My Hunting Rifle
 

I currently have been hunting with a Savage Axis chambered in 7mm08. I haven't done anything to it but I'm ready to change it, now that I can afford something more nice. I've thought about these two options; the first one being putting a Boyd's stock on the Axis and changing the scope, and the second being buying a Remington 700 long range or CDL chambered in .300 win mag.

There have been so many people telling me I should do both, the .300 has a little more diversity in bullets and is within my comfort zone for recoil. On the other hand the Savage I own is nice but not the best fit. Any thoughts on what I should do?

well there is nothing wrong with making a rifle fit you better, will ONLY help things

but its also nice to have a second rifle, call it a back up, or for different game or locations and hunts

NOT to bash the axis rifle, but it will always be sort of an entry rifle, and any mods you make will never be recouped, so keep this in mind

a Rem 700, will be an upgrade right from the get go, and the sky is about the limit on what you can do with one

I like the caliber 7mm08, have hunted from AP to AK with mine and NO complaints from Caribou down in game size and out to 400 yards on them and dropped them in there tracks(there NOT hard to kill)
bullet placement and knowing YOUR limits, is a better way to hunt,
than counting on a larger caliber to do the work for you! or causing a faster kill due to more power
stay in your calibers killing range and YOUR skill level, and you'll add up all the kills you could want!
IF your savage shoots GOOD for you now, old saying WHY fix something that ain't broken comes to mind LOL

length of pull can be helped with a larger recoil pad to maybe help on fitting better and leave you more money for a second rifle?

7mm08 is a great hunting round. Good glass is one of the most neglected things I see. You can get so much more out of any production rifle made today with good glass. And you don't have to spend $500+. leupold VX2, Vortex Diamondback, Redfield Revolutions, Ziess Terra, Nikon Prostaff are all good $200 - $400 scopes imho. I've been moving to the Vortex Viper line and they are closer to the $500+ mark. Another thing I see is crappy mounts seem to be the standard for sub $500 rifles. My go to are DNZ game reaper one piece mounts. I mount them and forget them. They have stood up to my 7mm RUM, .270win, .243 win, 6.5 creedmoor, .50 Muzzleloader, I even have them on my .17hmr.

That was helpful! I have set back rings on the axis, but the biggest issue is I hate the accutrigger as it has costed me two bucks. It looks to me I might go on to buy the 700 and use the Axis only for days when the woods are thick and wet.

The 700 is a great option... Just curious, how has the accutrigger cost you two bucks? You can replace the trigger if you'd like to.
-Jake

This year I had a 6 pointer about 20 feet to my right, and since the blade on the accutrigger extends past the trigger. I pulled the trigger and it didn't go off but if it wasn't there maybe I would've had a nice buck. ( it wasn't the ammos fault, it was part mine for forgetting the blade isn't the real trigger.) That's why I like the flat triggers with no blades in the middle. I also think it's a little tedious to pull "two" triggers.

I'd be much more concerned you're hunting with a trigger with which you have not established familiarity, as it kinda tells me there's a lot lacking for practice, and that tells me you're likely not practiced enough to tell where the bullets will actually land.

I'm not a fan of the Axis, nothing wrong with it, but not my cup of tea. Upgrading it then doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

HOWEVER, for a deer rifle, the 300win mag is a bit much, for recoil, rifle weight, and cost per shot. For far less than the cost of a new rifle, plus optic and ammunition to go with it, you could give that Axis a pretty extreme make-over. The 7-08 is runner up as what I consider the most efficient deer hunting cartridge on the market, second only to its little brother, the 243win.

There's also no guarantee the CDL or Long Range 700 will fit you any better than the Axis, so you might find yourself needing a new stock on either of those models too.

I'd upgrade what you have before I spent money on a 300wm. (Recognize, that's said with the 300wm as one of my favorite rifle cartridges).

Just my 2 cents but in MY opinion, the 7mm08 is arguably THE best designed cartridge for all round whitetails ever! I've had 3 300 win mags, and the last, after I shot the elk with it, I gave it to my son who had fell in love with it & wanted 1 go to rifle for everything. It's overkill on whitetails and above a lot of people's recoil tolerance threshold. In fact, he scope eyed himself pretty bad shooting a buck from prone last season. It has at LEAST twice the felt recoil of a 7mm08.

Well the, do you guys have any recomondations as a a rifle around a $1000 that would come in 7mm-08? My Axis I have ran around 1000 bullets through various weights from 139 to 160. I thought about getting a encore barrel and going about it that way.

In response to the familiarly of me and my Axis, that may be true but I've looked at buying a vortex and another stock and it being an entry rifle I don't know if I can justify spending that much on it. I think upgrading might not be a bad thing.

There's allot of great rifles in your price range. If you are sticking to whitetail, I'd personally stick with the 7mm-08. That's a tough one to beat. I'd go to a big store, and hold everything in your price range. Find what you like, and go with it.
-Jake