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I went out and shot my daughters new axis II youth 243. Darn thing kicks like a mule.
I know some of it is the light weight but also no muzzle break.
1. Should I have it threaded and a break installed
2. install a clamp on
3. or have it ported?
need to have a consensus asap. less then 30 days till her birthday
Threading a sporter is always something of a pain, but that would generally be my choice. You don't need as robust a shoulder as you do with a suppressor, but threading an Axis for even 1/2-28 would not leave much steel to support the device. It's also probably the most expensive option because you need to have the work done and buy the parts, but there are some reasonably good but still very cheap brakes on the market, and the ones I've found have had oversized apertures, so a .223 brake might work for a .243, but whoever does the work on the barrels should also make sure it is the correct width.
Various clamp-on brakes have strong followings, but I don't like how big and ugly they are. There's only one big, ugly thing on my rifles, and it's me.
I can't speak to porting, its efficacy, or its cost.
I live in a very small town with only one smith. I really have my doubts he has a lathe but I havent asked yet. I only just shot it yesterday and am looking at my options. I hate it because Ive had it for months and waited to the 11th hour to shoot it. But, at least I shot it first and found out before she shoots and decides she wont shoot it again. My 260 has less recoil. Of course its sitting on a metal chassis with a nice break.
If I cant pull it off in time locally Ill just have to give it to her as is and then send it off to have it done right. Im even fine with a new barrel and stock to accommodate putting a break on it. What ever needs to be done. All in all that rifle is a rough POS really. It is the hardest of all my savages to run the bolt. I would think for a youth they would break it from the factory for a few bucks more. My 338 has way more blast and percussion but nearly identical felt recoil. Probably a little exaggerated but not by much. I do know that in its current form she would shoot it once and not touch it again for years and go back to shooting 223. I loaded a light load with a 70 gr bullet to minimize recoil. Thank goodness I did or I wouldnt want to shoot it again! lol
Although the more I think about it. I dont know if I would go through the expense of having that crap action re-barreled. Im going to a huge gun show in april. Ill just pick up something there and sell this thing for a few bucks if I cant get a break installed.
I dont mind an ugly clamp on if they WORK!
I went had the same problem with an Axis youth model I bought for my grandson several years ago. While working up loads for it I noticed that the recoil was stiffer than I expected for a 243 and the muzzle blast was unbelievably loud. I took him to the range to shoot it the first time and fired a couple rounds to confirm zero before I would let him shoot it. He refused to shoot the rifle, I think because of the muzzle blast.
I got some 55gr. varmint bullets and Trail Boss powder powder and loaded some really low velocity ammo which produced very reduced recoil and muzzle blast. After watching these rounds being fired, he shot them with no qualms. Next I loaded some hunting bullets with reduced charges, working up to normal full power loads. He shot these with no qualms and very quickly was shooting nothing but full power loads. If you reload, this process is very easy to negotiate....the hardest part might be finding Trail Boss powder. The Hodgdon web site has procedures for reduced loads with Trail Boss and procedures for reduced loads with H4895.
I took the easy way out. I sold it and bought an RPR. With the added weight and installed brake, it should be just fine. My Creedmoor and 270 are both on a chassis with brakes and neither of one of the kick much at all so the light load with 243 should be smooth.
Thats too bad it didnt work out. I have two of the youth 243 mods and one youth 7mm08 . I found the 85gr fed trophy copper loads to be very good shooters and not have much of recoil. My girl is not very small she is 18 now but in the last 4 years she has taken 14 deer and 5 hogs with that little rifle. And I dont think she has had to shoot twice on any of them. I hope your girl loves her new rifle and has many great hunts with you.
My daughter is way into target shooting. So anything with as much kick as that axis would make it totally no fun for shooting over and over. I could more than likely get her to shoot it a couple times and maybe even pull it out again next deer season and shoot but there would have been no way she would have loaded clip after clip and shot all day. Heck I wouldn't do it. So just best to change.