Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Savage Axis II 243 with 20" barrel?

Does anyone own, or has anyone shot a Savage Axis II with a short 20" barrel in 243 Win?

I'd like you know your thoughts or this little rifle.

Accuracy? Ammo preference? Performance on deer?

Good....Bad??

I have 2 of them. One I bought as a truck, 4 wheeler rifle and the other I bought my wife. Mine I bought a adult size stock and found that it shoots Winchester 80gr factory shells into less than 1" consistently, I also hand load a 95gr NBT and it is well below 1".

My wife's I only tried the Hornady Low Recoil rounds and it does 1" 3 shot so I figured good enough for her as if she ever goes it will do fine.

Very happy with the Axis rifles. I own allot of other way more expensive rifles, some custom and some factory but for a great hunting tool, the Axis rifles are hard to beat. I hunted with an Axis 30-06 Stainless model last year and will probably do the same this deer season. No fear of weather or damage from beating around in the brush or dragging up a deer stand.

They are not heirlooms but are very capable of getting the job done. All of them I have messed with have been easy to find a round that they liked.

HeavyBarrel

I found two on sale and decided to give one a try as a rainy day stand rifle for deer

How durable is the bluing?

Mine is an Axis II in 243 with 20” barrel

That's what the 2 I have are. They were both had youth stocks on them.

Bluing seems fine, I have had one in the truck for about 2 years with no rust, etc.

HeavyBarrel

Thank you very much for the reply. I’m encouraged based on your experience with them.

I have had 3 AXIS with youth length stocks. All had 20 " bbls. 2 were 243 and one was 7MM-08. One axis II in 243. The accuracy was 1.5 " groups at 100 yards or better. My 243s were most accurate with light weight bullets usually grouping under 1". The trigger on the AXIS is too heavy and can be adjusted by reducing to length of trigger spring. Mine were reduced to 3.5# pull. The Axis II has adjustable trigger. All functioned perfectly. The negative I had was the flexible stock. Grip it too tightly and you put pressure on the bbl. I did not detect any difference in accuracy holding the stock with a tight grip. In theory it should make a difference if stock is putting pressure on bbl. A replacement stock from BOYDS eliminated the flex but then you are in a higher dollar investment. The Axis is fast handling from a tree stand and not too heavy to carry on longer trips thru woods. I found the blueing better than lower priced Remingtons but inferior to Thompson Center Ventures.
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