Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Savage Axis?

Picked up a Savage Axis today in .223, couldn't pass on it for the price. Rifle was in like new condition (doubt it has been fired), and came with a cheap Tasco scope. Feel isn't too bad, but the trigger is absolutely terrible...as bad as any I have ever felt on a Savage (or any other bolt gun).

How well do these rifles typically shoot? Any other glaring issues with the guns?

I had one of the originals when they were still called "Savage Edge" in .22-250. It shot lights out even with the crappy trigger. The Axis II has the good trigger.

I recently bought a stainless Axis in .270. Trigger was terrible, action moved in stock when pressure put on trigger, causing point of aim to move lower. A lighter trigger spring got the pull weight down to 3.5 lb or so. The best cheap fix for the stock is to glue the trigger guard to the stock using super-glue. Now I get 100 yard 3-shot groups under 1". Best group so far is 5/8" with 130 gr ballistic tips. If you go to the Savage Shooters forum, you'll find lots of folks doing lots of mods to their Axis, but I wanted to keep mod costs to a minimum.

Like moosemike, I too bought my first Axis when it was called the Edge. It was a .223. Yep, my trigger pull was very heavy too. Tweaked the trigger getting it down to around 3 1/2 lb. It shot decently for accuracy. With only a firm/quick pulling of the bolt handle, will it eject spent brass from the receiver. With a slow pull, spent brass will fall off bolt face inside the receiver. Also, I shoot just from bench rest at range I'm a member. Discovered my Edge/Axis stock would flex in area where rear of trigger guard piece joins the stock.....had scope cross hair movement upward 3/8" or more on a 100 yd target when pulling the trigger. My flex problem went away when I made by a wood stock rifle for my Edge/Axis. Bought one of the heavy barrel Axis II 6.5CM rifles a couple of months ago. Has basically the same design stock as my original Edge/Axis, but it seems to me that Savage has beefed it up internally, so to speak. It's stock still flexed too when I shoot from benchrest, but not as bad as my original Edge/Axis stock. Again my flex problem went away when I made a wood stock for this rifle. This rifle has the accru-trigger, so its not anywhere as bad as the standard/original Axis trigger. Despite the problems I mentioned, both rifles shot decently for accuracy out of the box for me.

Oh, by the way. I encountered this problem when I rebarreled my .223 Axis to 6mm223 aka 6x45. A gent I shoot with has rebarreled several Axis rifles. He likes the low price of an Axis and thinks its action is good to build on when he wants a rifle with a more exotic cartridge. We both encountered this problem. Neither of us had a problem breaking free the Axis barrel nut enough to remove the barrel from the receiver. However, removing the barrel nut from the factory barrel to reuse it again on the new barrel proved to be a pain in the butt. Neither of us ever had this problem with other non Axis Savage barrel nut rifles. Seems in their Axis metal prep, Savage bead blasts the metal and those beads manage to get in the barrel nut's threads. Took me less than a minute to remove my Axis barrel from receiver, but about 45 minutes to remove the barrel nut from the Axis barrel, because of those darn #$@## beads stuck in the threads. Told my self I'd have a new barrel nut handy next time I rebarrel an Axis.

Had an early edge in 308 and like ALL other Savage rifles I've owned, it was a MOA to sub-MOA rifle all day long!

Federal Power Shok 150-grn softpoints shoot 3/4" groups or better. I strive for only 1 shot whilst hunting ... so I'm good.

Thanks for the information.

Seems like triggers are bad on just about all of the rifles, especially the non Accu-trigger models. This one feels more like a standard AR trigger, with tons of take up and a heavy pull. I've been watching a few YouTube videos, seems like there are plenty of fixes available. I'd just like to get it down around 4lbs, which will probably feel like a target trigger compared to what it is now.

The goal is to make it a hunting rifle for my 9yr old. I put together an 18" AR for him last year, but think we may start off with something a little simpler. As long as it will shoot 62-64gr bonded bullets under 1.5", I'll be happy!

If you want to spend $100, this will fix your trigger problem.

http://riflebasix.com/product/savage-110-axis-trigger-sav-1/

Read on any Savage forum, I've re-done 2 or 3 triggers by clipping the existing springs to get them a little under 4 lbs. I was nervous about warranty voiding but that happens when you shoot your first reload.

The thing they all have in common is that they shoot very well.

I looked at a that one and a Timney, but just can't bring myself to spend $100 on a $200 rifle...

Specneeds, have you had any bedding related issues with your guns?

I own one Axis. Right now, it's a 223. It is stock and shoots just fine. In order for it to be a cheap rifle, Savage put on cheap plastic stocks and so-so triggers. If it is shooting a 1 inch or less, I wouldn't do anything to it. One could make the argument that with a crappy trigger, one learns trigger control. Especially those guys who have had the misfortune of shooting off the rack military rifles from their time in service.



In my case, I look upon some budget rifles as opportunities. They are the modern day equivalent of the hot rods of my youth. I have a chassis that is in need of improvement. When I was younger, I would go to auto supply stores or junkyards to get parts. These days, I get the same enjoyment from taking cheap or beat up rifles and fixing them up.

Is it economical? No. At least, not in the sense that for a little bit more I could buy a Tikka, which will shoot rings around most of the other rifles on the market, regardless of price point.

But here's the big thing - it's fun to restock, or rebarrel, or swap out a crappy trigger for a better one. It's great to mount a good scope on it too. I take the whole shootin' match, if you'll pardon the pun, to the range for a work out. Once things have been checked, I take them hunting. That's entertainment for me. Not everyone can do these things, so I understand the cynicism when I say something like,

"I'm gonna buy a Shilen select match barrel and spin it onto this Axis! I'm gonna replace the trigger too."

This is a picture of the old gauge I use for trigger pull. I check it once a year at the base to make sure it's still accurate, but it's always spot on. I just checked my Axis pull. 5lb. Lots of drag and gritty, but it gets the job done.



People ask me why. My answer is, "That's what I like to do."

If you have skills in this area, it would be fun to involve your child in the build. Make memories.

It's really no different than rebuilding an old Chevy.

I have a 223 that shoots .5 moa, paid less than 200 for it. Son killed his first buck with it last winter, wouldn't sell it for 3x's that now.

Granddaughter has one, fine rifle

Nice buck too!

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.

They point very well and usually shoot.

Had one. Lug was not seated (easy enough fix- brass hammer).
Forend was flexy, so stiffened w epoxy.
Comb was too low, made a kydex cheepiece.
Bolt handle rattled and would dink eyepiece of Redfield Rev 4-12X.
So I scalloped bolt handle, bead blasted and reblued. Worked.
Coulda went with taller rings, and raised cheekpiece.
Did not like the long action for the short cartridge, plus back when I got it, EGW the only one making 1 oc base.
2 pc base barely fit the Redfield Rev with reg rings.
Only shot factory ammo in it (.243 win). Was to be my beater yote gun.
Nobody had 80 grainers so I snagged two boxes of 100gr.
Went to range and the dang thing shot right around .50" at 100 yards. For 5 shots.
Dunno how it would have done before mods (had reg trigger, heavy......changed spring, made overtravel stop- actually the screw the new spring rode over).
Worked great. No major work, just easy mods.
Sold it and got a 700 ADL.

Clipping the spring didn't do much for my old style Axis trigger.

What I did....

The trigger spring fits into the lower trigger piece by virtue of the coils matching the hole's threads. Factory epoxy was pretty good, so during removal (simple pry from above) I messed up the factory spring a bit. Big whoop. I ran a 10-24 set screw up through the hole, keeping the bottom pretty flush and took a new same coil D spring and threaded it to the exposed bit of set screw. This made for a nice trap and the trigger was better after some spring trim- still was safe with major impact testing.

Overtravel was huge.

Checked the web and some dork said "don't make the spring post as tall as your inward post".

I looked at my trigger and went WTF????

The safety slides back and forth, and when back and on "safe" the lower plastic part is over the factory safety screw. Where properly set, it comes to bear immediately against the plastic making for no trigger movement. Pushed forward to 'fire" the portion of the safety where the safety screw bears is out of the way and the screw can travel up a ways during trigger pulling. There is NOTHING over the safety screw.

Maybe Savage changed the trigger design, I dunno. But from what a guy posted on another forum.......it makes no sense. Not with the trigger mine has.

Anyway, I yanked my setscrew, put in a reg cap screw of substantial length and took it to where all overtravel was gone.

To remove the bolt one has to press the cocking indicator and trigger after firing.

With all overtravel adjusted out the sear would come back and drag/catch on the trigger piece farther back. I could have ground the offending bit away, but instead backed off my overtravel screw a smidge. The bolt comes out OK now. No biggie.

It just so happens that a button head 10-24 of standard length works fine. I grabbed one from the archery bench, stock screw, maybe .50" long, dunno, never measured it. It stuck up same as my longer one at new setting so i just cranked it in. The head being more shallow than a cap screw works good at never contacting anything on the bottom side, although a cap screw might clear, the trigger guard does sit away a bit.

75 cent spring from hardware store fit over the screw fine. It's not attached to anything, is just trapped when assembled. I should count coils and write that down, in case I monkey with it more and lose it.

Anyway, the spring I got (I should get part # from hardware store, was in a vendor vidmar type of deal) is of more coarse pitch, even when compressed, so it doesn't match the pitch of the 10-24 screw, so there's no added drag - sometimes I overthink stuff.

So yeah, a little stoning and $2 worth of stuff and the trigger is much better. Creep gone, weight lighter, and almost all overtravel removed. It now is usable.

Changed out the spring and added the screw for trigger travel. No complaints, worked well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAVAGE-AXIS-TRIGGER-UPGRADE-KIT

I saw that kit when I first bought the rifle, but looks like you can get the same items at the local Ace for about $4.

I agree, but not knowing which spring I opted for the kit.

I've had the 243 Axis for about 6 months. Picked it up for the same reason, couldn't pass up the price tag, and my Grandson liked the camo stock.