Ruger American vs. TC Compass vs. Savage Axis

[shortlegs]

Wally, a friend of mine bought a savage axis and put a boyds nutmeg stock on it. He killed 4 coyots this year with it. All were between 300 and 400 yards.

[charlie b]

Savage rifles can be very accurate or just so-so, like most of the inexpensive models out there. When I wanted to get back into rifles I bought my Axis in .223 with heavy barrel from Walmart for $350 (IIRC). The accuracy is as good as I can shoot, regularly 1/2 MOA out to 200yd, MOA past 300yd and even a 1 1/2MOA at 1000yd. It really likes 77gn Sierra Match Kings driven near max. Even the cheap Hornady 55gn FMJBT bullets are better than MOA with it. The Boyd's stock helped a bit as it added about a pound to the rifle and it now has a Vortex Diamonback scope on it.




With the Boyd's stock


PS it has over 2500 rounds through it now.

[Wally]

Thank you....looks like a Boyd stock is a good way to go.

Wally, a friend of mine bought a savage axis and put a boyds nutmeg stock on it. He killed 4 coyots this year with it. All were between 300 and 400 yards.

[Wally]

charlie b

Glad that you are so happy with yours.

[415m3]

Charlie b....I've been hemming and hawing over what midrange plinker to get and I gotta say that yours looks perfect to me. Thanks for the inspiration.

[charlie b]

You are welcome. FWIW, most do well if you do a good break in.

And cheap .223 ammo does not give great groups

If you can spend a little more then the box stores have versions of the model 12 that are better. Cabelas 12FV is frequently on sale and rebates.

[Norske]

CDNN has very attractive pricing on Winchester XPR rifles in some different calibers and stock/barrel lengths. Read Petzal's comments in the Field and Stream GunNuts website/blog. My gunsmith agrees with the opinionated Dave Petzal. I bought a 30-06 and am awaiting scope bases from Optics Planet.

[Elroy]

CDNN has very attractive pricing on Winchester XPR rifles in some different calibers and stock/barrel lengths. Read Petzal's comments in the Field and Stream GunNuts website/blog. My gunsmith agrees with the opinionated Dave Petzal. I bought a 30-06 and am awaiting scope bases from Optics Planet.

That's were I bought mine because of the rebate,and the fact that it came with a so called Weaver scope.I don't know why they do not include bases.I mounted my front base backwards to narrow the distance between the front,and rear base.You will love the trigger,and probably the accuracy.Mine is a 24" 270,and it is a nail driver .I was disappointed by the fact that it is built in Portugal,but still glad I bought it.The stock is good,and stiff as well.I think the XPR did not catch on better was the fact that they were recalled due to trigger movement while operating the safety,and some would fire after doing so several times.I got on Winchesters sight,and ran the number of mine,and it came back as retrofitted.I called Winchester,because I thought been may have been sold a returned rifle,and they assured me that it was done after manufacturing,but before it was ever sold.I do wish they would have used a staggered feed mag,and fit it flush with the stock.

[nagantguy]

Anyon can flame me for the statement I’m about to make- it won’t make it any less true.
Golden age gentlemen and ladies Golden age. Never before has our dollars bought so much in firearms value, I’m not talking about deep mirror polished bluing or fancy walnut, I mean rifles that shoot, what even a few years ago a fellow would pay a premium for a rifle to be worked on to shoot as well as ANY of the entry level rifles in the big box stores or online . Even optics’s- entry level package deal optics are better by miles than anything on the market 20 years ago. I’ll post the link later- but on YouTube there is a fellow Comrade something or other - and he buys a different entry level rifle every week or so and after confirming zero he shoots them with off the shelf hunting ammo at 3,6,8 and 1000 yards- some may not hold MOAnat the longer ranges but they all are capable of making hits at 1000 yards- so one guys videos big deal - but our beloved cast boolits and everyother site I visit are full of this story-“can’t believe this 225 dollar rifle (fill in the brand and caliber) shoots so good “
The fact of this hit me hard a few years back- my favorite special most favorite Huntimg rifle that is bedded and slicked up with adjustable trigger and target crown, its

[Elroy]

Anyon can flame me for the statement I’m about to make- it won’t make it any less true.
Golden age gentlemen and ladies Golden age. Never before has our dollars bought so much in firearms value, I’m not talking about deep mirror polished bluing or fancy walnut, I mean rifles that shoot, what even a few years ago a fellow would pay a premium for a rifle to be worked on to shoot as well as ANY of the entry level rifles in the big box stores or online . Even optics’s- entry level package deal optics are better by miles than anything on the market 20 years ago. I’ll post the link later- but on YouTube there is a fellow Comrade something or other - and he buys a different entry level rifle every week or so and after confirming zero he shoots them with off the shelf hunting ammo at 3,6,8 and 1000 yards- some may not hold MOAnat the longer ranges but they all are capable of making hits at 1000 yards- so one guys videos big deal - but our beloved cast boolits and everyother site I visit are full of this story-“can’t believe this 225 dollar rifle (fill in the brand and caliber) shoots so good “
The fact of this hit me hard a few years back- my favorite special most favorite Huntimg rifle that is bedded and slicked up with adjustable trigger and target crown, its

I agree.I think the gun makers are concentrating on saving money a little too much though.For the life of me I cant figure out how it saves them a quarter on the little chip they call recoil lugs on their budget rifles as opposed to the conventional type between the barrel,and action..When I was a kid in the late 70s,and early 80s the budget rifles were 303 British .They sold for about $75 bucks at the time.

[nagantguy]

A shooter for sure and it can’t shoot any better than the bargain rifles my friends and family have been buying and the entry level Savage I picked up for under $200 shoots just as good and this favorite rifle I’m speaking of I have counting optics and mount and sling and Hill County Rifles “custom” package over a $1000 invested, it’s pretty, it’s accurate, it’s wood stocked and weights 8 pounds and I have a soft spot for it, but I’ve had my eye on a T/C compass in .308 and I I wouldn’t feel bad leaving it at the cabin or dropping it in the water or rolling down a mountain with it, and I’d not be giving anything meaningful up in terms of field accuracy on game.

[Loudenboomer]

Not to mention all of the above make good loaners. If a extended member of the family wants to borrow a rifle seems like I'm the guy. They're not going to get a Sako or a Sendero.

[charlie b]

I can still remember going through mag articles as a kid, dreaming about guns and looking at stats. It was common for factory rifles to NOT shoot MOA, with some factory loads not able to do 2MOA. And this applied to the expensive models as well as the cheaper ones. Even the bench rest folks were looking at .25" groups as being reasonable.

Now days if it won't hit 1/2MOA then the gun is trash and that applies to the cheapest ones on the market. And bench rest rifles better be capable of .1 or better.

IMHO the public finally convinced the gun makers that all that expense of polishing and bluing, sanding and finishing were not important at all to the guys who threw the guns in the back of the pickup and went hunting in rocks and stream beds. We just wanted guns that worked and were accurate.

What surprises me most is the accuracy of a bore that has such prominent machine marks in it. It can look horrible, but, still print groups less than 1/2".

[cwlongshot]

Im more impressed with the a curacy of todays AR 15’s!! THEY simply have no “right” to shoot so well either!! BUT THEY SURELY DO!!


Its been said many times there are no ugly ACCURATE rifles.

I appreciate a beautiful rifle and Ill have them as long as I can afford them. But these in the post simply fulfill most all important needs of the avgerage shooter and hunter without breaking his bank.

CW

[Three44s]

As a rancher I have two categories of guns: safe queens and tractor guns

My safe queens are shooters to be sure but I am reluctant to drag them in and out of trucks and tractors or carry them on a feed wagon loaded with hay to feed the cows.

A lot of my safe queens started out as tractor guns but proved too fine after I got them tuned up to live the rough life.

My current tractor rifle is a Ruger American Compact in 223. Late last winter I dropped 8 otes in a 7 day period with it, the farthest was 305 yds. It was sneaking off the feed area down a cow trail with 18” of standing snow. Only the top of it’s back was visible and if I had known how far away it was I would of passed on the shot.

Since I did not realize the actual range I did not hold over enough and undoubtedly plowed some snow with the bullet before it struck the coyote, which is good because visible part of it was slim indeed. After the hay was off we fought the unbroken snow and drove tractor and wagon over to where I hit it. The coyote was gone but it left a blood trail 150 yds long and the width of the trail at first. I never saw so much blood!

We followed the blood trail as far as we could drive but being worn out I waived my driver to break it off. There was no way it lasted or suffered much longer. It was side hilling and moving from brush pile to brush pile and we had bigger things to attend to than worrying about a goner coyote.

The little Ruger just works and it can be with me 99% of the time for that 1% of the time I see something that needs lead while my more favorite rifles get their beauty naps in.

Three44s

[richhodg66]

Stopped in the PX on Fort Riley yesterday, the gun counter girl couldn't tell me when they'll run a sale again. Even regular price they're $440. Think I'm gonna get a Ruger American Predator to try out. Caliber to be determined, but I have one of the Leupold Rifleman series scopes out in the shop to put on it and then we'll see how she shoots. I need another rifle like a hole in my head, but what the heck.

[Texas by God]

22-250. You know, since it's called the Predator and all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[richhodg66]

22-250. You know, since it's called the Predator and all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

That would be a good one. I haven't loaded for and shot a .22-250 in quite a while. Good cartridge and legal for deer here the past few years.

The obvious thing would be .30-06, but I already have three .30-06 bolt action sporters.

Will probably catch flak for this in this group, but I was kinda leaning towards a 6.5 Creedmoor one to see what the hype is all about. I figure if I'm gonna buy a new rifle (which I have almost never done) might as well go all out. I'm set up to cast for it, all I'd need is some dies and brass. I really need to pare down the number of calibers I reload for, though, not add another one to the list.

[gumbo333]

I have 3 Axis, 1 Compass and a Marlin X7. My son has a Compass and a Rugar American also. I've shoot all 7 quite a bit, the Axis are the most accurate for 3 - 5 shots, but not by much. The Marlin has the nicest metal finish. Ruger maybe best stock, Axis the flimsiest. Ruger was the highest $. All the low $ entry level rifles shoot way better than the Rem, Ruger, Win or Browning rifles 40 years ago. But sure don't look as nice. No nice walnut and deep blueing. The regular Axis and Compass need easy trigger fixes, cheap. Look them over. Have fun.

[Three44s]

I was very disappointed when Remington shut down the Marlin XS and XL series.

My Marlin is a XL7 in 25-06. I wish it had a 24” barrel (it is a 22”) but my longest shot thus far at 435 yds on a coyote that would not turn broad side (had to take it head on) is a testament to the platform.

Three44s