First bolt action - lots of questions

Sorry for the amount of question I am going to ask, but I really hope you all can help. I just bought my first bolt action and its a savage axis XP in 6.5 creedmoor. I have not had a chance to run it to the range yet. Are the factory stocks bad? I have read conflicting reports on them. Are the Boyd's stocks worth it? also on the boyd's if anyone has a thumbhole stock, is it possible to shoot with a normal grip vs. a thumbhole grip? Just looking for flexibility in shooting. I already have a trigger kit coming for it, so that's taken care of. I don't know much about bolt action as all of my rifles have been semi-auto, but as I get older bolt action seems more appealing to me.

Thank you all.

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Originally Posted by trahansax

Are the factory stocks bad?
Yes. They are too flimsy to be consistent.

Are the Boyd's stocks worth it? also on the boyd's if anyone has a thumbhole stock, is it possible to shoot with a normal grip vs. a thumbhole grip?

Yes! Mine turned the rifle from a 2moa rifle into a 1/2 moa tack driver. I have the At-One Thumbhole and a regular grip is possible.

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Thank you for replying. I love the zombie green, it looks great. I will order one soon. I just didn't want to buy one and not like it, the thumbhole that is.

Welcome to the BROTHERHOOD

1.Savage "black plastic" stocks are considered bad by many people. They ARE cheap plastic and are very flexible which means that if you grip the fore end under the barrel and squeeze too hard , you will not like the result on target. At the same time, if you DO NOT squeeze up front, the Axis has a potential to be a minute of angle rifle..OUT OF THE BOX!
Boyd's stocks are hard, laminated wood, the AT-One is adjustable for length of pull and comb height, some of their thumb hole stocks are not adjustable. Be prepared to do some rasping/ filing on the stock for clearance around the magazine well. You will NOT have any "flexibility" issues with a Boyd's.
Just for grins, take your new, unaltered Axis to a range and see what you have to improve on. Do not squeeze the stock. You may be surprised at the result and now you have something to compare when stock switching..
Good luck!!



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I agree. My original Axis stock allowed me to shoot below MOA after the barrel had settled down. A good break in might have solved that faster.

I did end up with a Boyd's because I wanted some more weight to the rifle. Also changed the scope.

Yes. The Boyd's thumbhole stock is worth the price. (mine is non-adjustable but fits me).

As far as shooting it not using the thumbhole . . . sure. But that might be awkward - like shooting an AR with your thumb above your palm.

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Jester560, is that a Savage barrel? It looks heavier to me than an Axis barrel but it is hard to tell for sure in a picture.

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Originally Posted by Mr.Snerdly

Jester560, is that a Savage barrel? It looks heavier to me than an Axis barrel but it is hard to tell for sure in a picture.

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Yes it is the factory barrel and the regular sporter size.

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Forgot that you also mentioned a 'trigger kit'? Keep in mind a Savage (or other bolt actions) are not like an AR. You don't just start replacing trigger parts. And sometimes even a trigger replacement is not a simple job. Take your time with it.

FWIW, my Boyd's stock is the Pro Varmint. I don't like thumb hole designs. I either want a full pistol grip, aka the AR15, or a normal stock.

Hi Charlie,

Thank you for the response, I did end up getting the Mcarbo Trigger Kit, just to lighten the pull. I wanted it to feel more like my kimber 1911. THE kit was great and my axis now has the feel I was looking for. I will take your advise and put several trips to the range in before I decide if I need to change out my stock or not.

I have 2 thumbhole Boyd's stocks. They look nice, shoot nice and are comfortable to shoot.
The one drawback that I see is the Savage tang safety is in an awkward place for operation in a hunting situation. More and unnecessary movement in tight quarters and in still hunting/ jump style shooting, it takes more time to operate the safety and get your hand back in the thumbhole for quick target aquisition.
The Boyd's also do not add pillars so this is recommended by most that use them. If you can bed & pillar them yourself it is well worth the time.
Good luck with your Axis!
Randy

Thanks for the advice Randy.

Another place to check would be https://www.stockysstocks.com/, I have been happy with my bell and carlson stock that I purchased from them a few years but its not a thumbhole syle.
The axis is an often over looked rifle that can be a great shooter with a few corrections!

I don't have any Boyds stocks, not by preference but more for finances. That being said, I have two of the Axis rifles with the factory stocks and both will consistently shoot sub MOA groups. I am not knocking Boyds stocks in the least.

I have two Axis', my first in 30-06 Springfield and the second in 6.5 Creedmoor. The 30-06 shoots sub MOA at this point, the 6.5 CM shoots at MOA but the barrel isn't quite broke in yet. I like them both, I have contemplated a Boyds for each in the past. But for now funds restrict that purchase. Good luck with you Axis and welcome to the club.

Take the Rifle to the range and shoot about 50 rounds. Then come back to the Forum and tell us your opinion.

I think the Axis stock has maybe been improved over the first ones. It is nothing to brag about but it isn't that bad. Same with the trigger. I thought it would be horrible but it wasn't, about 3 1/2# from the factory and a little creep, more than my Model 10 and 12 but not bad and it seems to get better with a little use. I did improve it a lot by putting the varmint trigger for a 110 in it. It is slightly below 1# now. I really have no complaints on mine. It might not look fancy but it shoots pretty well. I thought maybe it wasn't as good as I thought after shooting the 68 grain Hornady bullets but my other 223 shot them as badly if not worse. It was the bullet, not the gun.

IMO, while you're thinking of parts, we need to keep in mind what is happening when we shoot high power rifles. Hint: torqing screws is counter productive. ALL that's going to happen there is stripping threads (if you have the mind to tighten the screws and it still moves, you first inclination is to tighten them more and more and usually the receiver threads wil let go first). Not good.

SO , there's an explosion in the chamber, the interior pressure goes from 500PSi to 5000PSi in .4 seconds. Following physics, the blast will follow the path of least resisitance, in this case ,out the barrel. What's important here is how violent that blast is. IF you watch soldiers in the field, with heavy artillery and watch them fire a charge and the shock wave kicks up the dust all around them for 10 feet. That same thing happens when you fire a round (on a much smaller scale).

When 9/11 happened , it opened a can of worms with physicists and set them on their collective ears (and begat string theory). A phenomenon happens whan a jumbo jet flies into a building at hundreds of MPH- a solid takes on the properties of a liquid. Well, how can that be? Because before that, they thought that moleclues jump from here to there and everywhere, but they do not. What they realized and discovered is that molecules are actually constanly streaming from here to there, back and forth. If we could see it in real time, they're moving so fast, back and forth they look like strings (hence , string theory).

Well us shooters have known that for many many years. That's why we float barrels- because that blast is SO violent the reciever and barrel take on that "liquid properties" thing. The barrel actually whips out there like a wet noodle (and bucks and slaps into the stock and throws the harmonics off and the bullet) and the receiver does too. That shock wave rattles it. So you can torque those screws down until you strip the threads, but it's not going to stop that shock wave from rattlling that reciever and whipping the barrel. IMO, it's akin to, when shooting a pistol, tightening your watch to handle the recoil. So, just like shooting a pistol, we don't even try to STOP the recoil, we try to work WITH the recoil. Back to artillery, Engineers have designed the artillery (and cannons on ships) so that the barrels recoil, to help absorb that shock wave and resulting recoil (for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction) and distribute it along the weapon (ideally evenly), in this case (and with pistols), including your body (why we now get all they way behind the rifle. Back in the day, they got off to the side 45deg.).

So now I hope we can see what we need to do to deal with the explosion and resulting recoil and why just tightening the screws (be it chassis screws or scope screws, too) does nothing. Fact is, the screws are weak in sheer strength, but they're not designed for sheer, they're designed to fasten two things together so that when you're carrying it around, stuff don't fall off. That's it! In fact, it's counter productive, 'cause it interupts the "cycle of the explosion". We can't stop the explosion and shock wave (and don't want to) , but we need to manage it, go with it. In pistol shooting, we call it "riding the recoil". Just like pistol shooting ,we're dealing with TWO things- ONE, that our sights or nothing on the gun moves or changes as we shoot and TWO, the actual shockwave and recoil. So we secure the sights and parts and then we position our bodies and arms so that we can absorb the shockwave and "ride the recoil". We go with it, let it buck, ride it up and then bring it back down to where it was, with the sights lined back up. Same with rifle shooting, so float the barrel, bed the reciever, bed the scope mounts, anything you attach to that rifle, bed it. Why? Because that's the best chance that nothing moves and changes as we shoot and it all can share absorbing the shock wave and recoil. Hope that helps.