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I completed the build on my 1st 6x45mm several years ago.
It's a Stevens 200 action (Savage Model 10) with a Timney trigger, oversized bolt handle and a Choate Varmint stock. I just finished building another 6x45mm - a lighter one to walk around with. ---
This is my
Savage Axis rifle, when it was chambered in 223 Remington. It became the rifle you see below. It's a stainless Shilen 6x45mm barrel with a 1 in 10 twist. It will stabilize bullets up to 90 grains.
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Boyds has a stock called the AT-ONE. I ordered one to try out for my Stevens 200, chambered in 243 Winchester.
I liked it on my 225 Winchester it, so I ordered a
second for the Axis.
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| Boyds AT-ONE laminated stock |
--- It might look pink, but the colour is applejack. ---
Okay, it may not look like what you're
used to, but the stock is fully adjustable for length of pull, cheek height, and it's laminated.
After zeroing the scope, this was the
first 5 shot group I shot - 0.530 inches.
500
pieces of IVI once fired brass - processed
How this Journey Began Once upon a time, I bought a 223 Remington rifle. It was a Remington 700 SPS Tactical
with a 20 inch barrel, Hogue stock and an X Mark Pro trigger. It went down the road because it wouldn’t shoot.
So I bought another 223. This time, it was a Stevens 200, made by Savage. The Stevens was simply a bare bones Model 10 with
no adjustable trigger. And you know what? It could shoot! On top of that, the price tag was less than half of the Remington!
The Stevens 200 was much more accurate than the Remington 700. It grouped from three quarters of an inch to no worse
than one inch at 100 yards with almost every bullet I tried. Even so, it didn’t spend much time as a 223. About a year
later, it became a 6x45mm. I made the decision to rebarrel, restock the receiver, change the bolt handle, add a bipod and
swap the trigger. My utility rifle would become a hot rod.
I’d gone through two 223s, but bought another. I chose a Savage Axis, and like the
Stevens 200, it chewed up and spit out the Remington. But the rifle looked silly. It had skulls stencilled all over
the plastic stock. No doubt, its appearance and low price was targeted specifically at the young, zombie hating male.
But hey, the Axis grouped well and carried better – despite its looks.
Still, there was trouble with this
223 as well, but it wasn’t its accuracy or anything mechanical. The problem was that I had two 222s. Where I live,
there is absolutely nothing that a 223 can do that a 222 couldn’t do better. So, the Axis got pushed to the back
of the gun safe, alone and unloved for about a year.
But the little rifle’s fortunes changed. In the
spring of 2017, I was cleaning up my gun safes and selling off rifles I no longer needed. I pulled out the Axis and
decided that I needed a 6x45mm walkabout rifle.
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