Has anybody had any problems with their Savage Axis?

[shootstraight57]

My son-in-law bought a Savage Axis bolt action in .308 recently. He brought it over so I can sight it in for him.
After the 2nd shot I got a misfire. I waited for a time before removing the round and looked at the primer ( light strike). I fired 3 more with good results then had another FTF. Another light strike! I removed the bolt and released the tension on the firing pin. I found the firing pin spring broken in two.
I told my son-in- law to bring it back to Academy and see what they say!
Has anyone else had a problem with their Savage?

 

[Axis II]

Just a short throat on my rifle but otherwise the two I own are awesome and I wouldn't trade them any day of the week for a Remington 700.

Call savage and send it back. When I was having factory ammo and reloads stick in the chamber I found it to be a short throat and sent it back. A few weeks later they called me and the gunsmith said he cleaned the chamber, throat, etc. I was happy with the way they handled it.

 

[courtgreene]

My son’s was kind of hard to close with a round in the chamber. Backing off the screw on the bottom a bit fixed it.

 

[gotboostvr]

Were you shooting steel cased or milsurp ammo? They can have hard primers sometimes. Not uncommon for light strikes.

 

[LoonWulf]

My son’s was kind of hard to close with a round in the chamber. Backing off the screw on the bottom a bit fixed it.

If your talking about the front action screw, that will need to be shortened.

My son-in-law bought a Savage Axis bolt action in .308 recently. He brought it over so I can sight it in for him.
After the 2nd shot I got a misfire. I waited for a time before removing the round and looked at the primer ( light strike). I fired 3 more with good results then had another FTF. Another light strike! I removed the bolt and released the tension on the firing pin. I found the firing pin spring broken in two.
I told my son-in- law to bring it back to Academy and see what they say!
Has anyone else had a problem with their Savage?

Savage uses a two piece firing pin spring in the axis, and from what ive read (only worked on one axis) light strikes arnt horribly uncommon. Id contact savage and let them deal with it, as the best most box stores can do is ship it back for you.

 

[borrowedtime69]

My axis .223 rem is great! Alot better than the remington 700adl i had before. I use mine for coyotes.

 

[horsey300]

My son-in-law bought a Savage Axis bolt action in .308 recently. He brought it over so I can sight it in for him.
After the 2nd shot I got a misfire. I waited for a time before removing the round and looked at the primer ( light strike). I fired 3 more with good results then had another FTF. Another light strike! I removed the bolt and released the tension on the firing pin. I found the firing pin spring broken in two.
I told my son-in- law to bring it back to Academy and see what they say!
Has anyone else had a problem with their Savage?

I haven't had this issue but I had a Remington that came with a loose firing pin, took the bolt apart and tightened the pin and all has been well since, have multiple savages and an axis2 and no issues, you can check the pin or as others have recommended, send it to Savage but I'd be surprised if your story didn't wind up with a happier ending.

 

[BigBL87]

Definitely contact Savage. The one time I had to deal with their customer service it was a breeze. That being said, they may just send you the part if they think it was just a bad spring.

 

[shootstraight57]

I disassembled the bolt on the Axis and found that the arm on the spring that retains the firing pin retainer pin was out of the groove and on the side of the firing pin. This partially stop the firing pin from fully moving forward. I told him to fire a couple of rounds this weekend and see if he has any FTF.

 

[Newtosavage]

Easy fix. That issue wouldn't have upset me in the least to be honest. Savage will send you a part the next day if you call them. Best CS I've ever had to use.

 

[Trey Veston]

A good friend of mine just bought his first rifle; a Savage Axis in 6.5 Creedmoor. Took it to the range and about 50% of the rounds failed to go off due to light primer strikes. He took it home and cleaned it thoroughly and oiled it and went back to the range. Got about 2 out of 10 rounds that failed to go off. I told him to send it back to Savage.

I did a quick internet search and found that this is a known issue with the rifle.

 

[panatomicx]

Had the same problem with a Left-Handed .223 Axis using military ammo with harder primers, which had a 70% failure rate. I dry-fired it more than a hundred times and it did better, but still wasn't 100%. So I made a 0.0455" thick shim (a washer opened up for the firing pin) to fit between the spring and the Bolt Assembly Screw at the back of the bolt. Lift is heavier, but trigger is about the same and now the gun is reliable.

The Savage Edge had a single-piece spring, but it was changed to a two-piece with a wire ring between the two springs in the later Axis. This may have to do with problems from twisting tension placed on the spring due to rotation as the spring is held at one end where it captures the Cocking Piece Pin. Plus it pushes the firing pin from the far end, inviting additional power loss. A better solution would be to place the firing pin spring along the length of the firing pin shaft as it is on classic Savage bolt actions, Mausers, Remingtons, etc.

As common as this problem seems to be, Savage would be wise to head back to the drawing board on this one.

 

[treedoc1]

Savage Axis 223 here. Will not even make a dent on a primer. No answer at any savage phone number. 2 weeks and counting on multiple email contacts via the savage web site.
Cleaned bolt, added washer, all you tube videos watched...no strike. ***
Any thoughts on replacing springs on this 2 piece spring wonder?

 

[WisBorn]

@shootstraight57 I would make sure that it is not just a bad primer or that the primer isn't set to deep into the pocket.
I just had a bad primer for my 270.

Safe shooting!

 

[LoonWulf]

Savage Axis 223 here. Will not even make a dent on a primer. No answer at any savage phone number. 2 weeks and counting on multiple email contacts via the savage web site.
Cleaned bolt, added washer, all you tube videos watched...no strike. ***
Any thoughts on replacing springs on this 2 piece spring wonder?

If your not even getting a slight dent, your pin isnt reaching the primer.
Id pull the whole thing apart and see if the pin will protrude from the bolt face at all.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I bought one in 7mm-08 a few weeks ago. They don't cost much and I had a scope that it fit under very nicely. Only have about 20-30 rounds trough it with no problems.
Haven't put much effort in yet but it seems very accurate with may first loads, 140 Nosler's over Varget.
The stock has kind of a weird shape but for the money It seems like a decent rifle.
For those not accustomed to the Accu-Trigger, the pull must be straight back. Seems obvious to me but if you shoot with gloves or in a rush you can make the trigger malfunction.

 

[shootstraight57]

@shootstraight57 I would make sure that it is not just a bad primer or that the primer isn't set to deep into the pocket.
I just had a bad primer for my 270.

Safe shooting!

That was the first thing I checked was the primer impression. A few weeks after taking the bolt apart and fixing the spring the rifle started to have the same problem. My son in law is going to send the rifle back to them for a more permanent repair.

 

[3Crows]

I was having problems with extraction on my Axis II 6.5CM. The extractor finally fell out! I called Savage and they sent me the ejection pin, spring and another extractor. Upon examination the original extractor was missing a piece, hmmm. Who knows---. I installed the new parts and no issue afterwards. But then I saw that this too is a common issue, weak extraction/ejection. So I bought two extraction improvement kits. Now my spent cases fly out into orbit! No light primer strikes.

 

[treedoc1]

If your not even getting a slight dent, your pin isnt reaching the primer.
Id pull the whole thing apart and see if the pin will protrude from the bolt face at all.

Measured and has sufficient protrusion. Cross Pin with hole is not binding firing pin. At a loss. Possible bad 2 piece spring but no answer from Savage customer service. Can I adapt an old one piece if I can find one?

 

[Hookeye]

I had an Axis, shot well.
Dumped it and went back to 700 ADL.

Both had flexy stocks, stiffened both forends.
The Remington stiffer in wrist and nicer pad....... and overall stock dims..........usable.
Also, in .243 (both), the Remington is a short action, not one size fits all.

The Axis is long action. Not cool IMHO on short action cartridges.

No bolt handle clearance issues with 3-9X 40mm mounted correctly on 700
Clear an Axis bolt, and you probably also need a cheek riser.

BTDT

 

[LoonWulf]

Measured and has sufficient protrusion. Cross Pin with hole is not binding firing pin. At a loss. Possible bad 2 piece spring but no answer from Savage customer service. Can I adapt an old one piece if I can find one?

Thats an odd one....i wonder if the springs themselves are binding on release.

I dont see why you couldn't use a single piece. I do wonder why savage with with the two piece tho, id assume theres a reason.

 

[d2wing]

I bought an Axis last summer. I had lots of trouble sighting it in. Turns out the stock was so flexible that putting pressure on the rifle to hold it steady caused the stock to bend and touch the barrel. I didn't shoot it enough to find other problems.

 

[kwg020]

I disassembled the bolt on the Axis and found that the arm on the spring that retains the firing pin retainer pin was out of the groove and on the side of the firing pin. This partially stop the firing pin from fully moving forward. I told him to fire a couple of rounds this weekend and see if he has any FTF.

I have had some light strikes and thought is was a primer than I didn't get seated tight. How easy is it to take apart an Axis bolt ?? What is this firing pin retainer pin ?
kwg

 

[entropy]

Not horribly difficult, though getting one back together the first time is harder. Best suggestion is use primers with a softer cup. This is why I don't load my .223 with CCI #41's even though the vast majority are shot from AR's. I 've never had a problem with firing pins setting CCI 400's off in my AR's or the two Axis (Axes?) they are shot from not setting them off, so I prefer CCI 400's. Of course, these days it's any port in a storm.

 

[kmw1954]

I have a Axis 223 that I bought used about August and have been shooting hand load rounds with CCI #41 primers and experiencing about 20% misfires with these. Took the bolt apart to clean and everything looked fine. Next range session I kept track of the FTF and amazingly found that during that season every first round loaded and fired misfired. Only once during tat session did I experience back-to-back misfires.

I have sense been able to acquire some CCI 400 and 450 along with 100 Remington #7 1/2 to try and see if this improves. If not the gun will be getting traded. Again there are numerous topics that can be found on this by just doing an Savage Axis FTF search.