With as many of these great rifles as I own, I knew it was just a matter of time....
I was removing the recoil pad on my latest Axis to install an Allen 10 shot shell holder. I pushed too hard on the latch and "snap", it broke. Being too cheap to purchase another recoil pad for such a simple problem, I though about several 'fixes'.
I can up with a great one.... A 1/4" wide, 2" long piece of Lexan. Bend it to almost 90 degrees. Drill a hole in one leg, and use a short sheetmetal screw to hold it to the inside of the recoil pad.
Done. Nothing shows and it's 100X stronger than the Savage part.

Note: do NOT use Plexiglass. It's brittle and will NOT bend. Lexan is tough, flexable and if it's good enough for a fighter jet's canopy. it's good enough for an Axis!

ron