Well I'm about ready to testfire my new deer rifle. It started out as a stock, Savage Axis in
.308 WIN. Out of the box, it had a 8.5lb. Very gritty heavy trigger pull. And the action of the bolt was a little rough too, but not too bad. Also had a very lightweight, plastic stock. But overall not a bad rifle for under $300 bucks.

First thing I did was a trigger job. By changing out the trigger spring, lightly polishing up the sear, and installing an over travel adjustment screw. I now have a very crisp, 3 lb. trigger with absolutely no creep or over travel. I also shimmed the trigger pin with 2 ultra thin nylon washers, to get rid of the little bit of side to side wobble in the trigger...extremely happy.

Next I did some de-burring, and light polishing of various action surfaces to smooth things out a bit.
Once I put the Boyds , Prairie Hunter stock on, it really started coming together. Had some very minor fitting to do on the stock, but came out perfect...just the look I was going for.

Lastly my optics... I went with a one piece Weaver Base, with medium height, Weaver rings. Topped off the mount with a Leupold VX1, 3x9 x40mm. scope. Got her boresighted, and ready to shoot.

Well I hope she shoots as good as she looks...I know its not a super top of the line, top dollar rifle, but I am happy the way she turned out... I didn't have the money to buy a rifle the way I wanted it all at once. So buying a cheaper rifle, and upgrading it as my funds allowed, ended up being a fun way to go...
What do you think???