One Very Excited Newbie

Just saying hello as one very excited newbie. Purchased an Axis II XP in .223 NIB earlier today. Definitely not my first rifle, but my first Savage firearm. Brought it home, cleaned it (the bore was filthy from the test firing, but Hobbs #9 made quick work of that), oiled it, and introduced it to it's new rifle bag.

The plan is to bore sight it later this week. Yeah, I know it's bore sighted from the factory. And the store that sold me the gun bore sighted it for me again in their shop. But I figure they're both just doing the prelim work to make the final tweaks easier for me.

I suspect the synthetic stock will eventually be replaced by a Boyd's wood stock, but this is my first rifle with a synthetic stock...I'll give it a chance before I make up my mind.

Looking forward to experiencing the legendary accuracy of the Savage barrel for myself. Have already fallen in love with the Accutrigger. And really looking forward to learning from the crew here. Glad to be amongst y'all!

Congratulations! Sounds like you've got a plan, and it's a god one -- get to know your rifle for a while before jumping in to modifications. Unless you decide to add a bipod later, or just pretty up the looks with wood, you may find there's really nothing wrong with the stock.

One discovery I've already made: the bolt action smoothed out quite a bit after about 200 dry cycles. Much smoother than when it first came out of the box.

Whatever ammo(factory/reload) you use; give it a variety. Yours may love 50-55's, or it may prefer something much heavier.

be sure to grease in between the bolt lugs, see a lot of rifles that wear prematurely from dry locking lugs , good luck and welcome to the most accurate firearm design ever, and welcome to the brotherhood of the barrel-nut, just about every one here is a wealth of Savage Stevens info and most are willing to share with new Savage owners, please look at the home page , it also has a wealth of info , hours of gun nut entertainment

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Originally Posted by WV1951

Whatever ammo(factory/reload) you use; give it a variety. Yours may love 50-55's, or it may prefer something much heavier.

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Absolutely planning on it. The first several hundred rounds will see plenty of variety in terms of both manufacturers and loads.

mine likes 75-77 gr bullets

Spent some time at the range sighting in the new rifle this morning. Some important discoveries:

1. The bolt continues to smooth out with use.
2. I'm developing a pretty strong dislike for the magazine. Had several FTF issues (on a bolt action rifle, for crying out out) until I stopped sliding in the rounds and just pushed them into the top of the mag.
3. The out-of-the-box bore sighting was OK but not great: It was 5 inches right and almost 2 inches low. Because I'm pretty meticulous in my sighting procedure with a new rifle(25 yards, 50 yards, 75 yards, 100 yards), it took more than a few rounds to work through that.
4. The Weaver scope was a joy to sight in. And once sighted in, the accuracy knocked my socks off. Pic attached is on a 3 inch by 3 inch target at 100 yards. And that's with your basic, inexpensive, Wolf 55 grain .223.

So the mag and I have some things to work out in our relationship. We'll get through that and then I'll go to work on tweaking the Accutrigger. Nevertheless, I couldn't be much happier with this rifle...nice groupings and solid accuracy at 100 yards on the first outing is a new experience for me. Next trip, we'll start working on 200 and 300 yards. But today I'm a very happy camper.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMG_1924.jpg

a couple of tips to help get the most out of your ammo.
It looks like you're pretty near center so shoot several different kinds without any further scope adjustments and pick the one that groups best no matter where they land on the paper as your load.
Once you decide which load then bed that puppy down good in some bags or a lead sled and fire one. Then bed it down good again with the crosshairs on the bullseye so it wont move and then adjust the crosshairs to the bullet hole. The next shot should be dead center or darn close. (known as one shot zero)
Good luck and have fun

Outstanding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!