Savage Axis II XP .308 Boyds Stock Upgrade... please help

Codylawhorn30 · 09-22-2015, 09:34 PM

Hello everyone. I am a new member, and a fairly new gun owner. I just purchased the Savage Axis II XP in .308. I went ahead and ordered the Boyds Stock upgrade. I got a classic design in Coyote Finish. I am not experienced with rifles and guns, especially how to fit a stock. Here is my Dilemma's im hoping you all can help me with.

1. Aftermarket DBM's that will fit.
* I ordered one from boyds directly after giving them my SN. The parts I got were to long and wide to fit into the Boyd's Stock. I called them up again and the person put me hold and came back to tell me after speaking with their in-house gun-smith...they dont make a DBM that fits into the boyds stock for the short action Axis II XP.

- Does anyone know if they might be confused or if they are telling me the truth...
- Also, I found a company CDI Precision GUN Works that advertises they do sell a DBM that will fit and offer to inlet it for me. "Im thinking I will go this route"

2. The front action screw/bolt is slightly too short.
* The Boyds stock came with a small plastic insert that fits into the bottom-front of the magazine inlet allowing for the original magazine to "clip" into the stock "free floating"... The front action bolt fits through the inside of this plastic insert "kinda like a plastic pillar bedding" and mounts to the action. However I am finding the original front action bolt is too short. I purchased the longer replacement screws from Boyds for the 10/110 but they are too long.

- Is this a sign that the actions is not seating correctly or does anyone have experience with needing to find a longer front action bolt?

If anyone has worked on one of these and has any insight I would sure appreciate it.

Thanks
Cody L.

**Rosco** · 09-22-2015, 11:14 PM

Welcome to Savage Shooters!! Hopefully some of use nutcases here can help you out..

As for the DBM, I wasn't aware that Boyd's made any manner of DBM's for the Axis Stocks, so yes I think they are being truthful. Since that is the case, don't hesitate to go with CDI, here is Axis .308 I own in a Boyd's Pro Varmint with the CDI Bottom Metal and a 10 round mag.

http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...I-Bottom-Metal

Sometimes those **** screws just aren't the right size, but that's ok. I don't think that means the action is not seating correctly and if it was terribly off you should be able to see it, the trigger might not work, or the bolt release might not function. Just take the one that is to long, put it in your power drill and take some sandpaper to it till you can knock enough off till it will insert correctly. Seat your action and make sure you barrel is centered in the stock. Then tighten the action screws down to 35 in/lbs, no more than that or you may crack the inside of your stock. This is good starting point, once that is figured out you can move to free floating the barrel/tang, adding pillars, and bedding the action and all that good stuff.

Codylawhorn30 · 09-23-2015, 12:56 AM

Wow thanks for the reply. I meant to say i previously ordered the dbm directly from Savage after giving them my SN. After i callef back later I found out from savage that they dont offer a dbm for the axis. Im gonna go with the CDI dbm. In the photos of the axis on the CDI website, they show the front and back action mount screws sitting "flush".... im hoping this will eliminate the need for the front "recessed"action screw and allow for the use of the longer screw...this just might eliminate my problem.

**Texas10** · 09-23-2015, 07:26 AM

I'm not trying to correct anyone, but I think Rosco might mean 35 INCH pounds.

**Rosco** · 09-23-2015, 07:35 AM

Texas is right it is inch/lbs...I have corrected it.

**DrThunder88** · 09-23-2015, 06:44 PM

Nonsense, get your impact wrench out and go to town on those action screws!

Seriously though: don't!

The only bottom metal arrangement for Axises I'm aware of (other than what I think was a one-off from SSS) is the CDI system. A Boyds Axis stock will fit a factory Axis magazine usually with no problem. I'm definitely interested in a CDI conversion, but not because I've had any problems with Boyds' magazine arrangement.

As for the screws not reaching the action, I do find that a bit unusual. There may be some sort of inletting problem. If you're a do-it-yourself kind of guy, I might suggest pulling the recoil lug out of the stock and seeing if the front screw engages without it. The lug would then be epoxied back in place during bedding or even without bedding. Similarly, the "kinda like a plastic pillar bedding", which I have previously referred to as an "escutcheon", becomes irrelevant once the stock has pillars installed. I'd go so far as to say it could even be replaced without pillaring the stock by popping it out and affixing a washer over the hole in its place.

Good choice on the coyote laminate. I love that color pattern even though I don't live anywhere near a desert!

Codylawhorn30 · 09-23-2015, 07:24 PM

Well thanks for the helpful tips. The stock from Boyds shows the recoil lug fixed to the stock. But the video from Boyd show the recoil lug free and not fixed to the stock. I plan on glass bedding the stock but I'm curious if you know what is used to fix the recoil lug to the stock currently? I would assume they just use epoxy, but I want to try and be sure before I try and remove it. I'm a hands on kind of guy but I'm new to gun stocks and guns in general. Does CDI usually put pillars in? This is a question I have not asked them yet. I read on another post that CDI automatically installed pillars during the in bedding of their dBm. But I did ship the stock off today for the CDI DBM installation.

Thanks for your input guys, I appreciate all the advice and help. I'm 30 years old and a first time Hunter this year. Unfortunately I have no one to really guide me along so I'm stuck learning things the hard way....lol.. But if things go well within the next 4 weeks I will be using this gun for my first deer hunt in Colorado!

skynyrd · 09-26-2015, 01:50 PM

Cody,
You're not alone. I just joined this morning, primarily looking for advice about this exact problem. I just bought an Axis 2 .243 this week and my Boyd's thumbhole stock was delivered yesterday. So I went to put it on this morning. I absolutely could not get the front screw in far enough to engage a thread. Finally after many attempts I squeezed the stock and barrel together as hard as I could, and at the same time pushed the wrench in my other hand as hard as I could and managed to get the first thread started. I was able to tighten it down from there. But in order to get a good 3-4 complete threads engaged, the recoil lug is squeezed down just enough that my magazine wouldn't snap in place, so I sanded a little off where it snaps into the lug. So there's definitely a problem. When I first put the screw down through the lug, there was only about one thread clearing the surface of the stock. It's almost like there should be a little deeeper cut-out for the lug, or the recess in the lug where the screw goes down should be a little deeper.
Anyway, wanted you to know the problem isn't you or your rifle.

Codylawhorn30 · 09-30-2015, 09:46 PM

Thank you Skynyrd. I am a little worried putting that much pressure on the stock and action to get the bolt to go in. I think I might need to remove the recoil lug and get it to sit down a little lower in the action. I will keep you posted on how it goes. I have put this problem aside for now and shipped the stock off the CDI for inletting their bottom metals. Ill take some photos and post up my progress when i get the stock back next week.

Codylawhorn30 · 10-06-2015, 08:03 PM

So I got the stock back from CDI. They did an excellend job. I ordered the bottom metal and 5 round mag along with pillars. I had them inlet the stock for the metals. I think they did a great job and the quality work shows thru. They sent it back with action screws pre made that fit perfectly. I am very very happy with how this turned out.