In another thread there was brief side discussion about the Axis stock's flimsiness and whether it was caused by the composition of the plastic or the structure. My guess was the structure, but whether it was a lack of material or just poorly designed required further investigation. I have several injection molded stocks, so I decided to compare them. The stocks are a standard Axis short action stock, a Savage 12FV stock with the magazine and trigger guard removed, a Howa 1500 mini action, and a Remington 783 short action stock. The rifles are all entry-level guns, and the stocks are within 1 inch of each other in terms of length. I removed all the magazines from the guns. The trigger guards were removed from the 12FV and Howa as well as the Howa's magwell. Sling swivels and recoil pads were left in place.

Weight
The first thing I did was weigh the stocks.

Axis: 25.5oz
12FV: 30.9oz
Howa: 34.3oz
783: 31.4oz

I expect this to be representative of how much material is used in each stock. All the stocks have pillars installed, though the 783's aluminum are substantially more robust looking than the other rifles. The Axis recoil pad is also a different design than any of the other rifles'. I am assuming the difference is negligible, but I didn't weigh them to be sure.

With 18% less material than the 12FV, the Axis stock design makes a great deal of sense given the Axis' cost-saving design philosophy. It's possible they use a different, lighter material, but it seems unlikely given that Savage must buy their material by the truckload.



Forearm Structure
The next thing I did was measure the reinforcements in the forearm. I specifically looked at the reinforcement ribs and the width of the rails.

Ribs
Axis: 0.06in
12FV: 0.1in
Howa: 0.125in
783: 0.1in

Rails
Axis: 0.125in
12FV: 0.24-0.58in
Howa: 0.277in
783: 0.234in

The 12FV is obviously a little bit of an outlier here on the rails measurement due to its beavertail forend, but it's once again pretty clear that the Axis is coming up short. Even though the 12FV had similar sized ribs, there were two ribs that ran the length of the forearm compared to the Axis' one.



Wrist Size
Lastly, I measured the circumference of the wrists of the stocks. I took the measurement right around the middle of each stock's grip.

Axis: 4.5in
12FV: 5in
Howa: 5.25in
783: 5.375in

And the Axis is the smallest again, which shouldn't be much of a surprise at this point. It's also the only stock with the deep texture molding on its grip. Whether that adds to rigidity or detracts from it, I don't know.