Two rifles

[bensonwe]

Good morning. I have a simple questions and would like opinions. Im going to purchase a Savage Axis or Rem Adl this week. What are the goods and bads of these two? Thanks

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The only downside of the Axis, is the flimsy plastic stock, otherwise it's a great rifle for the money.
I don't have any experience with the ADL, but if Remington is spot welding the bolt handles, like they do on the 770, then I would pass on it. Google search the 770 and broken bolt handle to read the horror stories.

[dverna]

Another inexpensive and very accurate rifle is the T/C Compass. One nice feature is the three position safety. Not sure if your other choices have that. Not as important on a target/varmint gun but advantageous when hunting especially in the woods.

[1Hawkeye]

I've had both. Go for the Remington without a doubt.

[chutesnreloads]

I went with the Axis.... Quite pleased with it

[gumbo333]

Have several Axis, just 2 position safety, all shoot lights out after a bit of trigger work, stock is flimsy, but also easily fixable. Have a couple TC Compass' also. They shoot great too. Also needs a bit of trigger attention. Stock is OK. Ruger American a very good rifle too. No experience with Remington but have heard a ton of complaints on their QC the past few years, maybe they have that issue under control these days. Get what pleases you the most. Most all new low $ affordable rifles shoot just great. Better than they should, but most have their own issues. Lots of those issues detailed on this and many other sites. Good luck.

[TNsailorman]

I had a very early 700 ADL(1962) and except for the lack of a detachable floorplate and less attractive walnut in the stock, there was no difference between it and the 700 BDL. And I have never owned a factory rifle that would shoot with it. Accuracy of less than a MOA right out of the box when shot off a bench. I was dumb to ever sell it.

[modified5]

I have an ADL from the mid 90's in .223 that I have put untold thousands of rounds through killing ground squirrels. Pretty much any time I touch the trigger, something dies. No experience with the axis at all.

[charlie b]

I would not assume that a 90's or earlier Remington is the same quality as the current ones. It is a different company these days. So far it does not seem Savage manufacturing has changed since their ownership change.

But, I do believe that all of the current mfgs are making barrels of comparable quality. The differences are in the rest of the rifle. The Axis (I own one) does not have the smoothest bolt around. Operating it quickly without binding takes a certain knack.

I would go down and look and handle one from all the mfgs before you make up your mind. Small difference in stock shape may lead to you like one over the other. If you plan on changing stocks or other parts check for availability first. Not sure about the Rem but, for example, some stock makers do not offer a model for the Axis.

[Ledslnger]

The Axis is a pretty good starter. I would look around an extra week or two while saving $$$ and try to get a deal on the Axis II. You get the upgraded trigger in it. Just my thoughts there. Remmy imo is living on their name. They have been cutting corners to maximize profits and their QC is suspect imo. If you can get an old Remmy then I would go for that for sure. Probably 7 years old at least. Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Forrest r]

The axisII heavy bbl.'s are well worth the $$$. I'm sure everyone has their favorite spotted puppy, myself I bought a cheap savage axisII hb in 223rem to do an experiment to see how hard it would be to get a cheap rifle/cheap ammo combo to do moa.

4 or 5 years ago I decided to swage my own jacketed 223rem bullets out of 22lr cases. Free 22lr cases and free range lead for cores, so I decided to use free range 223rem cases that I picked up off the ground at a local range. I did fl size those cases and trimmed them to length and then sorted them into 2 piles, nato /commercial. Made up a pile of bullets, had a bunch of free cases that I didn't know how many times were reloaded and never bothered to anneal them.

That covered the bullets and cases, I used bl-c2 for a ladder test and used up the last of some old ww sr primers I had laying around.

Bought a cheap rifle to use as a test bed, went with a savage axisII hb chambered in 223rem that had a 1 in 9 twist bbl. I went with the savage axis simply because they were on sale for $300 with a $50 mail in rebate. I also sold the scope & rings that came with it for another $50. At the end of the day I had $300 + $18 tax minus $100 (rebate/scope sale) in the rifle or $218 for a cheap rifle as a test bed. Punched the bbl out with a couple patches and wiped the bolt off and hit the range. I put a 24x scope on that axisII that I used for silhouettes and started zeroing the rifle in adjusting the torques on the action screws as I shot. After getting the rifle on paper I put up this target @ 100yds. Did the final sight in/scope adjustments and then started shooting 5-shot groups/ladder tests.
[IMG][/IMG]

The target isn't high-tech by any means (x with a dot) but that's the target I used for the asixII 1st range trip to see if I could a cheap rifle to do moa with free 22lr cases/range lead turned into bullets and free range brass. I did nothing to the stock on that rifle nor did I do anything to the trigger. The trigger is one of those adjustable ones. I simply shot the rifle with whatever the trigger was set to at the factory.

A close-up of that 25.5gr load.
[IMG][/IMG]

That group/load is easily repeatable in that axisII rifle. Anyway that's my experience with a savage axisII hb rifle. I did buy a pencil bbl'd savage axis chambered in 308w also. Got it with the same deal from the same store & sold the scope that came with it also. That pencil bbl'd 308w shot lights out with several different factory ammo offerings along with reloads. Ended up selling that 308w to a guy at a local range. He was impressed with how it shot with a bunch of different ammo's and wanted it for a beater all weather hunting rifle for deer in pa.

Only 2 rifles but no complaints, they both flat out shot moa or better. Not bad for rifles that I had $218 in each 1.