I had a very frustrating failure to fire issue on a lefty 30-06 I picked up for my grandsons first elk hunt. I sent it back to Savage and they replaced the bolt as I expected but they also replaced the stock so I may have had a bedding issue and hadn't found it yet. Something about not going bang having captured my attention. I read that had happened to a few folks and the guys at Savage certainly knew how to fix it they turned it around in less than a couple of weeks. No mention of the clipped trigger spring so they were looking to make it work not make excuses.
It never shot any of the 150 grain ammo over an inch for 4 shots (my initial group test for reloads) even when it was firing randomly - that will it shoot this time? makes you concentrate on trigger pull. It will be loaded with Barnes TTSX 150's this November and hopefully the grandson will be an elk killer before he is a teenager.
The 243's haven't been a problem in any way. My son loaned the standard barrel model to a friend who killed the first buck he saw on a hunting trip with it. The darn thing just hits whatever you aim it at. The heavy barrel 243 my daughter uses to shoot targets has been fine as well.
I can't say that an Axis would be my first choice of a rifle of any kind but they are functional and point and shoot well. The actions smoothed out after about 50 rounds but was rough until then.
