Troubleshooting the Niece”s deer rifle

bullsi1911 · September 17

My brother had been taking his daughter hunting for the last several years, and last year she made some noise about shooting her first deer.

So- grandma got her a deer rifle for last Christmas. We did not get time to get it dialed in for the last bit of deer season, and then when my brother got out to sight it in, it shot horribly- not consistent and it would not shoot to point of aim.

My brother dropped it with me a while ago, and I am finally getting some time to futz with it. It’s a Savage Axis in .243 in some hideous pink camo and a crappy Bushnell Banner 3-9x scope

I started by dismounting the scope and mounts and reinstalling using correct Torque values. Found that one of the rings was loose, and one screw on each mount was pretty much only finger tight. I also dismounted the stock and reinstalled it with the right torque as well.

Swabbed the bore, reinstalled and bore sighted. I confirmed the scope IS actually tracking when you twist the knobs. Will be heading to the range at lunch with a few loads to test out and see if this corrected the issue.

bullsi1911 · September 17

Loads I have- the 85 Gr Sierra BTHP I use in my CVA pistol, and two 100 grain factory loads. From what I understand this has a 1 in 9.25 twist- will it like the heavier or lighter loads?

Jay · September 17

My bet is the work you did and correcting the crappy scope mounting will fix the problem.

As for the twist, it seems to me to be geared more toward heavier bullets. I have a 1:10 twist Stevens (Savage) 200 that has consistently shot 1/4"-1/2" groups with 105 grain Amax hand loads, which they no longer make. They might be twisting those to work with the new ELD bullets. Just my guess. If one of those 100 grain loads will shoot, that'd probably be my choice.

Since those cheap tupperware stocks are sometimes pretty flimsy, especially when hot, I'd also watch out for flexing of the forend causing contact with the barrel, especially when the rest contact point is further forward. I have to pay close attention to mine and get inconsistent groups if the rest isn't right under or just in front of the barrel nut. I've always intended to put a new stock on that rifle. Just don't use it enough to keep the motivation going.

GunNut · September 17

You're a good uncle. PLEASE I want video of the other folks at the range looking at you as you pull out that gun...

tennmike · September 17

Sounds like work you did on it already will fix the accuracy issue. It should shoot the 100 grain bullets well with that twist rate. My old M700 Rem. in .243 shot the old Speer120 grain round nosed bullets well; too bad those became unobtanium. The rifle shot them accurately and loved them. I still have a small stash of those I keep for myself for deer hunting.

bullsi1911 · September 17

GunNut said:

You're a good uncle. PLEASE I want video of the other folks at the range looking at you as you pull out that gun...

I ended up on a lane next to a guy that I used to shoot pistol competition with. He and I were usually in the top 5 of competitors.

He was sighting in his LWRC carbine with a Specwar suppressor. Me? Pink Girls gun.

GunNut · September 17

bullsi1911 said:

GunNut said:

You're a good uncle. PLEASE I want video of the other folks at the range looking at you as you pull out that gun...

I ended up on a lane next to a guy that I used to shoot pistol competition with. He and I were usually in the top 5 of competitors.

He was sighting in his LWRC carbine with a Specwar suppressor. Me? Pink Girls gun.

Video! I WANTED VIDEO!!!!

bullsi1911 · September 17

Want to hear what my luck is like? This is a classic example of of how sh.... stuff works for me.

I get to the range... realized I forgot my sandbags/ rest, so I had to borrow a leadsled (ugh). Get all set up, run the target out to 50 yards and fire 2 rounds of the federal 100gr rounds to confirm boresight. Both rounds go through the same hole, dead on for elevation, and 2 inches left. AWESOME!

I run the target back to set up for load test and sighting in, and I get a work call. Luckily, I am wearing my Walkers Bluetooth ear pro, so I just step out into the lobby and take the call.

BOOM! Lightning strike right outside the building (its a rainy day here). Takes down the network, power flickers on the range. I dial back into my call, finish up, and go back on the range.

The power surge from the strike has crashed the computers controlling the targets. They defaulted back to run the targets back into zero yards, and the computers shut down and refused to restart. For like 40 minutes. There went my lunch.

So.... I THINK I have it fixed. I just need to get back to the range and see what works best and sight it in.

zorba · September 17

The pink camo is called "Muddy Girl Camo" - my wife's shooting hat and range bag are that pattern. Sort of like "RealTree" for girls!

Gene L · September 17

I don't have a high regard for the Axis in terms of accuracy. Hunting accuracy, fine, but I wouldn't expect MOA. I speak with the experience of only ONE, so I might be wrong. The trigger on mine (also a .243) was about 8 pounds and despite that, it shot 1 1/4 moa. I replaced the trigger with a good aftermarket, which improved the trigger pull and break, and it still shot 1 1/4 moa. Fine for hunting, but I don't hunt.

Freezer · September 17

I have researched women/youth gun stocks and found most companies only change the LOP not the grip distance or drop. The exception is the Savage "Muddy Girl" and the "Lady Savage". Kudos to the person who bought this rifle that may actually fit her! Kudos to you for fixing the problem!

bellcat · September 18

Those cheap’ package gun scopes’ are cheap, but usually work fine if they don’t get beat around much.

Lovely stock....not going to show my girl!

CHIRO1989 · September 18

If that is a youth gun, Savage may have included a coupon for a full size stock to be used at a later date, there was a laminate stock as an option IIRC.

bullsi1911 · September 18

Well, I went back to the range for lunch again today, remembered to bring my rest, and got set up to test and sight in.

First, the employees were pretty sure that the lightning yesterday actually hit the building. Lots of systems still have not recovered, and other things are acting wonky. So... yeah. I guess a higher power did not want me sighting in the rifle yesterday

NEXT- this rifle is a well rounded shooter! All 3 loads hit really close to the same place. Which is pretty amazing that this cheap rifle/ scope combo can put 3 different loads within the the area of “acceptable hunting accuracy”

Load 1-CVA pistol load using Sierra 85 grain BTHP at 100 yards

That is a true MOA group. Holy... crap.

Next, the federal 100 grain load at 100 yards

Well, geez! That almost the exact same group size at the same point of impact! That is unexpected from such different rounds.

Next-Remington 100 Gr Core Lokt at 100 yards:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030353/uploads/editor/q4/nxkccssq4ayf.jpeg

Larger group, but almost the same POI! What the heck- that’s not supposed to happen.

Well, I made the decision to sight it in using the Federal 100gr SP load. Why? Well, the handload is slightly better, but it’s not available in almost every gun shop in the US. So. I adjusted the scope and got this group with a slightly warm barrel:

That will work. That’s headshot accurate.

But than I considered the Remington load. Where will it hit now?
it hits right here:

which is good enough for practice.

I have to say that I am impressed with the accuracy of this rifle. It’s an admittedly cheap gun, that shoots WAY beyond the price tag.

Although, I am concerned with the recoil. The rifle does jump a bit for a 13 year old. I will suggest fitting it with a break

Varmintmist · September 18

I have never cared for Rem ammo. In my experience it may or may not produce the desired affect, AND as so aptly illustrated here, more accuracy can be had with about anything else.

If the uncle would reload for his niece, he could try a 100gr Sierra GK over a under book max load of imr 4064. That works pretty well out of a Ruger American and a custom in 243.

earlyagain · September 18

I think I can see why the package rifles sell so well. For people that want to hunt once a year and store the rifle the rest of the time. That's very good performance.

Freezer · September 18

earlyagain said:

I think I can see why the package rifles sell so well. For people that want to hunt once a year and store the rifle the rest of the time. That's very good perform.

And the stock is designed to fit smaller framed people!

10canyon53 · September 18

That'll do! Does it have the Accu-trigger?

Linefinder · September 18

That 100 grain Federal load would have been my pick.

Looks like you got the "problems" sorted out.

Mike

Linefinder · September 18

One thing I learned shooting BR comps....while overall group size matters, vertical spread means more than horizontal spread. If I have two loads that shoot about the same, I'll always go with the one that displays the least vertical dispersion.

You can control elevation.....wind.......not so much.

Mike

knitepoet · September 18

Bullsi, You could always use Hodgdon's 60% rule and load some youth loads, if you're worried about recoil.

Take the max charge of H4895 for the given bullet, multiply it by 60% (0.6) and go from there.
The list the no longer made Hornady 80gr SSP on the "Youth Data" PDF, but I'm sure you can find a suitable replacement.

Michakav · September 18

Hard to be a factory Savage! Even the cheap ones.

Jayhawker · September 18

I've never had a Savage that wasn't a shooter...right out of the box...but always did stuff to them that made them better shooters...

The problems I have encountered with those combo packaged have always gone back to some doofus that slopped the package together before putting it on the rack for sale.

Zee · September 19

Healed!!

CHIRO1989 · September 19

Try some 95gr. Federal Fusions

Great Outdoors · September 19

Got it used-have the same savage youth rifle for the grandkids- with an accutrigger, without the pink- shoots Hornady American Hunter 100 grain interlocks into a quarter sized group at 100 yards- it came with a Nikon prostaff 3x9x40 scope- can't be beat for $250