Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Safety will not work on a Savage Axis

I have a Savage Axis that I bought used. The rifle has a tang safety and it does not come back far enough to cover the red dot on the tang. The trigger will fire with the safety as far back as it will go. The safety is hitting something and it feels like a mechanical stop, or block. Is it possible the trigger was taken apart and the safety put back in the wrong position, perhaps ahead of a block that was supposed to stop it from going foward, so now it is stopping it from coming back? Any ideas on what the problem might be?

On the Axis' I've worked on there are 2 set screws on the back tang of the trigger piece - one of those (closest to the trigger pivot) is used to mechanically block the trigger movement. Sounds like it has been mis-adjusted.

That is interesting. I took the gun out of the action, and the first screw that you mentioned is missing the yellow gunk they put over it. The second screw, furthest from the trigger still is covered in yellow. I will look into it more to see if it makes any difference. Is there a reference available to know how to set it back to the factory standard?

That can be done as easily as trial and error. Screw it down too much and you can't slide it back far enough (as you found out). Unscrew it too far and nothing stops the trigger so you have no safety. The one I have in my hands now only sets on half of the set screw but functions properly. Both screws are covered with the yellow seal.

the screw is set pretty deep, but I backed it out yesterday until it was flush with the tang of the trigger, and the safety would still not come back, maybe it needs to come out further?

The bolt must be cocked before the safety will come back.

Yep, that was it exactly. I had to back the screw out until it was sticking out past the tang of the trigger. It needed to come out quite a ways. I guess the original owner was trying to adjust the trigger lighter? It works now, that is all that matters. Thanks for the help!