New Axis in 30-06.

G

Gerald Dilgard

Hammer Time Executive member
On Black Friday we stood in line for about 2 hours at BPS to get their "Deal" on a Savage Axis. The add said it was the XP model so that would have the accu-trigger. Wrong, it was the plain Axis. I got it home and starting going over it. The factory trigger was so bad that when I dry fired it, I stopped and checked to see if the safety was off. It measured out to 8.3lbs. We may have a record here. I quickly got on line and ordered a new trigger spring kit from MCARBO for 19.95, but wait, it was Black Friday and they were $16 so I ordered two. I got them in the mail the following Wednesday and replaced it with the 2.5 lbs spring. It comes with three choices but since it will be a hunting rifle I felt that 1.5lbs may be a little light with heavy gloves on. I also did a little grinding on the barrel channel. While I could slide a dollar bill all the way down I just touched it up till I could slide an index card all the way down. The so called scope that comes with it is a cheap Chinese Weaver. I take them off and throw them away. I had a 4x12 Leupold to replace it with. I laughed in the store when the clerk told me they were bore sited at the factory. I could turn the scope in the rings with just a couple of fingers. I replaced all of the mounts with a top rail and still used the rings from the old scope. Cleaned the factory gunk out of the barrel and took it to the range. Sat down at the 25 yard range and got it on target with just a few shots. Moved over to 50 yards to fine tune it some. Took it home and cleaned the daylights out of it. Back to the range a week later to put some more rounds down the barrel. Just using a light load of 48 of IMR 4064 and a Hornady 150 SP at 2700 and it shot that very well. As it was below freezing it may not have been my best shooting but back to back groups under an inch isn't bad. A good cleaning and maybe a few 124 HH over some Varget and we'll see how she likes that. If anyone has an accurate load for that combo please share. So far I am very happy with how this $300 dollar rifle shoots. That trigger spring makes all the difference in the world on the accuracy that you can get from it.
 
Gerald - Nice score! It won't be long and you will have burned more $$$ in ammo than the rifle cost. CNC machining sure has brought the quality of guns up and the cost down.
 
Gerald Dilgard said:
On Black Friday we stood in line for about 2 hours at BPS to get their "Deal" on a Savage Axis. The add said it was the XP model so that would have the accu-trigger. Wrong, it was the plain Axis. I got it home and starting going over it. The factory trigger was so bad that when I dry fired it, I stopped and checked to see if the safety was off. It measured out to 8.3lbs. We may have a record here. I quickly got on line and ordered a new trigger spring kit from MCARBO for 19.95, but wait, it was Black Friday and they were $16 so I ordered two. I got them in the mail the following Wednesday and replaced it with the 2.5 lbs spring. It comes with three choices but since it will be a hunting rifle I felt that 1.5lbs may be a little light with heavy gloves on. I also did a little grinding on the barrel channel. While I could slide a dollar bill all the way down I just touched it up till I could slide an index card all the way down. The so called scope that comes with it is a cheap Chinese Weaver. I take them off and throw them away. I had a 4x12 Leupold to replace it with. I laughed in the store when the clerk told me they were bore sited at the factory. I could turn the scope in the rings with just a couple of fingers. I replaced all of the mounts with a top rail and still used the rings from the old scope. Cleaned the factory gunk out of the barrel and took it to the range. Sat down at the 25 yard range and got it on target with just a few shots. Moved over to 50 yards to fine tune it some. Took it home and cleaned the daylights out of it. Back to the range a week later to put some more rounds down the barrel. Just using a light load of 48 of IMR 4064 and a Hornady 150 SP at 2700 and it shot that very well. As it was below freezing it may not have been my best shooting but back to back groups under an inch isn't bad. A good cleaning and maybe a few 124 HH over some Varget and we'll see how she likes that. If anyone has an accurate load for that combo please share. So far I am very happy with how this $300 dollar rifle shoots. That trigger spring makes all the difference in the world on the accuracy that you can get from it.
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Might as well get the mcarbo stock stiffening blocks too if it’s the old version of the stock. My axis II in 308 win shoots well with Varget. It shoots the 137 better than the 124. What did you use to sand out the barrel channel? I’m planning to open mine up a little and rockite the forend to give a better free float and more rigidity. Also adding a drill in adjustable cheek piece. Just waiting until our holiday doe season is over before doing any tinkering since it’s dialed in.
 
Snailz said:
Might as well get the mcarbo stock stiffening blocks too if it’s the old version of the stock. My axis II in 308 win shoots well with Varget. It shoots the 137 better than the 124. What did you use to sand out the barrel channel? I’m planning to open mine up a little and rockite the forend to give a better free float and more rigidity. Also adding a drill in adjustable cheek piece. Just waiting until our holiday doe season is over before doing any tinkering since it’s dialed in.
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I used my cheapy grinder from Walmart. Set me back about $25 as I recall and came with the bits needed for the job.
 
Got to love those entry level Savages, they've always been shooters. I just picked up a 110 lightweight with accutrigger and it seems they're not the same as the previous rifles to that I've owned from Savage, feels kind of mushy if that makes any sense. Sure glad it's not 8 lbs

I hope you don't have to wait long to put a bang flop on something💥🚀🔨☠️

Joe

Thanks GL we got enough water where I can put my boat back in🥳🥳
 
joe16 said:
Got to love those entry level Savages, they've always been shooters. I just picked up a 110 lightweight with accutrigger and it seems they're not the same as the previous rifles to that I've owned from Savage, feels kind of mushy if that makes any sense. Sure glad it's not 8 lbs

I hope you don't have to wait long to put a bang flop on something💥🚀🔨☠️

Joe

Thanks GL we got enough water where I can put my boat back in🥳🥳
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You can buy the lighter target accutrigger spring aftermarket. I ordered 2 earlier today for like $22 after shipping and handling. I don't mind the one on my axis, but the one on my mark II fv-sr is too heavy and has some creep and it feels like it puts a little torque into the rifle when shooting off the bench. It still shoots some pretty solid groups, but I'm hoping that swapping the spring makes it feel nicer and tightens things up just a little.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to stick with the factory acute trigger. I kind of like the feel of the springy thing 🧐😖 on the fat of my finger. I'll get used to this one, it snaps somewhere around two and a half lbs, so no adjustment on me I like it there.

💥🚀🔨☠️
 
Son in law has one. Accurate. But, misfires sometimes with a light primer strike and doesn't feed well from the detachable magazine. Probly take it to the Smith that is rebarrelling my RUM. mtmuley
 
mtmuley said:
Son in law has one. Accurate. But, misfires sometimes with a light primer strike and doesn't feed well from the detachable magazine. Probly take it to the Smith that is rebarrelling my RUM. mtmuley
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I just got home from the range. Did a ladder test with mine. 124HH over Varget. Went from 54-57. Found a good node between 55.5 and 56. Only went up 2 fps with a half gr jump. So loaded up some at 55.7 and we will see if she likes that. 3278-3280 fps. Would make a great whitetail load for this area, 150 zero and only 1/2 inch high at 100.
 
Gerald Dilgard said:
I just got home from the range. Did a ladder test with mine. 124HH over Varget. Went from 54-57. Found a good node between 55.5 and 56. Only went up 2 fps with a half gr jump. So loaded up some at 55.7 and we will see if she likes that. 3278-3280 fps. Would make a great whitetail load for this area, 150 zero and only 1/2 inch high at 100.
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You are hitting the pressure wall here. Whenever I see this very small increase in velocity per powder increment, I stop adding powder and return to the lower charge weight at that same velocity and reduce if that one didn't work for accuracy.
 
I like to start out a 30-06 in deer country with a good 150gr and 59gr IMR 4350. If in elk country, I go with a good 165gr and 58gr IMR 4350. If a rifle won't shoot those, something is way off, ha. Sure, you may have to finesse it a grain either side, but those have worked over 30+ years for me. Before that I always just shot factory 150s *Federal Blue Box, or the older factory *Federal Red Box with the Sierra 165 SBT. I didn't really start handloading for the old 30-06 until midway through Bible College, Tulsa, summer of 1988. Had to drive to Wagoner OK (35 miles) to find a range that was semi-private. I didn't have a chrono, but I did start sorting cases by weight, BR primers, deburring flash=holes and uniforming primer pockets. I was just searching for accuracy (not the hottest) with only powder I had, IMR 4350. My old 1917 Sporterized Enfield shot some tiny, tiny groups from Sierras...150 SBT, 165 SBT, 180 Pro Hunter and 200 SBT. Its always nice to get an inexpensive 30-06 shooting well! Good luck to you Pard, go kill a wad of game with that baby! :)
 
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