Savage axis rebarrel..

[AlaskanGuy]

I have a savage axis is 223....

I have heard several folks talk about changing cali buy just changing out the barrel???? Can somebody in this section let me know about this and what i would need to switch it to a 308... I see take off barrels for good prices on evil bay.... Is there anything else i need to consider????

Ag

[seaboltm]

If you have a rifle with the same bolt face as the .308, which is .473" I believe, then you need a way to remove the old barrel and attach the new one. Most Savage use a barrel nut, which makes the trading of barrels very easy. You will need a way to set head space, and the appropriate gauges can be rented. I would guess with the right tools it could be done in minutes.

[NSP64]

AlaskanGuy, you would need a new barrel, new bolt. Not worth it.

You could do a swap to 300Blackout by changing the barrel.

[KLR]

Get yourself to Savageshooters and get the $15 paid membership. That will get you access to the classified ads. I'll bet you could find someone to swap everything you need. Or sell your stuff and buy from someone parting out a .308.

[AlaskanGuy]

I want to keep the old stuff...lol...

It is either figure this out or figure out how to build my own 308 bolt out of mauser stuff... I see actions and mauser barrels and such all the time for sale, but know nothing about building my own.... But this old dog can read, and learn... :)

[seanhagerty]

Im a savage guy.

It is a very simple process. You need a barrel nut wrench, a new barrel and a new bolt head. It really is as asimple as spinning the barrel nut loose, unscrewing the barrel, and then putting the new barrel and barrel nut back on. You can have a LOT of discussions on headspacing, but I have done it with new brass.

<<Stand by, there will be a lot of folks telling you to never headspace a barrel that way.>>

[KLR]

I think you'll need a new magazine too.

[Epd230]

Isn't the Savage Axis a $250.00 gun?

Is this better than buying another gun?

[AlaskanGuy]

I just thought if it was a simple thing, it would be nice to switch, and then switch back from time to time....

AG

[JSH]

I am all ears on the axis subject. I looked at savage shooters and my take on the a is nut was it was smooth and you needed to use a pipe wrench to get it off? Some guys even ended up splitting it with a dremel. Then use just get a new nut and standard wrench.
I never could figure out if you could swap bolt faces from one to the other.
I think you can even swap triggers to the accu trigger?

My question is what are the + and - of the axis compared to a 11/111 type action.
Also from my reading the are all a standard length (06) action?
As to headspace. If it is something you are going to keep for yourself and load for yourself, it is a non issue. As long as you keep ammo marked for it. Headspace is one of those ghost myths that folks get all shook up over.
Buddy of mine has a poor mans switch barrel using a savage action. He has an 25-06, 270, 30-06, and 35 Whelan for it. Keep track on note cards and swap them around with same scope and settings. Swapping between barrels and readjust scope and they are all with in an inch for the first shot on paper at 100. We have swapped them at the range with no issues.
I got my short action to do the same with. And also bought a long action. You can go from moose to mice in a few minutes.
Jeff

[wistlepig1]

This might help with a Savage Barrel change.
91452
91453
These will print on standard paper and make a book.

[archmaker]

Just did the switch on my Savage 110E, was a 30-06 and now a 243.

Things I learned, and I am more of a seat of pants type of guy, and yes I could spend the money and buy the tools, but I wanted to see what I could do without buying everything. Things you CANNOT get by without in my opinion is the wrench and a good caliper.

If doing wood blocks to hold the barrel for removing from the action the first time, the longer and the tighter you can get it the better. My action was old and the glass bedding I job I did as a teenager had some of the compound creep into the threads, necessitating taking a pipe wrench to the barrel (the barrel was shot out but still :-( ), and a sledge to get it loose, and this is after a day of soaking in Kroll, and a heat gun. I tried to get by with C-Clamps and two 1.5" V-cut blocks of oak, that was not enough to do the job (Now I have a way to exert 6" of force on the barrel using Oak with circular cut)

BELIEVE what your guage is telling you, I read that 'you don't need a no-go guage, a go guage will work', but in my case this was not true. The problem was that the barrel that I bought for some reason (think it was a fluke) had a deep chamber, causing the bolt to hit the barrel before the guage would bottom out. Lesson learned is to put the guage in the barrel and measure amount sticking out, then I did some research and for my cartridge there should been no more than .200" sticking out of the barrel, and instead I had .090", which caused me to believe I had the headspace right (action would not close if I screwed the barrel in just a touch after feeling resistance. WHICH BTW is the wrong way to set headspace - live and learn) and it would not close I figured I had the headspace 'Jussst right!" For MY Savage I came to this erronous conclusion after figuring out that 20TPI barrel that one full turn of the barrel is .050" and therefore if I turned it just a little bit 1/25th of turn in and it would not close that I had it right at +/- .002" Math is right but the thinking was wrong. Found out my mistake by adjusting the barrel with NOTHING in the chamber and that gave me the clue I needed to figure out what was not right.

You can use a case to headspace, not recommended, but you will run across some individuals saying that is what they do, what they have done is to take the cases, FL resize the case, and headspace off that so that when you resize you are only bumping back the shoulder by .001". If you do that make absolutely sure that you don't have excessive headspace, using some spacer on the back of the case to make a no-go guage. What I did to realize I had a problem is put succsive layers of tape on the resized cases I had to see how much "space" I had (was .023" BTW). Difference between a go and no-go for my gun was supposed to be .004". So now that I have my barrel fixed I have a small gap that is permissable between the barrel and the bolt, and the headspace is setup for my particular dies and shellholder.

The reason that a case is not recommend is a valid concern that only you can answer, do you plan on shooting factory ammo in the gun, and is that important that the gun be able to shoot factory (remember if you use a fired case it may be a tighter fit than factory ammo), and do you plan on shooting only your reloads customized for you gun/die/shellholder combination. Also a Go guage is solid steel and has zero give, whereas a brass case has some give to it, so when screwing the barrel into the gun you have a greater chance of a 'squishy' feel when using a case vs an all steel go guage.

A new rifle would have been cheaper, but not as much of a learning experience and fun.

Take your time, if something is not right or odd, take more time and figure it out before going further.

[Bulldogger]

I had a TERRIBLE time switching my Axis from .223 to .300 AAC, and I don't recommend it. IF you can get an old one, then maybe it'd be OK to try but the new ones are made different and can cause problems.
The problems with mine arose from the pre-finishing tumbling media getting into the threads between the bbl and receiver. I sent the takeoff bbl with damaged threads back to Savage and their chief gunsmith called me and said, "Yep, that's what happens". He said they tumble the barrel/receiver combo as a unit prior to finishing and the threads often get impregnated with tumbling media. In the factory, they use heavy duty machines to take them off, all the while blowing compressed air into the joint to blow the beads out of the way. My gunsmith didn't know that, and so had to dress the threads of my receiver and lots of other fitting headaches due to the tumbling beads' damage. Savage did not apologize, and said I should have sent it to them to rechamber and then he admitted they wouldn't have done it anyway since Savage didn't support .300 AAC at the time.

Buying the "cheap" Axis and rebarreling it cost me near as much as a used Remington 700 which I could have easily done myself without all the headaches and not had to wait almost a year for the gunsmith to unscrew it all and get it back.

I will NEVER try that again and wouldn't wish it on anybody.

Savage sells the Axis in .308, I'd just buy one ready to go.

Bulldogger

[Jailer]

I replaced the barrel on my 223 axis with a 300 blk barrel. I encountered the same media packed in the threads between the barrel and receiver. I cleaned the receiver threads real well and the 300 blk barrel went in nice and smooth. There is still media stuck in the threads of the 223 barrel. I'm still glad I did it though, this thing is a shooter.

I agree with the others though. If you want a 308 go buy another axis. The axis is the firearm industries answer to our cheap disposable society.