Finally got my twins (14 yr old girls) out to shoot their fresh .308 Axis rifles yesterday. It was cold, windy and had a good 15" snow base on the shooting bench. More like a 15" block of ice. We managed to clear off enough space to set up a crappy beanbag rest. They have done all the work on their rifles themselves (trigger job, rail bedding, scope mounting) so they were pretty excited.

With less then ideal conditions (snow was up to 2' deep between the bench and targets) we decided not to try to sight in but just let them shoot a box of shells to get a good feel for the rifles.

With their bore sighted only (they bore sighted without help or supervision) rifles one managed to get all 20 rounds on paper @100 yards mainly to the right of center (12mph wind). The other was really low and only got 2 on paper the rest were low kicking up snow. (I did crank it up a bit for her at the end).

After we cleaned and put everything away I asked what they thought of the recoil ect... One was pretty indifferent said it was about what she'd expected for recoil. The other said it initially surprised her as her first shot wasn't held tight and clocked her in the cheek pretty good. Otherwise she did fine.

I think they were a little disappointed with the accuracy or lack of, but once they get zero'd they should be good to go. They shoot out the bullseye with my .223!

We had fun together and thats the main thing to me. (They live with their mother so getting days like this isn't always easy).

When the weather warms up n the snow melts off the bench I'll get them out on a sled to really sight in with some 165gr bullets. We'd used 150's for their first time out.

We put Pentax GameSeeker III 4-12x40 scopes on so I'm interested in how they will work out. The clarity of them seems great for $100 investment. The hold over reticle should be useful. So far I have to say I was impressed, went from indoor to outdoor temps with zero fogging. Pretty decent considering the high for the day was 24°F and clouds were rolling in.

We didn't have any bolt lift issues not dropped shells so I was glad for the. We had thoroughly cleaned and lubed the bolts and barrels with BreakFree Powder Blast and Gun Oil the ran a bore snake through a couple times just prior to shooting.

To anyone wondering about felt recoil on a .308 my girls aren't petite little girls but they had no trouble what so ever with the .308 out of these lightweight rifles. In fact I'd say they may get 12ga's next they did so well with these.