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By my definition, a custom is anything that has more aftermarket or modified stock parts than it does original/unmodified parts. Altering factory parts to improve their performance or meet your specific needs and requirements doesn’t make them any less custom than something you ordered pre-made from some aftermarket manufacturer or parts house – quite the contrary, and in today’s economy the money you save by re-purposing an existing part is money you can put towards those parts you can’t craft of fabricate on your own.
As we all know a new crop of budget-minded entry level rifles have come on scene in the past couple of years. There’s the Marlin X7, the Mossberg ATR, the Remington 770 and forthcoming 783, the Ruger American, and of course the Savage Axis. All of these (with the exception of the Remington 770 IMO) are perfectly serviceable rifles that are more than capable of filling the roles they were designed to fill in the deer woods. However, they’re far from being a finely crafted precision rifle that would be the envy of all your buddies when you show up at the hunting lodge.
That’s where this build project comes in as that’s exactly what we’re going to do – we’re going to transform a plain-Jane, mundane, run-of-the-mill Savage Axis into a high precision, full featured custom hunting rifle…and we’re going to do it without breaking the bank. In fact, the financial goal of the project is to keep the total build cost under $1,300 – which includes the cost for the donor rifle. I chose that figure as that’s essentially what it would cost to buy a complete Predator action from Stiller Precision (with Jewell trigger and Remington magazine/bottom metal hardware).
With an entry price of less than $300 at the time of this writing you would be hard pressed to find a cheaper donor rifle than the Savage Axis. In stock trim the Axis is serviceable, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The stock trigger has a heavy pull and is a little gritty feeling. The synthetic stock flexes a great deal and isn't at all attractive. The action is of a good design and very robust, but the mechanical timing is way out of wack. Last but not least, the factory barrel provides great accuracy but it fouls quickly making the cleaning process a more frequent and laborious task.
So can it be done – can one convert a budget level utilitarian bolt-action rifle into a precision rifle that looks and performs just as well as high end customs that cost upwards of three times as much? We’re about to find out so stay tuned!
| Projected Budget |
|
| Donor Rifle | $300.00 |
| Action Work & Trigger | $325.00 |
| Barrel & Recoil Lug | $325.00 |
| Stock & Trigger Guard | $300.00 |
| Misc. Parts & Materials | $ 50.00 |
| Total: | $1300.00 |
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