Axis lookalikes.

[Murphy]

Does anyone know how companies like Mossberg, Remington and Marlin manage to produce very Savage looking rifles in a similar price range to the Axis and Stevens 200. Seems that they must either have an agreement or they are sailing very close to patent infringement. The other thing that is bugging me is whether the Stevens 200 is now obselete or will Savage keep producing it side by side with the Axis? Had a look at a new Remington 715, in caliber 7mm/ 08 and it looked tidy enough but the trigger was woeful, lite but the creep and drag was beyond belief, still at a price of $330 Australian I don''t know how they do it. The shop was sold out of them and the one I looked at was only a demonstrater. Hope they pay as much attention to barrel quality as savage, because the last Remington I owned, had to be moved on because I could not keep up with the copper fouling and that was an expensive one in 300 Win Mag. At first I thought the problem was caliber related but then I bought a Stevens 200 in the same caliber and copper build up hardly happens at all, incidentally the Remington was a target rifle and weighed 11lbs. The 7 1/2lb Stevens has about the same level of accuracy. >

[DGD6MM]

This is the same thing I found years back. This is also why 90%+ of my rifles are now Savage's and not Remington's.

[Murphy]

To DGD6MM, Wish I had made the discovery sooner but it was just by ;D chance that I finished up with the Stevens, now I have gone out and bought a model 16 in cal 7mm/08 and would very much like one in 223 when Ican afford it. ;D

[82boy]

Actualy the Remington 770 came out way before the Edge/Axis, this was the reason why Savage desided to build the Edge, do to compeating with Remington. Savage produced the Edge in an astounding fast time frame, (Start to finish) all because of Remington, having a rifle that would compeate pricewise to the Stevens 200. If your compairing the Mosberg 4x4 well it came out even before the Remington 770, but the Mosberg is in a higher price than the Remington or the Axis. Again the Marlin x7 came out around the same time as the Mosberg 4x4 and 100ART, still way before the Edge/Axis. The Marlin or rhe Mosberg I dont think looks anything like a Savage especialy an edge, they only thing that resembles a Savage is the trigger and the barrel nut, the design is compleatly diferent. I would say the Stevens is out the door as soon as Savage runs out of parts, they will be fased out just like other things have at Savage such as staggardfeed actions, on so forth.

[psharon97]

I don't understand why Savage decided to unroll a new lineup when the Stevens was a very nice brand. I've convinced my dad to go ahead and purchase a Stevens in 223.

[82boy]

I don't understand why Savage decided to unroll a new lineup when the Stevens was a very nice brand. I've convinced my dad to go ahead and purchase a Stevens in 223.

Comes back to money. When Remington released the 770 it put a gun close to the same price as a Stevens 200, Savage's goal is to be cheaper than Remington. It basicly came to a point where Savage could not drop the price of the Stevens anymore, and wanted a gun that would be cheaper in price than the Remington, so they the rush out the Edge/Axis. The Stevens line was a great thing.

[psharon97]

I suppose what's worse is consumer's thinking that their cheap $300 rifle will shoot with the same precision as a quality benchrest rifle.

[Murphy]

Don't think that anyone would expect a $300 rifle to shoot like a bench gun but if they can shoot like a $2000 hunting rifle they are not doing too badly. They may not be as pretty but accuracy wise a good one is hard to beat, if my Stevens in 300 Win mag is any example.

[J.Baker]

The Stevens 200 was a band-aid solution when Mossberg and Marlin came out with their new copy-cat bolt guns. They were both priced below what a Savage 11/111F cost at the time and Savage needed something to compete with them in that price range.

The birth of the Axis/Edge was just an evolution of that. With the Stevens 200, Savage basically just omitted the AccuTrigger and lowered their profit margin to get it into the Marlin/Mossberg price range. The design of the Axis/Edge utilizes new production processes that save labor, materials and time. This lets Savage sell the rifle in that price range without cutting into their profit margin like the Stevens 200 did.

As for whether the Stevens 200 will remain or not, I really don't expect it to. There's no need for it with the new Axis models, and as busy as Savage has been I don't see them dedicating production time to a model that fills a void in their line-up that doesn't exist.