I know this forum holds tons of good info for Savage Axis noobs like me but it took a while to search for it. Thus, I decided to aggregate some of the info that I noted and actually used.

I bought an Axis XP 223 basically as an inexpensive ($199 + shipping + FFL fee = $247) plinker to shoot at paper and interesting targets and not for hunting. Right out of the box, I upgraded the scope to a Redfield Revolution I had lying around and surprisingly the scope ring from Axis XP fit -- though barely.

The heavy trigger was not appealing, almost heavier than a military AR15 trigger (about 9 lbs). So I did the DIY trigger job. The over travel screw is a 10x24 3/4 inch screw from Lowes and the spring is from a pen. I followed this Youtube video. I did not touch the sear. Surprisingly, you don't need much spring tension to hold the sear safe and prevent discharge from banging on the action because of the extra tension provided by the cocked bolt spring pushing on the sear. BTW, my Axis did not have yellow adhesive on the trigger spring.


I then put on a bipod that I had lying around on the front swivel stud and found that the Axis stock was so filmsy and flexing with the bipod installed... but what the heck, I wanted to shoot and went to the range to zero. Unfortunately, I found the grouping to be somewhat inconsistent at 50 yards. The black dots are 3/4 inch and the red circles are 2 inches.


100 yards were even worse!. From Left: PMC => about 3.5 MOA, American Eagle => about 3.5 MOA, Wolf Gold => about 2 MOA. My CZ 527 (7.62x39) shooting steel case ammo can group inside of 1.75 MOA every day... so I wasn't too thrilled about the rifle's accuracy... I think my putting on the bipod may have contributed to the dispersion of the groups and/or the rifle may not have liked the ammo.


I came back home to find means to stiffen the forend to prevent flexing and found few options on this forum (search for filling axis stock ), but went for Rockite as I am lazy. I bought a 1 pound bag from "Do It Hardware" store for $2.99 and then mixed about 1/3 into a plastic cup into thick yet pourable consistency and filled the forend. Now it's VERY firm and does not flex at all. I also used a dremel tool to remove some plastic around the forend to make sure at least a thick postcard can clear the barrel/stock when doing the free-floated-barrel test. I don't plan to paint the Rockite. Another surprise -> the stock did not feel that much heavier than before...

I DID NOT fill the hollow stock with Rockite, but instead glued the plastic trigger guard using Krazy Super Glue ( Misc Info: if you drop Krazy glue on a Hanes sweat pants made with synthetic fiber, the pants will SMOKE ! ).

I also bought 9/64 inch ball bearing from Amazon ( about $5 for 25 each ) and replaced the factory detent ball under the extractor because the spent shells were NOT ejecting after few magazine worth of shooting but were just dropping into the magazine. I don't know what I will do with the 24-left over bb's. If this "upgrade" doesn't fix the issue, then I'll buy the extractor upgrade kit from SSS.

The to-do action item is to visit the range when the weather is a bit warmer and check for any change in accuracy! The next upgrade is to bed the action IF the grouping does not improve. I don't think I'll upgrade the stock or put any additional funds into this plinker, but you never know with us addicts!