Savage Axis II 6mm ARC 22" Barrel.

[skyrep]

Just got an email indicating the rifle available at Grab A Gun. 
 
https://grabagun.com/savage-arms-axis-ii...black.html

[Lemonaid]

Just got an email indicating the rifle available at Grab A Gun. 
 
https://grabagun.com/savage-arms-axis-ii...black.html

Finally! Thanks for spotting this. Nice to have some good news.  The price listed was $404.99
There is a excellent chance I will be getting one of these soon.

[CZ527 Guy]

Ill be a Guinea pig. Ordered one. Been thinking this may work well as a fire forming barrel if nothing else. Should have a review B4 to long.

Should be a fine rifle for plinking with some of the pulled bullets for starters. My biggest fear is this rifle may out shoot my CZ527 when I do get that barrel in.

Thank's

[Lemonaid]

Ill be a Guinea pig. Ordered one. Been thinking this may work well as a fire forming barrel if nothing else. Should have a review B4 to long.

Should be a fine rifle for plinking with some of the pulled bullets for starters. My biggest fear is this rifle may out shoot my CZ527 when I do get that barrel in.

Thank's

Man, the horror of having a great shooting budget gun!  If my local sporting goods store gets one in I'll be a taker.

[CZ527 Guy]

Any one care to entertain scope and scope mount options with me? I am thinking of playing with work out to 600 yards max. Most shooting will be 300 yards and, may be more likely.

My local FFL will be getting one of these in in the coming week.

[Old Bob]

Yesterday I got an email from a local gun shop. They just got a shipment of Savage rifles some of which are the Axis II rifles in 6mm ARC (22" sporter barrel). They have six in stock at $427.70. I don't know if I'll get one 'cause I already have my Unintah rifle... but... the idea that CZ527 Guy had to use it for fire forming brass has some appeal to me.

[CZ527 Guy]

By the time the FFL transfer is done & w shipping & taxes , expect to have less than $450 in the bare rifle. Could be a fine low recoil yet reach out and touch, with the hand of Thor - Coyote & even Whitetail deer rifle. Time will tell what I think of this budget rifle.

[CZ527 Guy]

This thing may need a feed sled made available. Fairly sure she is going to be a shooter. So far I am just fire forming 220 russian to this 6mm ARC. When shooting inexpensive pulled 100 gr SP bullets my first 100 yard group was just under 2MOA.

Once she is fed some better bullets I expect to be surprised how well this inexpensive rifle in a Tupperware stock is shooting.

So far my view on feed from the mag is not much better than a D - where accuracy is likely to come in at least a B + If I were to put this a Boyds stock the rifle may get an ok grade on fit & finish though the mag really pulls this thing down based on my 1st impressions. Lets just say needs improvement.

As for the fire forming rifle I purchased this for, I think she will get a over-all b + grade.

My first impressions of the cartridge is I think she will live up to my expectations in that I am expecting a highly efficient moderate round to out perform what we may expect out of such a small package.

Expect a rotary magazine may handle this cartridge best when that comes to market.

[grayfox]

The mag feed issues are what cooled my jets on the savage in 6.5 gr/6Arc... for the life of me I couldn't get it to feed.
If Savage would do something with the bolt travel (like a longer head-follower-whatever you call that piece behind the bolt head) and shorten up the mag feed distance, tweak the feed lips for a better mag then I could maybe see doing one. I like savages, have a few in my stable but these ones I just couldn't get them to go.
I believe AICS has a 6.5 mag-type, through MDT or somebody, if you had bottom metal for one of those then maybe they would work, I don't know haven't tried it. But I read about it somewhere.

[CZ527 Guy]

This is my first Savage Axis. Think Ill be sending it down the road B4 long.

[CZ527 Guy]

After shooting factory ammo and reloaded ammo in this Savage Axis I am sorry to report what I would describe as a firing pin issue. The reloaded ammo has been primed with CCI 450's if that matters.

The issue experienced is the primer is protruding in to the clearance for the firing pin hole is the best description I can come up with. This presents an issue when going to deprive the cases. The case does not fit in the shell holder without pressing in the primer or releaving the shell holder with a grinder to provide clearance where the primer protrusion is causing interference.

Anyone have an idea for a solution for the protruding primer in to the firing pin clearance in the bolt?

[Old Bob]

After shooting factory ammo and reloaded ammo in this Savage Axis I am sorry to report what I would describe as a firing pin issue. The reloaded ammo has been primed with CCI 450's if that matters.

The issue experienced is the primer is protruding in to the clearance for the firing pin hole is the best description I can come up with. This presents an issue when going to deprive the cases. The case does not fit in the shell holder without pressing in the primer or releaving the shell holder with a grinder to provide clearance where the primer protrusion is causing interference.

Anyone have an idea for a solution for the protruding primer in to the firing pin clearance in the bolt?

I believe that's called cratering where the primer metal flows around the firing pin & into the firing pin hole in the bolt face. Are the primers also backed out of the case? A photo of one of your cases after firing would be helpful as well as a photo of your bolt face showing firing pin protrusion. This happens with both factory ammo & reloads? Have you checked the chamber headspace?

Usually when cratering is evident, it's from too hot loads. But, if this is happening with factory ammo as well, it could be the firing pin hole is out of spec along with a slightly too long chamber. How's your extraction effort? Do the cases eject easily or does it take a little muscle to get them out of the chamber?

CCI 450 primers are supposed to have some of the hardest primer cups out there. Only military primers might be harder. As I said before, photos would be nice.

I almost bought a 6mm ARC Axis II but then, instead, spent that money on ammo & reloading supplies for my ARC rifles & my Grendel.

[LaMan]

Pressing in a fired primer or adjusting the shell holder are very tiny band aid fixes for what could be significant issues with that rifle.  I would be contacting Savage with pictures of the fired rounds and brass protruding from factory rounds and get their solution, not their excuses.

[CZ527 Guy]

Pressing in a fired primer or adjusting the shell holder are very tiny band aid fixes for what could be significant issues with that rifle.  I would be contacting Savage with pictures of the fired rounds and brass protruding from factory rounds and get their solution, not their excuses.

Like!

Sounds like a great Idea. 

Factory ammo is running .006 clearance for headspace. I have a PTG Go headspace gauge, the Whidden 6mm arc specific case gauge. My reloads I am pushing the shoulder back .002 to .003 with my reloads.

I am determining head space  of the rifle comparing fired brass to the Go gauge. By my measurements, the headspace of this rifle is only .004 greater than the Go gauge. Quite acceptable by my standards.

Ill get out and fire a few more & see how I do uploading photos. Ill also do some closer investigation regarding the firing pin protrusion & clearance along reach out to Savage looking for a solution.


Thank you all!

---

A little more on the Whidden case gauge. This I would give a definite thumbs up.

https://www.whiddengunworks.com/product/case-gauge-3/

[CZ527 Guy]

A little more on the Whidden case gauge. This I would give a definite thumbs up. gauge is relieved to go along ways towards insuring prime issue like I am experiencing do not effect measurements. This has been verified by measuring with and without the primer.

https://www.whiddengunworks.com/product/case-gauge-3/

[Lemonaid]

After reading about the primer problem the though came to me that it might be the firing pin is not fitting the firing pin hole in the bolt very well, allowing the primer cup to flow where it should not. It could be the firing pin is too small in diameter or the firing pin hole is too large in diameter or there are other things about the firing pin to cause that problem. Also the problems with factory black and some barrels where the bullets were into the lands causing excess pressure might be worth checking.
At any rate, hope it all gets sorted out.

[CZ527 Guy]

Short story from my perspective, Lemonaid hit on after a fashion & I was quite skeptical about amounts to jamming the lands
When fire forming I started a less than desirable habit for general reloading of jamming the lands. I was skeptical that this may be an issue especially with factory loads for the Gas gun running near 2 grains lower than peak loads for the bolt gun.

I have put over 400 rounds of factory and fire forming loads through this rifle already. All .243 bullets have been have been HBN coated. So yes I pulled the factory bullete and HBN coated the bullets & reseated at a longer OAL in to the lands.

Recently I fired a few original length un coated factory rounds & primer cratering concern cleared up. I did look ofer the firing pin protrusion & fit & size & all looks pretty good to my machinist eyes. I did reach out to a gunsmith & he had recommended bushing & using a slightly smaller firing pin.

This morning I finished up fire forming brass for the 2nd time around to really sharpen the shoulders & get rid of the worst of the pulled 100 gr SP bullets from American reloading. These bullets I had sorted out as the worst in terms of blemishes, primary heavily flattened points. The pulled bullets shot surprisingly well out to 300 yards. Hitting an 8" steel plate out to 300 yards was occurring with good regularity considering what I am working with.

Word of warning regarding feed from the magazine. The spire point bullets just would not feed at all from the magazine. On the other hand the factory 105's & especially the 108's fed quite well from the mag.

Barrel is cleaning up very well with wipeout. Carbon is the only build up I struggle with at all & that is not bad by any means.

[Dino11]

My son has a Savage Axis in ,223 that will not feed and properly chamber spire point bullets or soft points of any kind.

Any other bullet is not a problem, we did some extensive trouble shooting trying to figure it out, just decided to not shoot soft points out of it.
It's his favorite rifle to shoot steel with, he shoots it more than any other rifle in our arsenal.

[CZ527 Guy]

My son has a Savage Axis in ,223 that will not feed and properly chamber spire point bullets or soft points of any kind.

Any other bullet is not a problem, we did some extensive trouble shooting trying to figure it out, just decided to not shoot soft points out of it.
It's his favorite rifle to shoot steel with, he shoots it more than any other rifle in our arsenal.

If I skip the mag all together & single feed the spire points feed just fine that has been my approach with the spire points & at a shooting bench this works just fine from my perspective.

I never thought I would take much interest in shooting steel. I stand corrected. Never thought Id like shooting this Savage Axis. Again I stand corrected.

Look forward to seeing what kind of accuracy loads I am able to work up with the few bullets I have to choose from.

[CZ527 Guy]

Recently received an inexpensive bore scope, So for the 1st time in my life I have an ability to really start to evaluate the bore & how clean it is. Well the bore on this Savage axis is the 1st Ill be using the bore scope on. Far from an expert with this borescope, though the copper build up in the last 4" of the bore on 2 of the land groove locations was imposable to overlook.

This is on barrel I thought I had cleaned very well. Seems I was wrong. After 3 hundred plus strokes w a brush and Flitz bore cleaner the copper in that last 4" is finally cleaned up.

Not sure where I go from here as it seems that last 4" will be very prone to fouling for a long time to come.