August 28, 2024 • 26 mins
The Savage AXIS Rifle is the top selling rifle for Savage. Value priced with great performance. Gun Talk Nation’s Ryan Gresham sits down with Savage Arms engineer, John Thomas to get the behind the gun story of the new Axis 2 Rifle.
Learn more: https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/family/axis
This Gun Talk Nation is brought to you by the Second Amendment Foundation, Vortex Optics, Hodgdon Powder Company, SDS Imports, Ballistic Advantage, Ruger, Stag Arms and Silencer Central.
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Copyright ©2024 Freefire Media, LLC
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gun-talk--6185159/support.
Learn more: https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/family/axis
This Gun Talk Nation is brought to you by the Second Amendment Foundation, Vortex Optics, Hodgdon Powder Company, SDS Imports, Ballistic Advantage, Ruger, Stag Arms and Silencer Central.
For more content, subscribe to Gun Talk at guntalktv.com, on Gun Talk's Roku, Apple TV, iOS app, Android app, or find Gun Talk on YouTube, Rumble, Facebook, Instagram, X and guntalk.com. Listen to all Gun Talk Podcasts with Spreaker, iHeart, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find podcasts.
Copyright ©2024 Freefire Media, LLC
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gun-talk--6185159/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When we box that up, it's getting that personal blessing
as it goes out the door. So I think that's
ingrained at all the people here and the really passionate
about their work.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Ryan Gresham and this this.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Is gun Talk Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, Welcome into gun Talk Nation. And today we
are on location out in Massachusetts visiting Savage. I got
JT with me. Welcome in Man. Yeah. So just right
off the bat, I'll a note for anybody listening or
watching this. We are at the Savage factory. So you
may hear forklifts or whatever, and you know, it's just
(00:48):
what we We're just gonna roll with it. Yeah, it's
just how it goes. So it's kind of fun being
up here because flying to Hartford, we're here in Massachusetts.
This is un valley.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah, a lot of manufacturers have sprinkled their way through here.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Along the Connecticut River. I was I was telling one
of the guys, I said, you know, I've come up
here a bunch Yep. Well, how many companies are up here?
I'm like, well, there's Savage, yep, there's Mossburg, there's Ruger,
there's SIGs Hour. I mean in the greater New England.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah. Yeah, Smith and Wesson, Yeah, yeah, quite a few.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Henry yep, just even some that maybe you wouldn't even
think of.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah, smaller companies.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Troy Industries Yep, yep, yep. They were here originally, yeah,
or they're not here anymore again, I think they moved
down south.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
But so, JG, how long you been at Savage.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, so I've been at Savage for about eight years now.
I started as an intern in college emergentally from Western
mass I grew up in Springfield, about a half hour
from the factory. Yeah, so I think it was my
sophomore year college. Started as an intern during the summers
and winters. Really got hooked on it, say, addicted to it.
I really enjoy it. And then full time picked up
(01:55):
and then they've been working here in engineering since.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
That's kind of sweet internship, right.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, it was a lot of It was a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Even my background growing up, it wasn't like a big
hunting or target shooting background or anything like that. I
did some paintball and stuff like that competitively with fins
and stuff like that here and there, a little bit
of airsoft, but actually get hands on with rifles and handguns.
Was I really got my uh, got my everything situated
here and kind of got got first hands on experience.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
That was really neat stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
What's for you personally? I means you kind of you
said you didn't grow up in it, but now you're
working at a gun company. Yeah, what do you like most?
What type of shooting or hunting or what type of guns?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, So I'd say it started with kind of like
the PRS style shooting and stuff like that. As we
introduced like our one ten Precision Elite Precision Line Access
Precision Line, a few of the engineers on weekends or
here and there for different events would go out and
target shoot up to I think five six hundred yards
and even up to like a thousand.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So it's not surprising for an engineer to be interested
in precisions.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah. Yeah, pretty pretty neat stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, so that was really enjoyable calculate in your dope
and all that kind of stuff. And then more recently,
as Savage has gotten into handguns with our Stance micro
Compact and then rolling in the nine millimeter nineteen eleven
forty five nineteen eleven, we've been doing a lot of
testing there so got out to the range a few
times in uh northern mass on weekends to plank on
weekends and some of that.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
So a lot of fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, observations while we've been here talking to Chris,
the president and CEO. He comes from an engineering background. Yeah,
he's an engineer. And something I've said a lot over
the years on this show is when the guy in
charge is an engineer, what I find that one of
the things that usually means is the products are going
(03:43):
to be good.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Sometimes the guy in charge is a marketing guy, and
they may or may not be good. That marketing will
be amazing.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yep, like you know, technical details.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, yeah, he's obviously a technical details kind of guy.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And I think when people talk talk about Savage, when
shooters and hunters gun enthusiasts talking about Savage, they always
kind of go, yeah, they make good guns. Everyone kind
of agrees. Yeah, yeah, they And we were talking last
night at dinner. It punches above its weight class. Yeah, definitely,
it seems to do that. Yeah, why is that?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So, I really I think it not only ties into
our manufacturing processes here that we can speak to a
little bit, but also just the culture that we have
here at Savage, I'd say from the very top of
the organization down to just like the regular employees and
engineers and everything like that. Everybody's really passionate about the
product that we're putting out the door. And I think
(04:39):
one of the things that we kind of speak to
and like our assembly cell for handguns or for rifles,
we're packaging and assembling every gun is if we're handing
it off to a relative or a best friend who's
going on a hunt or going on a shoot over
the weekend, and we're like, when we put this thing together,
when we check it, when we function it, we make
sure the safeties work. We want it to be accurate.
Obviously when we box that up, it's it's getting that
(05:01):
personal blessing.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
As it goes out the door.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So yeah, that's ingrained in all the people here and
the really passionate about their work. And then on top
of that, just the manufacturing processes that we have here,
they've really grown over the past ten to fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Just with regards to barrel manufacturing.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
We have three or four new automated cells with a
robotic arm that's taking barrel blinks placing them in different machines.
A lot of precise work there that's trickled into our
receiver line, so that impacts all of our products in
a positive way, including like the Impulse, the newer rifle,
as well as our one ten our bread and butter axes.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, that was something I saw on the floor. I've
been to I mean dozens of gun companies and seen factories,
you guys, because Savage is one of those older gun
companies and been in this location a very long time. Yeah,
you've got an interesting mix of old and new going
down there.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
You've got the high tech you set it, you get
out of the cage and let the robotic arm.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Yeah, just watching it on a little monitor. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And then you also have craftsmen who have been at
Savage for twenty and thirty years. Who are you know,
they're they're pulling the rifling manually. We do not say manually.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yeah, feeding brooches and drill. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, that's that's an interesting mix.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, it's really neat.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So I think we've taken a lot of lessons learned
from that manual process and some of the older machinery,
and instead of just blindly buying a bunch of new
high tech equipment and saying like kind of buying the
new equipment, closing your eyes and say, the equipment's gonna.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Make good barrels.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We're taking all the lessons learned from those older manufacturing
processes and making sure that the new automated equipment is
taking those things and all those recipes and things that
we have for barrel accuracy and barrel life and stuff
like that. They've rolled over into the new process and
really just been optimized.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, it's interesting and if you can hear it, you
probably can. Are what are these jets that are flying over?
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah we have a car. Yeah, we have a local
Air Force base, I think maybe two miles up.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The road, so you'll hear F thirty five, F fifteen's
all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Today it's a daily occurrence actor. It's want of like
yell for a nice flyover. Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. It's
awesome freedom going on the definitely.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, they're old and the new, so it's kind of
like trust but verify a little bit with.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
These new machines. Yeah yeah, yeah, So they're programmed.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Obviously, they have high tech equipment and tooling, but there's
always still an operator that's checking barrels after they're drilled
with pin gauges and things like that, straightness gauges, air gauges.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
We inspect our reamers and our brooches on.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
A regular preventative maintenance schedule, so there's always a physical
human being, an operator that's monitoring things and checking them
after they make.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
It off the machines.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, and they know what to look for, right absolutely. Yeah.
So one of the things I wanted to talk about
is the new stuff that you guys have been doing,
and then we are going to get into a new
a new version of the actions, which is really cool.
But pistols have been kind of a newish thing for you, Yeah,
(08:06):
picked up here in the past couple of years. Yeah.
And also the Renegade shotgun. Yeah yeah, I feel like
I've did a hunt with it. It's a great shotgun. It
feels like people may not be aware of it.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
That's a package.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
What is the deal with the Renegauge? What do you
think people need to know about it?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, So it's an American made semi automatic shotgun currently
chambered in twelve gauge and overall it's it was actually
a project that I think it started maybe let's say
six seven, eight years back, and they had an engineering
team around it, and there were some other challenges for
other projects, so the guys were working on for a
year and a half or two years. There were some
other hot items that came along, like access updates, one
(08:46):
ten ACU stock updates, and some of those guys actually
got pulled on to other projects to keep the ball
rolling there. And then three four years later that same
group actually kind of reconnected and one of the other
engineers that we have here, John Linscott, he was heading
that initiative, and so it was a nice collective group.
They worked on it, they paused, and then they got
the same set of eyes back on it, and they
brought across the finish line with the regulated gas systems
(09:10):
so that you can run subsonic loads as well as
your three inch magnum and it's only going to return
enough gas in the system to properly cycle the bolt
in that scenario, so it's really all that excess gas
is being kicked out.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
It's a big deal because there is one of the
cool things about a shotgun, especially twelve gage, there's such
variety in loads. But to make a semi auto work
properly with a light two and three quarters load as
well as a magnum parfoul load.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yep, the pressures are vast vastly different.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, and still having a reliable action that's going to
cycle correctly. So there's like the base model, there's a
Turkey version, there's a I think here, there's a security
version that we introduced recently, as well as a competition model.
So a nice variety different barrow anths, different optics and
site systems and things like that. So there's also going
to be some up coming stuff in the near future
(10:01):
for all of our products, including rennegage just turning to iterate,
improve and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, all right, so we're gonna take
quick break. After the break, let's talk about the new
access to.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Sure sounds good.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Range Ready is where we run our classes.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Range Ready Studios dot com, so go over there to
check out the classes and events that we have going on.
We've got the Savage Concealed Carry Experience, Oops, sold out.
We've got the Concealed the Crimson Trace Laser Handgun Experience.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Oops.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's sold out too. These things go fast. Another little
little known thing about range Ready is we will provide
you a pistol if you need one for running a
class or even an AR and HK is one of
our partners on that VP series. Pistols available for student
use when you sign up, and there's no charge for that.
We don't rent you a gun and then there's enough charge.
(10:52):
It's just available for your use. So it's a pretty
cool deal.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Go check it out. Range Ready Studios dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Let's talk about Tokarev shotguns, Turkish made quality. We've been
shooting them a little bit more lately, and we were
out on the range with the Tikarev Tar twenty and
this is kind of looks like an AAR fifteen, but
it's in twenty gauge, three inch chamber, twenty gauge detachable
box magazine eighteen and a half inch barrel.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
And the big deal is right on.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Their website three hundred and twenty nine dollars, so pretty
value price.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
So check them out. TIKAREVUSA dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Ruger one of the popular ones, one of the kind
of cool fun ones they're doing is the Ruger LC charger.
It's chambered in five point seven by twenty eight low
recoiling cartridge available in an array of options for target shooting,
small game, personal defense. It's kind of a large format
pistol and you kind of have to see it to
understand it. But it's a ten point three inch barrel,
(11:54):
So let that sink in for a second. Yes, it's
a threaded barrel. Yes, they have a c sea mialed
handguard that works with mlock full length pickrail on top
from optics. Just a fun, cool gun. I mean, the
whole thing only weighs sixty six ounces. So go check
it out over at ruger dot com. So JT the
(12:17):
real reason why we came out here, Yeah, to see Savage,
But there's something new that we're covering, and I think people,
if you don't know, you should know the Access rifle.
It's it's kind of the bread and butter for you guys.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Now, absolutely product.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
But it's the biggest one.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Definitely got definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So if people don't know access, what do they need
to know about the access rifles?
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So I believe the Access program started back about ten
fifteen years ago, around the two thousand and nine twenty
ten timeframe. Really, what Savage saw in the market. We
obviously had our one ten that was a popular model,
a few other rifles and configurations that were floating about,
but we saw this kind of uh budget niche in
(12:59):
the market right below our one ten that had a
void that new shooters, youth things like that, or someone
just getting into hunting or even maybe target shooting or
something like that for the first time. They didn't want
to go out and spend twelve, thirteen, even two thousand
dollars at a rifle. And so the Savage Axis actually
was purpose built to fill that void. It wasn't a
(13:21):
one to ten that Savage had crafted and they're like, oh,
we're going to strip this away, strip this away, strip
that away, and plug it in somewhere. It was a
rifle purpose built for that spot in the market. So
the shooter was really getting a package that was designed
for them out of the gate that you're just getting
acquainted with shooting, or a rifle that you can even
build upon with a thread of barrel or something like
(13:42):
that and pass through for different different options.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's an important point that you make, and you guys
told us a story about how you approached this, because
you basically said, we wanted to have a rifle that
would be Savage quality yep, but be at a lower
price point yep. And you didn't strip out features and
do that.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Yeah, you started with.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
A brand new gun. Talk about how you got all
these all the players together, yeah, in one room, and
how you accomplished that.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
So Savage's long history, obviously there's been a lot of
lessons learned in terms of manufacturing processes inside for our
receivers and barrels, but we also have a really wide
network that expands all across the country, not just in
New England, for our rifle stocks and some of our
other subcomponents and stuff like that. And really what we
did with the Axis is we pulled that whole supply
(14:33):
chain network together and Chris Pizina, our CEO, will be
able to speak to it very well. Met with some
of our stock suppliers, some of the suppliers that help
with our trigger mim process, different sheet metal stamping houses
for trigger brackets or even little CNC shops for some
of the small pins, and had that group huddle in
on site at Savage for a few days and talk
(14:55):
about the one to ten and then talk about the
Axis and where we were trying to plug this into
the market and how and Savage take all these lessons
learned in this big supply chain network and optimize the
manufacturing processes to build a rifle that's affordable and still
punches above its weight class in terms of functionality, features, accuracy.
So really a collective effort that then kicked that off
(15:17):
and over. The axis is ten fifteen year life cycles.
So far there's been different iterations and refresh and what
we have here a next generation.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah yeah, I mean that's the important point to make
here is like you created manufacturing efficiencies which allowed you
to get the price point down more affordable for everybody.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Yep, and.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You didn't really have to sacrifice anything.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So one of the cool little hey did you knows
is same barrels are in the axis that are in
the one ten.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You can literally, certainly as you saw during the tour,
we have machining line for our barrels and our receivers.
The axis and one ten barrels literally come from the
same bar stock. They go through the same machining process,
same machines, same inspection. Based on configuration, maybe like a
twenty two inch sport or three h eight, you could
literally have that barrel taken from a one ten and
(16:13):
plugged it right into your axis.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
It is the same barrel in many instances.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, which is really neat. Yeah, it is neat. What
else on the on the axis is kind of maybe
people don't realize on the way you guys manufacture in
how you're creating these efficiencies.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, So another neat thing also tying over to a
machine part the bolt heads. For instance, what we saw
with the one ten, just the way things were processed.
Understanding the SAMI window for headspace for a lot of
center fire cartridges, it's about ten thousands of an inch
and Savage has kind of a little recipe that we
have that's running tighter inside that window with our zero
(16:48):
tolerance headspace, our barrel locknut system, that kind of deal,
and that bolt heead geometry. Savage actually optimized it for
the one ten, and once we saw some of the
positive results that we were getting with grinding to make
sure the lugs were square and things like that for
a nice clean and even locked up. Along with the
free floating bolthead we rolled that stuff right into the
axis rifle as well. So a lot of optimized manufacturing
(17:10):
processes and components It's not like we launch an axis
rifle and we just let it sit out in the
market and maybe put new camera on it or something
like that. We're continuously iterating, learning from other product lines,
introducing things that maybe even the end user isn't always
aware of. But a few years back, we also update
our axis rifles so that you're not seeing six forty
eight screws anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
All of our axis rifles, whether it's.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
A one piece MOA rail, this as an eight forty
screw set, even for a low profile bases as well,
and they're not allen key torque down. They all have
torque drives, so you're not gonna have any screws stripping out.
You're not gonna have mounts coming loose. They're either gonna
have a nylon patch on the screw, blue lock tight.
You can torque those screws. I think we've done some
testing up to sixty inch pounds and you might break
(17:55):
your base or your rail before the screw wants to strip,
which is pretty serious.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Well, we got to go down the floor and I
got to build one yesterday, which was really educational. Other
stuff that we're seeing the trigger assembly is it's a
it's a sub assembly, right, so you assemble the trigger
before it goes in the gun. That creates some efficiencies. Also,
because you guys do have such variety in all the
(18:24):
access lineup, you've got obvious say, different flavors, yeah, yeah,
configurations and flibbers and depending on what people want to do.
But because there are so many axis rifles out there,
it also means there's a ton of aftermarket stuff absolutely,
Like yeah, I mean swapping out a stock if you
want to go to a chassis or somewhat custom thing,
(18:45):
which a lot of people do.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Yep, it's two screws, right.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Literally, pop two screws out, slap your chassis on and
say you buy just a base axis or something like that,
and you buy a configuration with one of the medium
suppressor ready barrels five these twenty four threaded take that
same action that you started your son on or something
like that for maybe deer hunting or something of that nature,
depending on caliber, And throughout a four or five six
(19:09):
year period, you can build on that rifle. You can
throw a muzzle brake on it, you can throw a
new chassis on it. You can really build off of.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
That package new from Ballistic Advantage. They're making sig P
through sixty five barrels now and they're featuring a SAMI
spec chamber so kind of works with all AMMO, which
is important. Enhance factory spects to superior performance, Lapped rifling
for smooth or more accurate shots, upgraded features, improves reliability, precision,
(19:36):
and customization because they have different colors and we have
threaded barrels, so that's a really easy swap on a pistol,
swapping out the barrel to get more performance from your gun.
Go check it out at Ballisticadvantage dot com. Hodgden, you know,
they're the gunpowder people, and one of the ones that
people really like is Hodgden's CFE Bolk CFE black optimized
(19:59):
for three hundred eight AC blackout subsonic loads, but it's
also ideal for the seventeen Hornet seven six two by
thirty nine two two one fireball, so you have some
options on things that you can load with this powder.
One of the cool things about this the CFE contains
the copper fouling eraser ingredient originally used in military propellant,
(20:20):
which greatly deters copper fouling and contributes to longer periods
of top accuracy with less barrel cleaning time. We like this,
go check them out over at Hodgden dot com. So
let's talk about the new gun. Yeah, absolutely, access to
pro is what I was building.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
So we released we have a couple of new models
coming out, kind of a next generation for our Axis.
So we did a refresh I think a few years back,
maybe around twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, with some new stock,
ergonomics and stuff like that. But we've really kind of
brought the Axis a new face here with some of
the enhancements that are rolling out, really bringing the end
user really nice package. So we have a new ergonomic stock.
(21:02):
It's got more of a vertical grip a angle, so
much more modernized from what you've seen on some of
our prior hunting stocks. And it's not just a grip
angle that we picked and that looks nice and feels
nice in a few people's hands. We actually did a
lot of internal studies as well as external studies with
target shooters, hunters.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
People that.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Just shooting could be a hobby or it could be
a passion of the career, something of that nature. We
had a number of different studies to check hand sizes,
grip ergonomics, thumb placement, length of poll, just different things
that you wouldn't think about when you have a shooter
that's six ' five, who's a full grown mail or
maybe a ten year old who's getting on his first gun.
(21:45):
So there's a standard link stock, a compact stock. We've
got new optimized texturing in the grip area as well
as up on the fore end. There's also some molded
in angular serrations so you can get really nice bite
onto the stock with wet hands, mud on your hands, gloves,
all that kind of different stuff. We've actually talking about
(22:05):
enhancements that we've rolled over from the one ten. The
new Axis platform has a one to ten recoil pad,
so something that we also pulled over. The Axis got
an enhancement from its it's brother brother product line.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I was talking to you read one of the guys
that works in marketing PR and it said, is it
is it possible you guys are going to make this
access too nice? And he's like, yeah, it's kind of
come up like okay, this is getting to be this
is supposed to be your budget friendly one. JT guys
are like, well, let's add more features.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
It's getting pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
It's still I will say, I mean the one I built,
it's still under under six hundred dollars for like the Pro.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Yeah, nice model.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So I mean it's like you guys keep you like,
better comes better from the standard, right, That's what I say. So,
I mean that makes sense. What else do people need
to know about this? I mean, the stock is a
big deal. It's a big part of the.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
New ergonomics, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
We also have some new offerings with regards to Sarah Coo,
some new Savage camos. We have a Savage Western, a
Savage Woodland that you can get fitted up on your
axis rifle. We also on the Pro model that you
built the other day, as opposed to just the regular
twenty twenty two to twenty four inch sporter barrel, it
actually comes with a medium suppressor ready barrel, different links
based on caliber comes five ase twenty four threaded. That
(23:23):
action is also gonna ship with a one piece rail system,
and the full action receiver and barrel is gonna receive
a tungsten gray Sarah Coo with a bronze additive. It's
a nice aesthetic look, but also gonna give you a
nice corrosion resistant action, help smooth out bolt feel.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Also with regards to bolt.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Feel and things of that nature, we also did a
study on bolt handle ergonomics and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Even though the.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Axis isn't the highest price point rifle, we still want
to bring in features that people really enjoy and want
to see on their rifle. So we did a different
study on a bolt handle ergonomics and actually refresh the
fresh the bolt handle for this access product line. So
it's not just that regular ball knob that you had prior.
It's got a new geometric pattern to it, kind of
(24:06):
like a flattened out hexagon style shape.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
It's a different shape. It feels pretty good. You were
saying that it has some other benefits to that shape
as far as like maybe work with scopes.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
We also did a study on some of the most
popular optics out in the market for hunting rifles and
things of that nature, and based on ring height and
tube sizing, we actually optimized the bolt handle angle.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
As well as profile, so that whether you have a.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Small hand or a big hand, you're not driving your
bolt up catching your thumb on your scope yep, going
to feed your bolt in snagging your hand. It gives
you a lot more clearance, and honestly, you probably wouldn't
pick up onto it until you're a few rounds in,
but then you're gonna realize, Wow, I don't even need
to think about my hand bumping my scope or anything
weird like that.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Yeah, it's a really neat.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Just a subtle thing that I think when you shoot
the rifle at the range today, you'll see that it
gets It's very fluid, and i'd say within twenty rounds
you don't think you're shooting an access anymore.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, you definitely forget. It's pretty neat.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
What's your favorite configuration, favorite caliber?
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, yeah, so right now, I'd say the Pro one
in three toh eight I think is a pretty neat package.
Took that to the range a couple times during testing.
But we also have a new refresh Woodstock model. It's
got a Turkish walnut with a high varnished finish, nice
nice stippled texturings.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And it's still the woodstock on this new one.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
It's still.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
The gun. Wanted me to talk about it off the wall.
The Woodstock one is pretty much the same modern shape yep,
that we're talking about with a little bit more vertical
grip anglep and I mean it's kind of surprising. It's
not what I expected from a woodstock.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, we didn't compromise on the ergonomics for the woodstock.
All that field and user data that we collected to
configure the new synthetic stock for the axis. We also
pulled that over another woodstock, so you'll see you the
same body lines, the same feature set, the same thumbrest
that you have on the shooters left hand and right
hand side, the same drop at comb, same vertical grip angle,
(26:10):
and so really the woodstock manufacturing process that we have
for this new access woodstock, it's really optimized. It's a
high end stock. You hold that stock in your left
hand and hold the woodstock and you're right and it
has the same feels. It's a really premium stock, a
nice rifle that we're starting to ship.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Here well, and it's something for if you shoot rifles
left handed. Savage has always been one of those companies
for those of us to shoot left handed. You're like, yeah,
they'll stay taking care of us. Chris, the CEO at
dinner last night says, just because you're left handed, doesn't
mean you have to be left out, which I love it.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
T Thanks for being on all this man, of course,
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Appreciate it all right, guys, that's it for us from Savage.
We'll see you next time on gun Dog Nation.
When we box that up, it's getting that personal blessing
as it goes out the door. So I think that's
ingrained at all the people here and the really passionate
about their work.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Ryan Gresham and this this.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Is gun Talk Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, Welcome into gun Talk Nation. And today we
are on location out in Massachusetts visiting Savage. I got
JT with me. Welcome in Man. Yeah. So just right
off the bat, I'll a note for anybody listening or
watching this. We are at the Savage factory. So you
may hear forklifts or whatever, and you know, it's just
(00:48):
what we We're just gonna roll with it. Yeah, it's
just how it goes. So it's kind of fun being
up here because flying to Hartford, we're here in Massachusetts.
This is un valley.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah, a lot of manufacturers have sprinkled their way through here.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Along the Connecticut River. I was I was telling one
of the guys, I said, you know, I've come up
here a bunch Yep. Well, how many companies are up here?
I'm like, well, there's Savage, yep, there's Mossburg, there's Ruger,
there's SIGs Hour. I mean in the greater New England.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah. Yeah, Smith and Wesson, Yeah, yeah, quite a few.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Henry yep, just even some that maybe you wouldn't even
think of.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah, smaller companies.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Troy Industries Yep, yep, yep. They were here originally, yeah,
or they're not here anymore again, I think they moved
down south.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
But so, JG, how long you been at Savage.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, so I've been at Savage for about eight years now.
I started as an intern in college emergentally from Western
mass I grew up in Springfield, about a half hour
from the factory. Yeah, so I think it was my
sophomore year college. Started as an intern during the summers
and winters. Really got hooked on it, say, addicted to it.
I really enjoy it. And then full time picked up
(01:55):
and then they've been working here in engineering since.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
That's kind of sweet internship, right.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, it was a lot of It was a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Even my background growing up, it wasn't like a big
hunting or target shooting background or anything like that. I
did some paintball and stuff like that competitively with fins
and stuff like that here and there, a little bit
of airsoft, but actually get hands on with rifles and handguns.
Was I really got my uh, got my everything situated
here and kind of got got first hands on experience.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
That was really neat stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
What's for you personally? I means you kind of you
said you didn't grow up in it, but now you're
working at a gun company. Yeah, what do you like most?
What type of shooting or hunting or what type of guns?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, So I'd say it started with kind of like
the PRS style shooting and stuff like that. As we
introduced like our one ten Precision Elite Precision Line Access
Precision Line, a few of the engineers on weekends or
here and there for different events would go out and
target shoot up to I think five six hundred yards
and even up to like a thousand.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So it's not surprising for an engineer to be interested
in precisions.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah. Yeah, pretty pretty neat stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, so that was really enjoyable calculate in your dope
and all that kind of stuff. And then more recently,
as Savage has gotten into handguns with our Stance micro
Compact and then rolling in the nine millimeter nineteen eleven
forty five nineteen eleven, we've been doing a lot of
testing there so got out to the range a few
times in uh northern mass on weekends to plank on
weekends and some of that.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
So a lot of fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, observations while we've been here talking to Chris,
the president and CEO. He comes from an engineering background. Yeah,
he's an engineer. And something I've said a lot over
the years on this show is when the guy in
charge is an engineer, what I find that one of
the things that usually means is the products are going
(03:43):
to be good.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Sometimes the guy in charge is a marketing guy, and
they may or may not be good. That marketing will
be amazing.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yep, like you know, technical details.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, yeah, he's obviously a technical details kind of guy.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And I think when people talk talk about Savage, when
shooters and hunters gun enthusiasts talking about Savage, they always
kind of go, yeah, they make good guns. Everyone kind
of agrees. Yeah, yeah, they And we were talking last
night at dinner. It punches above its weight class. Yeah, definitely,
it seems to do that. Yeah, why is that?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So, I really I think it not only ties into
our manufacturing processes here that we can speak to a
little bit, but also just the culture that we have
here at Savage, I'd say from the very top of
the organization down to just like the regular employees and
engineers and everything like that. Everybody's really passionate about the
product that we're putting out the door. And I think
(04:39):
one of the things that we kind of speak to
and like our assembly cell for handguns or for rifles,
we're packaging and assembling every gun is if we're handing
it off to a relative or a best friend who's
going on a hunt or going on a shoot over
the weekend, and we're like, when we put this thing together,
when we check it, when we function it, we make
sure the safeties work. We want it to be accurate.
Obviously when we box that up, it's it's getting that
(05:01):
personal blessing.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
As it goes out the door.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So yeah, that's ingrained in all the people here and
the really passionate about their work. And then on top
of that, just the manufacturing processes that we have here,
they've really grown over the past ten to fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Just with regards to barrel manufacturing.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
We have three or four new automated cells with a
robotic arm that's taking barrel blinks placing them in different machines.
A lot of precise work there that's trickled into our
receiver line, so that impacts all of our products in
a positive way, including like the Impulse, the newer rifle,
as well as our one ten our bread and butter axes.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, that was something I saw on the floor. I've
been to I mean dozens of gun companies and seen factories,
you guys, because Savage is one of those older gun
companies and been in this location a very long time. Yeah,
you've got an interesting mix of old and new going
down there.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
You've got the high tech you set it, you get
out of the cage and let the robotic arm.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Yeah, just watching it on a little monitor. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And then you also have craftsmen who have been at
Savage for twenty and thirty years. Who are you know,
they're they're pulling the rifling manually. We do not say manually.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yeah, feeding brooches and drill. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, that's that's an interesting mix.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, it's really neat.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So I think we've taken a lot of lessons learned
from that manual process and some of the older machinery,
and instead of just blindly buying a bunch of new
high tech equipment and saying like kind of buying the
new equipment, closing your eyes and say, the equipment's gonna.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Make good barrels.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We're taking all the lessons learned from those older manufacturing
processes and making sure that the new automated equipment is
taking those things and all those recipes and things that
we have for barrel accuracy and barrel life and stuff
like that. They've rolled over into the new process and
really just been optimized.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, it's interesting and if you can hear it, you
probably can. Are what are these jets that are flying over?
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah we have a car. Yeah, we have a local
Air Force base, I think maybe two miles up.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The road, so you'll hear F thirty five, F fifteen's
all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Today it's a daily occurrence actor. It's want of like
yell for a nice flyover. Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. It's
awesome freedom going on the definitely.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, they're old and the new, so it's kind of
like trust but verify a little bit with.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
These new machines. Yeah yeah, yeah, So they're programmed.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Obviously, they have high tech equipment and tooling, but there's
always still an operator that's checking barrels after they're drilled
with pin gauges and things like that, straightness gauges, air gauges.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
We inspect our reamers and our brooches on.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
A regular preventative maintenance schedule, so there's always a physical
human being, an operator that's monitoring things and checking them
after they make.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
It off the machines.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, and they know what to look for, right absolutely. Yeah.
So one of the things I wanted to talk about
is the new stuff that you guys have been doing,
and then we are going to get into a new
a new version of the actions, which is really cool.
But pistols have been kind of a newish thing for you, Yeah,
(08:06):
picked up here in the past couple of years. Yeah.
And also the Renegade shotgun. Yeah yeah, I feel like
I've did a hunt with it. It's a great shotgun. It
feels like people may not be aware of it.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
That's a package.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
What is the deal with the Renegauge? What do you
think people need to know about it?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, So it's an American made semi automatic shotgun currently
chambered in twelve gauge and overall it's it was actually
a project that I think it started maybe let's say
six seven, eight years back, and they had an engineering
team around it, and there were some other challenges for
other projects, so the guys were working on for a
year and a half or two years. There were some
other hot items that came along, like access updates, one
(08:46):
ten ACU stock updates, and some of those guys actually
got pulled on to other projects to keep the ball
rolling there. And then three four years later that same
group actually kind of reconnected and one of the other
engineers that we have here, John Linscott, he was heading
that initiative, and so it was a nice collective group.
They worked on it, they paused, and then they got
the same set of eyes back on it, and they
brought across the finish line with the regulated gas systems
(09:10):
so that you can run subsonic loads as well as
your three inch magnum and it's only going to return
enough gas in the system to properly cycle the bolt
in that scenario, so it's really all that excess gas
is being kicked out.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
It's a big deal because there is one of the
cool things about a shotgun, especially twelve gage, there's such
variety in loads. But to make a semi auto work
properly with a light two and three quarters load as
well as a magnum parfoul load.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yep, the pressures are vast vastly different.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, and still having a reliable action that's going to
cycle correctly. So there's like the base model, there's a
Turkey version, there's a I think here, there's a security
version that we introduced recently, as well as a competition model.
So a nice variety different barrow anths, different optics and
site systems and things like that. So there's also going
to be some up coming stuff in the near future
(10:01):
for all of our products, including rennegage just turning to iterate,
improve and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, all right, so we're gonna take
quick break. After the break, let's talk about the new
access to.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Sure sounds good.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Range Ready is where we run our classes.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Range Ready Studios dot com, so go over there to
check out the classes and events that we have going on.
We've got the Savage Concealed Carry Experience, Oops, sold out.
We've got the Concealed the Crimson Trace Laser Handgun Experience.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Oops.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's sold out too. These things go fast. Another little
little known thing about range Ready is we will provide
you a pistol if you need one for running a
class or even an AR and HK is one of
our partners on that VP series. Pistols available for student
use when you sign up, and there's no charge for that.
We don't rent you a gun and then there's enough charge.
(10:52):
It's just available for your use. So it's a pretty
cool deal.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Go check it out. Range Ready Studios dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Let's talk about Tokarev shotguns, Turkish made quality. We've been
shooting them a little bit more lately, and we were
out on the range with the Tikarev Tar twenty and
this is kind of looks like an AAR fifteen, but
it's in twenty gauge, three inch chamber, twenty gauge detachable
box magazine eighteen and a half inch barrel.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
And the big deal is right on.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Their website three hundred and twenty nine dollars, so pretty
value price.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
So check them out. TIKAREVUSA dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Ruger one of the popular ones, one of the kind
of cool fun ones they're doing is the Ruger LC charger.
It's chambered in five point seven by twenty eight low
recoiling cartridge available in an array of options for target shooting,
small game, personal defense. It's kind of a large format
pistol and you kind of have to see it to
understand it. But it's a ten point three inch barrel,
(11:54):
So let that sink in for a second. Yes, it's
a threaded barrel. Yes, they have a c sea mialed
handguard that works with mlock full length pickrail on top
from optics. Just a fun, cool gun. I mean, the
whole thing only weighs sixty six ounces. So go check
it out over at ruger dot com. So JT the
(12:17):
real reason why we came out here, Yeah, to see Savage,
But there's something new that we're covering, and I think people,
if you don't know, you should know the Access rifle.
It's it's kind of the bread and butter for you guys.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Now, absolutely product.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
But it's the biggest one.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Definitely got definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So if people don't know access, what do they need
to know about the access rifles?
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So I believe the Access program started back about ten
fifteen years ago, around the two thousand and nine twenty
ten timeframe. Really, what Savage saw in the market. We
obviously had our one ten that was a popular model,
a few other rifles and configurations that were floating about,
but we saw this kind of uh budget niche in
(12:59):
the market right below our one ten that had a
void that new shooters, youth things like that, or someone
just getting into hunting or even maybe target shooting or
something like that for the first time. They didn't want
to go out and spend twelve, thirteen, even two thousand
dollars at a rifle. And so the Savage Axis actually
was purpose built to fill that void. It wasn't a
(13:21):
one to ten that Savage had crafted and they're like, oh,
we're going to strip this away, strip this away, strip
that away, and plug it in somewhere. It was a
rifle purpose built for that spot in the market. So
the shooter was really getting a package that was designed
for them out of the gate that you're just getting
acquainted with shooting, or a rifle that you can even
build upon with a thread of barrel or something like
(13:42):
that and pass through for different different options.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's an important point that you make, and you guys
told us a story about how you approached this, because
you basically said, we wanted to have a rifle that
would be Savage quality yep, but be at a lower
price point yep. And you didn't strip out features and
do that.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Yeah, you started with.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
A brand new gun. Talk about how you got all
these all the players together, yeah, in one room, and
how you accomplished that.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
So Savage's long history, obviously there's been a lot of
lessons learned in terms of manufacturing processes inside for our
receivers and barrels, but we also have a really wide
network that expands all across the country, not just in
New England, for our rifle stocks and some of our
other subcomponents and stuff like that. And really what we
did with the Axis is we pulled that whole supply
(14:33):
chain network together and Chris Pizina, our CEO, will be
able to speak to it very well. Met with some
of our stock suppliers, some of the suppliers that help
with our trigger mim process, different sheet metal stamping houses
for trigger brackets or even little CNC shops for some
of the small pins, and had that group huddle in
on site at Savage for a few days and talk
(14:55):
about the one to ten and then talk about the
Axis and where we were trying to plug this into
the market and how and Savage take all these lessons
learned in this big supply chain network and optimize the
manufacturing processes to build a rifle that's affordable and still
punches above its weight class in terms of functionality, features, accuracy.
So really a collective effort that then kicked that off
(15:17):
and over. The axis is ten fifteen year life cycles.
So far there's been different iterations and refresh and what
we have here a next generation.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah yeah, I mean that's the important point to make
here is like you created manufacturing efficiencies which allowed you
to get the price point down more affordable for everybody.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Yep, and.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You didn't really have to sacrifice anything.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So one of the cool little hey did you knows
is same barrels are in the axis that are in
the one ten.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You can literally, certainly as you saw during the tour,
we have machining line for our barrels and our receivers.
The axis and one ten barrels literally come from the
same bar stock. They go through the same machining process,
same machines, same inspection. Based on configuration, maybe like a
twenty two inch sport or three h eight, you could
literally have that barrel taken from a one ten and
(16:13):
plugged it right into your axis.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
It is the same barrel in many instances.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, which is really neat. Yeah, it is neat. What
else on the on the axis is kind of maybe
people don't realize on the way you guys manufacture in
how you're creating these efficiencies.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, So another neat thing also tying over to a
machine part the bolt heads. For instance, what we saw
with the one ten, just the way things were processed.
Understanding the SAMI window for headspace for a lot of
center fire cartridges, it's about ten thousands of an inch
and Savage has kind of a little recipe that we
have that's running tighter inside that window with our zero
(16:48):
tolerance headspace, our barrel locknut system, that kind of deal,
and that bolt heead geometry. Savage actually optimized it for
the one ten, and once we saw some of the
positive results that we were getting with grinding to make
sure the lugs were square and things like that for
a nice clean and even locked up. Along with the
free floating bolthead we rolled that stuff right into the
axis rifle as well. So a lot of optimized manufacturing
(17:10):
processes and components It's not like we launch an axis
rifle and we just let it sit out in the
market and maybe put new camera on it or something
like that. We're continuously iterating, learning from other product lines,
introducing things that maybe even the end user isn't always
aware of. But a few years back, we also update
our axis rifles so that you're not seeing six forty
eight screws anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
All of our axis rifles, whether it's.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
A one piece MOA rail, this as an eight forty
screw set, even for a low profile bases as well,
and they're not allen key torque down. They all have
torque drives, so you're not gonna have any screws stripping out.
You're not gonna have mounts coming loose. They're either gonna
have a nylon patch on the screw, blue lock tight.
You can torque those screws. I think we've done some
testing up to sixty inch pounds and you might break
(17:55):
your base or your rail before the screw wants to strip,
which is pretty serious.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Well, we got to go down the floor and I
got to build one yesterday, which was really educational. Other
stuff that we're seeing the trigger assembly is it's a
it's a sub assembly, right, so you assemble the trigger
before it goes in the gun. That creates some efficiencies. Also,
because you guys do have such variety in all the
(18:24):
access lineup, you've got obvious say, different flavors, yeah, yeah,
configurations and flibbers and depending on what people want to do.
But because there are so many axis rifles out there,
it also means there's a ton of aftermarket stuff absolutely,
Like yeah, I mean swapping out a stock if you
want to go to a chassis or somewhat custom thing,
(18:45):
which a lot of people do.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Yep, it's two screws, right.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Literally, pop two screws out, slap your chassis on and
say you buy just a base axis or something like that,
and you buy a configuration with one of the medium
suppressor ready barrels five these twenty four threaded take that
same action that you started your son on or something
like that for maybe deer hunting or something of that nature,
depending on caliber, And throughout a four or five six
(19:09):
year period, you can build on that rifle. You can
throw a muzzle brake on it, you can throw a
new chassis on it. You can really build off of.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
That package new from Ballistic Advantage. They're making sig P
through sixty five barrels now and they're featuring a SAMI
spec chamber so kind of works with all AMMO, which
is important. Enhance factory spects to superior performance, Lapped rifling
for smooth or more accurate shots, upgraded features, improves reliability, precision,
(19:36):
and customization because they have different colors and we have
threaded barrels, so that's a really easy swap on a pistol,
swapping out the barrel to get more performance from your gun.
Go check it out at Ballisticadvantage dot com. Hodgden, you know,
they're the gunpowder people, and one of the ones that
people really like is Hodgden's CFE Bolk CFE black optimized
(19:59):
for three hundred eight AC blackout subsonic loads, but it's
also ideal for the seventeen Hornet seven six two by
thirty nine two two one fireball, so you have some
options on things that you can load with this powder.
One of the cool things about this the CFE contains
the copper fouling eraser ingredient originally used in military propellant,
(20:20):
which greatly deters copper fouling and contributes to longer periods
of top accuracy with less barrel cleaning time. We like this,
go check them out over at Hodgden dot com. So
let's talk about the new gun. Yeah, absolutely, access to
pro is what I was building.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
So we released we have a couple of new models
coming out, kind of a next generation for our Axis.
So we did a refresh I think a few years back,
maybe around twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, with some new stock,
ergonomics and stuff like that. But we've really kind of
brought the Axis a new face here with some of
the enhancements that are rolling out, really bringing the end
user really nice package. So we have a new ergonomic stock.
(21:02):
It's got more of a vertical grip a angle, so
much more modernized from what you've seen on some of
our prior hunting stocks. And it's not just a grip
angle that we picked and that looks nice and feels
nice in a few people's hands. We actually did a
lot of internal studies as well as external studies with
target shooters, hunters.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
People that.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Just shooting could be a hobby or it could be
a passion of the career, something of that nature. We
had a number of different studies to check hand sizes,
grip ergonomics, thumb placement, length of poll, just different things
that you wouldn't think about when you have a shooter
that's six ' five, who's a full grown mail or
maybe a ten year old who's getting on his first gun.
(21:45):
So there's a standard link stock, a compact stock. We've
got new optimized texturing in the grip area as well
as up on the fore end. There's also some molded
in angular serrations so you can get really nice bite
onto the stock with wet hands, mud on your hands, gloves,
all that kind of different stuff. We've actually talking about
(22:05):
enhancements that we've rolled over from the one ten. The
new Axis platform has a one to ten recoil pad,
so something that we also pulled over. The Axis got
an enhancement from its it's brother brother product line.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I was talking to you read one of the guys
that works in marketing PR and it said, is it
is it possible you guys are going to make this
access too nice? And he's like, yeah, it's kind of
come up like okay, this is getting to be this
is supposed to be your budget friendly one. JT guys
are like, well, let's add more features.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
It's getting pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
It's still I will say, I mean the one I built,
it's still under under six hundred dollars for like the Pro.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Yeah, nice model.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So I mean it's like you guys keep you like,
better comes better from the standard, right, That's what I say. So,
I mean that makes sense. What else do people need
to know about this? I mean, the stock is a
big deal. It's a big part of the.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
New ergonomics, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
We also have some new offerings with regards to Sarah Coo,
some new Savage camos. We have a Savage Western, a
Savage Woodland that you can get fitted up on your
axis rifle. We also on the Pro model that you
built the other day, as opposed to just the regular
twenty twenty two to twenty four inch sporter barrel, it
actually comes with a medium suppressor ready barrel, different links
based on caliber comes five ase twenty four threaded. That
(23:23):
action is also gonna ship with a one piece rail system,
and the full action receiver and barrel is gonna receive
a tungsten gray Sarah Coo with a bronze additive. It's
a nice aesthetic look, but also gonna give you a
nice corrosion resistant action, help smooth out bolt feel.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Also with regards to bolt.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Feel and things of that nature, we also did a
study on bolt handle ergonomics and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Even though the.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Axis isn't the highest price point rifle, we still want
to bring in features that people really enjoy and want
to see on their rifle. So we did a different
study on a bolt handle ergonomics and actually refresh the
fresh the bolt handle for this access product line. So
it's not just that regular ball knob that you had prior.
It's got a new geometric pattern to it, kind of
(24:06):
like a flattened out hexagon style shape.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
It's a different shape. It feels pretty good. You were
saying that it has some other benefits to that shape
as far as like maybe work with scopes.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
We also did a study on some of the most
popular optics out in the market for hunting rifles and
things of that nature, and based on ring height and
tube sizing, we actually optimized the bolt handle angle.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
As well as profile, so that whether you have a.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Small hand or a big hand, you're not driving your
bolt up catching your thumb on your scope yep, going
to feed your bolt in snagging your hand. It gives
you a lot more clearance, and honestly, you probably wouldn't
pick up onto it until you're a few rounds in,
but then you're gonna realize, Wow, I don't even need
to think about my hand bumping my scope or anything
weird like that.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Yeah, it's a really neat.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Just a subtle thing that I think when you shoot
the rifle at the range today, you'll see that it
gets It's very fluid, and i'd say within twenty rounds
you don't think you're shooting an access anymore.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, you definitely forget. It's pretty neat.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
What's your favorite configuration, favorite caliber?
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, yeah, so right now, I'd say the Pro one
in three toh eight I think is a pretty neat package.
Took that to the range a couple times during testing.
But we also have a new refresh Woodstock model. It's
got a Turkish walnut with a high varnished finish, nice
nice stippled texturings.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
And it's still the woodstock on this new one.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
It's still.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
The gun. Wanted me to talk about it off the wall.
The Woodstock one is pretty much the same modern shape yep,
that we're talking about with a little bit more vertical
grip anglep and I mean it's kind of surprising. It's
not what I expected from a woodstock.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, we didn't compromise on the ergonomics for the woodstock.
All that field and user data that we collected to
configure the new synthetic stock for the axis. We also
pulled that over another woodstock, so you'll see you the
same body lines, the same feature set, the same thumbrest
that you have on the shooters left hand and right
hand side, the same drop at comb, same vertical grip angle,
(26:10):
and so really the woodstock manufacturing process that we have
for this new access woodstock, it's really optimized. It's a
high end stock. You hold that stock in your left
hand and hold the woodstock and you're right and it
has the same feels. It's a really premium stock, a
nice rifle that we're starting to ship.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Here well, and it's something for if you shoot rifles
left handed. Savage has always been one of those companies
for those of us to shoot left handed. You're like, yeah,
they'll stay taking care of us. Chris, the CEO at
dinner last night says, just because you're left handed, doesn't
mean you have to be left out, which I love it.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
T Thanks for being on all this man, of course,
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Appreciate it all right, guys, that's it for us from Savage.
We'll see you next time on gun Dog Nation.
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