Savage Axis Review.

[Cal]

I've seen alot of people asking questions about the Savage axis, because its a fairly new gun there doesnt seem to be alot of reviews on them so I thought I'd review the one I just bought.

I bought the Axis because I wanted a gun that I could leave in my service truck for shooting wolves. It needed to be cheap and it needed to be durable. I bought an Axis in .223 with a scope included for about $350 and after a few weeks these are my thoughts on it.

The good:
First and formost this thing is way more acurate than I expected! I'm shooting the absolute cheapest bulk amo I can find and this thing will still shoot 1.5" groups at 200 yards pretty consistantly. I hate to say it but my cheap "truck gun" is actualy probably the most acurate rifle I own. I'm not crazy about the way the stock looks but I like the way it feels better than the standard Savage stock. The gun is well ballanced and seems rugged enough to survive many years behind the seat of an oilfield truck. The scope isnt great but its good enough for my needs.

The mehhh...
The trigger is pretty bad. Its not any worse than most factory triggers I've had though and a little better than some. I think its probably one of the uglyest guns on the market, but thats a matter of taste. The saftey was almost a deal breaker for me, its big and its plastic and its ugly. It does its job but untill I actualy shot the thing I had a few second thoughts because I hated the safety so much. The ejection port is pretty small, not as small as a Tika t3 but trying to load a .223 shell directly into the chamber is still pretty awkward.

Conclusion..
In all this gun is entirely good enough to handle many years of use and abuse, it is about as good as anything else on the market that is being sold as a "budget rifle". Its better than lots of them and is way cheaper than almost all of them. Although the Axis is a good gun at an even better price its biggest downfall is that you have to compare it to the other Savage models which are very good as well and IMO the Axis' steepest competition. The Stevens 200 and Savage 111 are better guns IMO. The Stevens doesnt have a clip and it didnt come in a package deal which would have made it enough more money by the time I got a scope on it that I went with the Axis. I seriously concidered getting a Savage 111 package which was only 100 bucks more but the smallest caliber it came in was .243 and I realy wanted a .223. I'm realy happy with my Axis but if I was buying a bigger calliber I would have deffinatly went with the 111, the Stevens is also probably a little better quality as well but all 3 guns are close enough that the choice would realy come down to individual preferance.