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Blue collar build

Oaky

Hello everyone
Long time lurker here and just starting my first dedicated range rifle. I started with a savage axis in 308. I’ve cut my teeth reloading thousands of rounds with it and had great success from a $200 rifle. Now want to move a different direction and build something more suitable for local 600 yard benchrest matches. I’ve been considering a prefit barrel in 6br or 6gt. Would anyone suggest one over the other for a working man’s budget benchrest rifle. Not looking to set the world on fire but have fun and be competitive.
Thanks, Russ
 
I was in a similar situation, small budget, etc. I looked for a used good action, and was fortunate to find a single shot Barnard, with a usable stock and a super trigger A decent new barrel was found online locally and a local smith had a suitable BR reamer. The whole build cost less than 1500 US.
 
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Oaky said:
Hello everyone
Long time lurker here and just starting my first dedicated range rifle. I started with a savage axis in 308. I’ve cut my teeth reloading thousands of rounds with it and had great success from a $200 rifle. Now want to move a different direction and build something more suitable for local 600 yard benchrest matches. I’ve been considering a prefit barrel in 6br or 6gt. Would anyone suggest one over the other for a working man’s budget benchrest rifle. Not looking to set the world on fire but have fun and be competitive.
Thanks, Russ
Click to expand...
If I'm reading this correctly, you are looking to put one of the 6mm caliber barrels on the Axis platform? I'm sure that can be accomplished but what concerns me is the part at the end of your statement, "competitive". I would not be confident using the Axis platform to shoot benchrest competitively. You can still budget with a dedicated benchrest platform, without breaking the bank, but something tells me you could be disappointed with the results using the Axis as a BR platform. Scan the classifieds here and check for a decent used BR rifle. you would be surprised what you can find. I compete in Fclass and I have seen basic style rifle platforms on the line that just have not been successful in competition. They always end up going to a specific platform. BTW, if I may suggest, look at the 6BR. It is easy to reload and easy to tune. It can do what you want at 600 yard. Shoot straight and good luck finding what you are searching for.
 
coldboreshot said:
If I'm reading this correctly, you are looking to put one of the 6mm caliber barrels on the Axis platform? I'm sure that can be accomplished but what concerns me is the part at the end of your statement, "competitive". I would not be confident using the Axis platform to shoot benchrest competitively. You can still budget with a dedicated benchrest platform, without breaking the bank, but something tells me you could be disappointed with the results using the Axis as a BR platform. Scan the classifieds here and check for a decent used BR rifle. you would be surprised what you can find. I compete in Fclass and I have seen basic style rifle platforms on the line that just have not been successful in competition. They always end up going to a specific platform. BTW, if I may suggest, look at the 6BR. It is easy to reload and easy to tune. It can do what you want at 600 yard. Shoot straight and good luck finding what you are searching for.
Click to expand...
This is the insight I’m looking for, thank you.
 
Yes the axis is a budget action, but why? I believe it's partly due to less machining savage does which leaves more metal behind which means stronger action. I have built some real nice rifles on axis actions. Only issue is the factory recoil lug, but if you have access to a lathe no issues anymore. Not sure of your available tools and skills but it's possible to make this a nice shooting rig. Caliber wise, either would be fine. And there's many barrel makers to pick from, it's a savage small shank thread usually. PM if you need help
 
Oaky said:
This is the insight I’m looking for, thank you.
Click to expand...
If I had your axis... here is what I would do.

Keep in mind this is with the goal of being competitive in local casual matches. As long as you are not competing against all lawyers, doctors and hedgefund managers, this should be a decent setup.

Research custom actions that have the savage barrel threading, such as the Bighorn origin. See if that has the specs you are looking for. Pierce also makes budget custom actions and you get to pick the barrel threading.

Then I would actually buy a barrel nut prefit and put it on your axis. Play around with the cartridge and see what you think. The barrel will be 100% compatible with the origin if you take the next step.

I would use a wilson barrel from @urbanrifleman Contact him and see if he can do same very basic savage axis action work. If you like your new barrel action setup you can decide to either proceed to the origin (with the same barrel) or continue accurizing the axis. Add a better trigger and scope. Then add some quality front and rear rests to the mix. Add windflags. At this point your rifle probably exceeds your skill at the benchrest format of shooting, especially with wind reading and mental pressures during matches. At this point you should have a pretty darn good setup for local fun matches. A great rig to learn on.

When your skill catches up with the rifle, you may find this rig is all you need and just want to restock and bed the axis. OR you have the benchrest bug and want better.

If the latter, you have paid for a whole bunch of new gear that is 100% reusable if you decide to move to a custom action. Probably your trigger will not be compatible with the new setup, but you can recoup some of that cost by selling it.

That's how I would do it. On a super tight budget if I already owned a savage.
 
I would suggest my new reamer in 6bra. It is a 160 freebore. I feel this is ideal for anything from an 80 Berger on up including the Barnes 112 and the Tubb 115 DTAC. Both great choices for a man on a budget. I have the dies and there are tons of good loads.

If you wanted feed from the box magazine on your axis and you want to have reliable feeding I would suggest the 6xc 160 freebore Tubb.

The 6Xc is a great choice right now because David always keeps brass in stock and it's $82 a hundred for either small or large rifle primer brass. The 6XC is a great choice and will not disappoint.
 
Dimner said:
If I had your axis... here is what I would do.

Keep in mind this is with the goal of being competitive in local casual matches. As long as you are not competing against all lawyers, doctors and hedgefund managers, this should be a decent setup.

Research custom actions that have the savage barrel threading, such as the Bighorn origin. See if that has the specs you are looking for. Pierce also makes budget custom actions and you get to pick the barrel threading.

Then I would actually buy a barrel nut prefit and put it on your axis. Play around with the cartridge and see what you think. The barrel will be 100% compatible with the origin if you take the next step.

I would use a wilson barrel from @urbanrifleman Contact him and see if he can do same very basic savage axis action work. If you like your new barrel action setup you can decide to either proceed to the origin (with the same barrel) or continue accurizing the axis. Add a better trigger and scope. Then add some quality front and rear rests to the mix. Add windflags. At this point your rifle probably exceeds your skill at the benchrest format of shooting, especially with wind reading and mental pressures during matches. At this point you should have a pretty darn good setup for local fun matches. A great rig to learn on.

When your skill catches up with the rifle, you may find this rig is all you need and just want to restock and bed the axis. OR you have the benchrest bug and want better.

If the latter, you have paid for a whole bunch of new gear that is 100% reusable if you decide to move to a custom action. Probably your trigger will not be compatible with the new setup, but you can recoup some of that cost by selling it.

That's how I would do it. On a super tight budget if I already owned a savage.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I was thinking
Thanks
 
urbanrifleman said:
I would suggest my new reamer in 6bra. It is a 160 freebore. I feel this is ideal for anything from an 80 Berger on up including the Barnes 112 and the Tubb 115 DTAC. Both great choices for a man on a budget. I have the dies and there are tons of good loads.

If you wanted feed from the box magazine on your axis and you want to have reliable feeding I would suggest the 6xc 160 freebore Tubb.

The 6Xc is a great choice right now because David always keeps brass in stock and it's $82 a hundred for either small or large rifle primer brass. The 6XC is a great choice and will not disappoint.
Click to expand...
Man I appreciate it. I’ll be in contact with you soon
 
If you already have a scope that goes upto 12/14/16x, you can use that with no problems for load development at 100 yards. That way you can get your rig shooting and not have to lay down money for a scope that is for a rig that is not built yet.

When you are ready to get something. Bc'z is spot on. I would only add the sightron SII. Usually around 350 is in the classifieds. Basically I would look for a used scope in the 24x or mid 36x range and fixed power.Then again, each local match has their own rules for distances. Some do reduced targets some shoot just like the rules say. In the matches you plan on participating, knowing what deviations from the standard rules should inform your decision process on what kind of reticle or turrets to look for.
 
I built a 6x45 last year on a savage axis wood stock model. Bought a wilson barrel and rented the reamer. I have found some very accurate loads for this, is it record benchrest accurate. No. Do i care?, no. Im having fun with it.
 
JB10 said:
I built a 6x45 last year on a savage axis wood stock model. Bought a wilson barrel and rented the reamer. I have found some very accurate loads for this, is it record benchrest accurate. No. Do i care?, no. Im having fun with it.
Click to expand...
That’s what I’m going for, thanks man!!
 
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