Savage Axis

I have two left-handed grandsons and they're both in their mid-teens.  They've been shooting with me for since they were old enough to hold a .22, and I'm confident of their safety and ability with firearms that I though it was time for their first centerfire rifle.  So, I started casting about for suitable left-hand bolt rifles and settled on the Savage Axis.  I ordered them, put them on layaway, and they finally arrived just in time for Christmas.

When I brought them home I intended to mount a scope and sling, but Milady had them wrapped and put under the tree before I was ready to work on the rifles.  The boys opened the rifles on Christmas, but I told them that I'd mount a scope, sling, and ammo carrier on each of them, then we'd go shooting.

I finished mounting the scopes today and they turned out pretty good.  The rifles are very light, in the neighborhood of seven pounds with sling and scope.  A light rifle will pound you pretty hard, but both of these are in .25-06, a caliber that's noted for being fairly mild.  The rifles came with a good soft pad, and both of these boys are big enough to handle the recoil, both of them can handle a 12 gauge shotgun.

It will be interesting to see how these rifles shoot.  I've got a standard load for the .25-06 that uses a 117 grain Hornady SST bullet over Reloder 22 powder and it's proved very accurate in both of the family's other .25-06 rifles.  I see no reason why the load won't work in these rifles as well.  Hopefully, over the next few days I can get the boys out to the range and get their rifles sighted in.