Rifle Help

CharlieFoxtrot · Jun 24, 2012

My 12 year old son got a Savage Youth Axis bolt-action in 243 for his birthday. It came with an already sighted in Bushnell scope. I figured it would be a good first deer rifle for him. Here's the issue: we can't hit anything with it. Seriously - nothing at all. Over thirty rounds fired by four different competent rifle shooters. I laser boresighted it myself and the scope was fine. Scope mounts are all tight and secure. But no one can even hit a 3'x4' piece of cardboard at 25 or 50 yards with it. I'm going to talk to Savage tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. I've never encountered anything like this before. Rifle was new and we stripped it down and cleaned the whole thing before ever firing it too.

mikec · Jun 24, 2012

Is the muzzle crown OK?

Can you shoot it at a shorter range? 10 yards and then see what happens there?

Do you have another scope to try?

Does the rifling look OK?

1970swifty · Jun 24, 2012

shooting blanks ?

mopar92 · Jun 24, 2012

If the range allows it. Shoot at a 4x4 sheet of plywood. Painted white an aiming point in the center. Should be able to "walk it in" and boresights depend on rings because POA/POI at the muzzle can have a 1 to 2 and a half inch difference.

wilcam47 · Jun 24, 2012

CharlieFoxtrot said:
My 12 year old son got a Savage Youth Axis bolt-action in 243 for his birthday. It came with an already sighted in Bushnell scope. I figured it would be a good first deer rifle for him. Here's the issue: we can't hit anything with it. Seriously - nothing at all. Over thirty rounds fired by four different competent rifle shooters. I laser boresighted it myself and the scope was fine. Scope mounts are all tight and secure. But no one can even hit a 3'x4' piece of cardboard at 25 or 50 yards with it. I'm going to talk to Savage tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. I've never encountered anything like this before. Rifle was new and we stripped it down and cleaned the whole thing before ever firing it too.

Put it on a rifle vise remove the bolt and put a target out about 25-30feet look through the bore and point it at the target right in the middle or bullseye. dont move the rifle and look through the scope and see where its pointed...you should be close to the same spot...if not your scope is off...If its pretty much the same spot then you have other issues...maybe the bolt face is not true/square.

Biggfoot44 · Jun 24, 2012

The usual response is probably defective scope out of the box. But you should be able to hit 3' x 4' pointshooting at 25yds. Check within literal spitting distnce for bullet tumbling.

Did you look to see if there was ny rifling ? Did you measure to see if was actually .243 in bore size ?

Russ D · Jun 24, 2012

I wouldn't doubt if it wasn't the scope the rifle came with. They always package these rifles with really bad scopes.

K31 · Jun 24, 2012

Try actually boresighting it as a check. Put it on sand bags, pull the bolt look through the bore and center the target in the bore. Without moving it, look though the scope to see if it's pointed at the center or at least directly above it.

Do this and then pick up shake the rifle, put it back on the sand bags and boresight it as above. Are the crosshairs pointed somewhere differently now? If so, the reticle may be loose.

Mooseman · Jun 24, 2012

Good luck.

fivepointstar · Jun 24, 2012

i had considered an Axis but not after this thread

kcd · Jun 24, 2012

I had a problem like that with a 12ga shotgun. The problem turned out to be the scope that could not hold zero. I later mounted the scope on a 22 (with less recoil) and it worked fine. With a good scope designed for high recoil, the shotgun was accurate.

RW2111 · Jun 25, 2012

Yea would deffinetly start with a scope and just double check the barrel itself is tight in stock

byf43 · Jun 25, 2012

As others have said, boresight the rifle using sandbags or a solid rifle rest.

I'm not a big fan of the 'laser-boresighters'.

I've got an 'old fashioned' boresighter, that works extremely well (sofar!)

Things to check/double-check.

Scope mount - tight???
Scope rings - tight???
Shake rifle while listening closely to hear 'rattling' in scope.

Turn elevation adustment 12 to 20 clicks up, then return to zero.
Turn elevation adjustment 12 to 20 clicks down, then return to zero.
Do the same with windage adjustments.

Listen for audible clicks.

What ammo are you using???

Has the muzzle crown been damaged.

Put the rifle into sandbags (on the floor), then using the scope, 'take aim' at a spot/target on the wall.
Now, stand above the rifle, and look down.
Does the barrel look straight (towards the spot/target), or crooked???
(The reason I say this, an old friend had a S&W mdl 1000 shotgun, and he couldn't hit ANYTHING with it. The barrel was bent, near the muzzle!)

CharlieFoxtrot · Jun 25, 2012

Thanks for all the help. If I wasn’t putting the cartridges in the gun myself I would have thought someone was playing a joke on me! I also figured I could use this as a positive to buy that gun vice I’ve always coveted. After thinking it over though and looking at all the variables suggested here I figured I’ll just ship it back to Savage and let them figure it out. It’s under warranty. Unfortunately I talked to Savage and they are doing their two week shut down next week so it will be four to six week turn around. I’ll post a follow up when I know more. Just want to have the kinks worked out so he can get confident with it before Deer season!

bigjohn · Jun 25, 2012

bought a savage package gun for the wife. same thing. i replaced the scope at it has been great. local gunsmith said it was a scope you can buy for $29 so imagine what they can get them in bulk for. rings were crap too. if i knew they were that bad, i would have bought just the rifle then added the scope and rings that i wanted

Biggfoot44 · Jun 26, 2012

Swap on a known functional scope before shipping back.

BlackBart · Jun 26, 2012

Best guess cheap low end scope that loses it's "hold" with the slightest bump. Doubt it's the gun.

F-Stop · Jun 26, 2012

Agree on scope. Relative got one of these packages. First shot the reticle mechanism broke loose.

I didn't read all posts, did you try lining up target through bore, clamping down and firing?

Ab_Normal · Jun 26, 2012

Savage products are usually a pretty good value for the $ so I am betting it is the scope. I would replace the scope and then check it. If you send it back to Savage and they find the scope is defective, they are just going to put the same kind of scope on the gun and send it back. It will probably get bounced around in shipment and mess up the scope again and then you are back to square one. Good luck.

Vince55 · Jun 26, 2012

Put a Nikon M-23 on my AR and had trouble with it. Wouldn't adjust, etc. Sent it back to Nikon. They said they fixed it, but I still had problems. Ended up putting a Vortex Diamondback on it and haven't had a problem since. Just goes to show you that even the more expensive scopes can give you a problem.

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