809.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...IMAG0807_1.jpg

Time for a cleaning, so took the barrel, soaked it in some scalding hot water along with the receiver and barrel nut. Added some Dawn liquid soap with and cleaned up the barrel, muzzle, nut and receiver threads with a Nylon brush and used some Scotch-Brite to remove whatever that stuff was. Then used a towel to dry them off and used a hair dryer at high power to make sure I got all the moisture out.

The polish came next; really I just wanted to remove the scratches as I wasn’t looking to buff it up for a high luster look. After searching around the ole’ internet to find what might work best without causing any damage the finish this is what I came up with. '

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0836.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0837.jpg


These were purchased on Amazon, got two of them, for $5.99 each from Sally’s Beauty Supply. You can see that it has 4 different sections each one progressively getting finer. Not exactly sure what grit they correspond to but I would guess somewhere along the lines of 1000, 1500, 2000 and 3000 . So started with the coarsest, and moved to the finer one by one. Each scratch only took about 10 minutes to remove, so hell I just went over the rest of the barrel as well, and I couldn’t be more pleased, and also, used this to remove the small burr on the muzzle thread. It was like magic!!

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0843.jpg

Step 2
Removing the original Axis Trigger and installing the SAV-1 for the most part was a breeze. Added some Blue LockTite to the screws and checked my pull weight. After having used the standard Axis trigger, without any mods, the SAV-1 was an immediate joy. I don’t own a Trigger pull gauge, so I couldn’t fine tune, but I imagine it is coming in somewhere around 2lbs which is fine by me. If there was one thing that got under my skin it would have be that **** E-Clip, it was one the two things in this build which just annoyed the hell outta me. At least once it shot across the room, and I ended up crawling around at 1 in the morning till I found it.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0851.jpg

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With Trigger and new Glades Armory Bolt Handled installed.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0868.jpg

You see their is no E-Clip in this picture, because I was still looking for it!!

Step 3
I decided to go ahead and headspace with the extractor and ejector not installed. So removed the original bolt head, added the .223 bolt head and reassembled. Went off without any problems.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0816.jpg


http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0838.jpg

Step 4.
Got everything staged, put the barrel in the vise, added some Kroil and Anti-Seize onto the barrel threads, since I figured this was going to be removed here in the future. Screwed the action onto the barrel most of the way then inserted the .204 Go Gauge and tightened it till it was snug. Next, put the bolt in made sure it would close, ever so tightly on the gauge. Then inserted the No-Go and found it only would run down about 20 degrees before it would not close. Screwed the barrel nut on, took the barrel wrench and started to tighten. As I was doing this I was thinking how easy this was! Right up until, I was tightening it down it and threw it off just a little. Now had to do this process all over again, but this time, I held the action/barrel more tightly and when it was screwed in and then took a mallet to it and gave it good whack to make sure it was nice and tight.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0869.jpg

Step 5 and 6

So re-disassembled the bolt, cleaned it with hot soap and water and wiped the parts down, turned on the oven at 175 degrees and cooked the parts for about 20 minutes. Next was the fun part, I mean how much you can really say about bolt assemblies!! Normally, it would be a real snoozer except for the good times I had installing the extractor ball bearing. I mean seriously wtf, those freaking videos and tutorials make it look so **** easy. Even inside a freezer bag, the little sucker shot out onto floor. It got so bad; I decided it had to be done in the kitchen which had a hardwood floor, so when it took off on me I could hear it hit the floor and at least kind of somewhat follow where it went. Finally, after 5-6 tries, I quit counting, she went it in. Installing the ejector was not nearly as bad. lol

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0835.jpg

Lastly, I lubricated with some Break Free, wiped the parts down lightly and added some White Lithium grease to mating surfaces( cocking ramp, extractor, bolt heads etc..)

Now that the barreled action was ready to go I wanted to see how she fit in the Pro-Varmint stock. The first try didn't go so well, it ended up looking like this with the action not being able to seat into the stock.


http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0832.jpg

At first I thought it had something to do with the stock or maybe even the trigger, but upon closer inspection the culprit was this pin sticking out.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0831.jpg

Go out the punch tools and the mallet and lightly got it back in place.

Once this was done, the action fit right into the stock without issue. It was however, to snug for my tastes, but I went ahead and tightened it down to 35in/lbs just to check. My biggest concern was that when tightened that the wood might crack around the action screw holes, but luckily that didn't happen. My plan is to add pillars, bed, and open up the barrel channel just a little bit. When it was purchased, I ordered the heavy barrel version which I knew might still need some work, but that is fine.

Now since I had rented the headspace gauges from 4-d, and needed to get them back. I was worried that I may have made a mistake when headspacing, so I wanted to go to the range and put 20 or so rounds down the tube just to make sure their were no problems. And if their were, this would allow at least a few days to correct before I had to send them back. So I went ahead and mounted to DNZ Hunt Reaper and the BSA scope. And Off to Knob Creek I went...

Before I get into the order in which I did this. What I wanted to do was, an accuracy test per se, and have I it go like this. First, check the accuracy/precision of the rifle with no muzzle break, no pillars and no bedding. Then add in one at a time and see if any of these made any significant difference. But the primary reason for being at the range was to ensure the rifle operated correctly.

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http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0893.jpg



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Set my target up at 50yds, loaded up the first round, pulled the trigger and it didn't blow up in my face!! Hell yeah!! The cartridge ejected just as it should, the bolt lift was perfect and the case looked fine. So I was pretty happy, figured why not a try a few more just to be sure, hell I have 40 rds, right!!

Fired off a few more rounds and decided to give a few groups a try.

Here is the first target the ones on the right were my first shots, then the 3 shot group in the middle was when I started. It measured 0.37. Maybe that was a fluke I thought, so out to 100yds it went. The first group at one hundred are the three across the top and came in at 0.67.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...AG0898%201.jpg

Then out to 200..

I shot 2 three shot groups and one 2 shot before the RO called time on me. We had a pretty stiff 15mph wind gust blowing from left to right and as you can see the bullets spread out accordingly. The vertical spread is fantastic, and truth was I wasn't adjusting for wind, so I wasn't disappointed. Let the wind calm down and shot the 3 shot group which came in at 0.55 center to center.


http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0897.jpg

The ammo used was 40gr Hornady Superperformance V-max.

More updates to come...

Looks like you will have a nice rifle when you get all done. I think that you will find there is no recoil what so ever and a muzzle break really isn't needed.

Well done! Interesting choice for polishing. I've seen those or similar tools for nails but never thought about them being used for anything but polishing keratin!

Thanks guys I appreciate it. The rifle is a little bit heavier than I would have preferred but that does help cut down on the recoil which makes it about equivalent to my 17 HMR as it stands. And you are correct I really don't need a muzzle break it was just one of those why not scenarios.

As for the polishing I wish I could take credit for that idea because it's pretty clever but I saw it over in another thread on long range hunting I believe.

Great Job

Nice write up and a very nice rifle you built yourself!

Thanks ...Drybean and Moss.

Good looking stick and nice shooting!

Sheeze, I got a lot to learn, You really got in there, thanks for the inspiration.

It was and is a really fun project. Will be posting the muzzle break installation here later tonight and thanks.

Step 10:Muzzle Break Installation

Ross Schuler Break

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...IMAG0811_1.jpg



Let me start by saying this break is very well designed and machined, plus support was great. Ross was extremely helpful both by email and on the phone and shipping was fast which was nice for a change. So I can't imagine you could do much better for $45.00.

The break installation was a little more challenging than I had hoped , and trying to save a few dollars, I figured I would just do it myself. After speaking to Ross a few times, I knew the likelihood that the break would time at anywhere near 12 o'clock was pretty slim, and first go around it came in at 5 o'clock. He stated that I could use a 150-180 grit sandpaper to take off some of the stainless steel which would allow the break to get in the correct position. Now I don't have a Benchsander which probably would have worked, so I thought with a little elbow grease I could do it by hand. Let's just say that didn't work out so well.

Another solution was needed and decided to try these.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0903.jpg



These are stainless steel shims from Gem-Tech and were $14.99 on Amazon. They shipped from Richmond, Va.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0899.jpg


It took a little while and some math too, but I ended using a 0.67 shim combination to get the break to 12 o'clock.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0902.jpg


These worked well and are great for DIY gun builders like myself that don't have access to a lathe or even decent shop tools. It didn't give that flush/contoured look that I really wanted, but got the job done. Next, put some Blue Loc-tite on the threads and tightened it down to what I felt was about 30 lbs/in.

Range Report

http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...914#post319914

with break installed.

Very good and thorough write up, the rifle looks really good! Nice job! I know the recoil isnt much to begin with but could you tell much difference with the break?
Scooter

I did notice the difference with the break albeit not very much. To me the amount of recoil feels like a little above my Heavy Barrel Savage 17HMR. So basically next to nothing. Also, I expected the break to really let out a boom, but it wasn't that loud which is nice.

Oh ok gotcha, I was just curious. Kinda wanting to start messing with some bigger cartridges and am starting to look into brakes some. Thanks for the info!
Scooter

Not a problem, for big bore stuff I would think a break/can is a must. Heck, wish I had one on my 7mm-08, with the shortened stock it has it blows me off my cheek weld at least %80 of the time. I couldn't imagine getting behind a 7mm Rem Mag or 300 Win Mag without one and trying to shoot any type of groups.

A few more groups from last weekend at 100yds.

.48 MOA

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0931.jpg

.22 MOA

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0929.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rosco

A few more groups from last weekend at 100yds.

.48 MOA

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0931.jpg

.22 MOA

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/IMAG0929.jpg

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Sweet groups the .204 is caliber I am very interested in. I am also interested in 7mm08 can you post pics of yours? I dont see many of them and love to see them when I do.

I like your car jack rifle rest. Good idea on that.

It is a Kentucky Front Rest!! Lol

Ditto on the rest. Might have to give that a try!

Hey Harris! Looking good brother! Groups are small and look fantastic - not too shabby on your 200 yard groups as well! Love how the rifle turned out - you did a great job - looks like a keeper! How's the BSA Tactical Mil-Dot Rifle Scope working out for yar? Clarity is good - comparable to the other big names? I'd imagine 204 cal won't really "shake" things in there up too much ;) When do you want me to send my rifle(s) up there :)

Thanks John I appreciate it!! This rifle was alot of fun to build and I learned quite bit during the process. The BSA Scope is actually much better than I expected, I mean it is a Second Focal Plane $129.00 scope from a bottom tier scope manufacture!! The optical clarity is better than average, clicks aren't to mushy, seems to hold zero without issue, and haven't had any issue with eye relief at higher magnifications. It is pretty good bargain for an entry level optic for varmint hunting.

Don't knock those 20 Cals!! :) They are fun to shoot and some of them like the 20BR can really reach out there.