New Deer Rifle

J

jaytothekizzay

New member
Well I'm about ready to testfire my new deer rifle. It started out as a stock, Savage Axis in
.308 WIN. Out of the box, it had a 8.5lb. Very gritty heavy trigger pull. And the action of the bolt was a little rough too, but not too bad. Also had a very lightweight, plastic stock. But overall not a bad rifle for under $300 bucks.

First thing I did was a trigger job. By changing out the trigger spring, lightly polishing up the sear, and installing an over travel adjustment screw. I now have a very crisp, 3 lb. trigger with absolutely no creep or over travel...extremely happy.

Next I did some de-burring, and light polishing of various action surfaces to smooth things out a bit.

Once I put the Boyds , Prairie Hunter stock on, it really started coming together. Had some very minor fitting to do on the stock, but came out perfect...just the look I was going for.

Lastly my optics... I went with a one piece Weaver Base, with medium height, Weaver rings. Topped off the mount with a Leupold VX1, 3x9 x40mm. scope. Got her boresighted, and ready to shoot.

Well I hope she shoots as good as she looks...I know its not a super top of the line, top dollar rifle, but I am happy the way she turned out... I didn't have the money to buy a rifle the way I wanted it all at once. So buying a cheaper rifle, and upgrading it as my funds allowed, ended up being a fun way to go...

What do you think???

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Good looking rifle (if you like the appearance of laminated stocks). I think you've got a good set-up for just about any big game animal in North America. Savage has a sterling reputation for making accurate, strong rifles that are affordable and, of course, no scope manufacturer has a better reputation for quality and service than Leupold. Time to put on some Butler Creek scope caps!

Let us know how well your new rifle shoots.
 
I did the exact same thing to a 243 chambered gun. Shot just as good as any other rifle i have costing twice as much or more. I think the trigger work is paramount on this rifle.
 
Yeah the trigger turned out very sweet...forgot to mention that I also shimmed the trigger pin with two ultra thin nylon washers, which eliminated the little bit of side to side wobble it had. It feel just as good as my Timney trigger on my AR, and its a bit lighter pull. Was able to get to the range today, and shot about 40 factory rounds. Sighted in the scope, and shot some 100 yard targets. Rifle shoots MOA or better...and that was probably limited by my skills...so I'm a happy guy...thanks for looking
 
Does that prairie hunter stock have a rollover cheek piece or is it just raised symmetrically? I've been interested in doing a similar project and have been curious about some of boyd's stocks. Thanks.
 
Doing something similar myself... started with a Savage 11, got Boyd's Heritage stock (similar to the Prairie Hunter with a slightly different forend) and a used Leupold 3-9x40. I don't know how to polish a sear without worrying about messing something up, so I got a Timney trigger. Last, I got a "big ball" bolt handle.

Granted, with the cost of the stock and trigger, I could have got a more expensive gun to begin with, but as a lefty, there aren't a lot of options. Considered a Tikka or a CZ, but those stocks don't fit me as well as the Boyd's stock I got--the raised cheek piece and custom LOP make a big difference. Starting with one of those and STILL having to swap the stock out would've raised my costs considerably.
 
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Savage 11 in lefty?

idek, you say you have an 11? You mean the 111? My understanding is that the model 11 is their "scout rifle" with the 10rd detachable box mag and adjustable check rest, if they make a lefty of that I'd be elated. I love those scout rifles, but I thought Ruger was the only one to make a lefty model. To the OP, getting one or less MOA from an entry level (budget line even) rifle is outstanding, makes me happy just hearing about it. Savage has really been impressing me. Your rifle looks great too, that stock makes it look very sleek, the factory plastic ones IMO look kinda dumpy.
 
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Oh. How's the accutrigger?

I read that several people here have done trigger jobs on these savages then, is the accu-trigger not all that great then? I thought it's whole thing was its supposed to be fully adjustable for trigger pull?
 
I think it's a pretty decent trigger... I just never warmed up to the extra blade of the accutrigger. Works fine, just feels different than all my other triggers.
 
Any chance you'd post pix of how you installed that over-travel screw. I bought one of these rifles last year in .270 on sale for $239.

I did a trigger job on it like you but I'm not sure about installing an over-travel screw. Anyway I gave it to one of my grandsons last week and he's thrilled with it. If I can make it a little better for him it would be icing on the cake...

Tony
 
I don't have pics, but was very easy...took the factory spring out.then threaded a 10-24 x3/4" set screw in from the bottom of the trigger where the original spring was. With a bit of blue locktite. Adjusted it so when the trigger breaks the top of the screw bottoms out, eliminating over travel. The set screw acted as a post to keep the new, weaker trigger spring captured. Got the spring from the hardware store...was very easy, and worked awesome
 
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