I have a cheap-o Savage Axis 308 a relative bought for one of my kids and it has barely been used. I was going to reframe it on a new chassis and add as few bells and whistles for fun.

In terms of a chassis, so far I am seeing MDT get a lot of internet publicity for their product lineup with XLR Industries and Kinetic Research Group getting mentions as well. Any difference between them in terms of quality or reliability?

They all seem to use the AICS magazine. Is there any difference in product quality for the more affordable magazine manufacturers I am seeing online? Magpul has a 10 round polymer magazine for $35 on sale while some outfit called Amend2 is selling a 12 round polymer for $22.

Ditto for bi-pods. You can really drop some coin on a name brand MLOK bipod from MDT while Amazon sells a pretty wide variety of that same design in prices ranging from $30-40 on up to several hundred. Is there a big difference that justifies the price difference?

Any experienced hands helping me avoid mistakes the first time through will be appreciated.

What are you trying to use the gun for? Just targets? Targets and occasional hunting? How far are you planning to shoot?

I recently went through this debate. I was going to upgrade my tikka t3x and put the action into an MDT chassis, proof barrel, timney trigger... but the cost of all that was to the point where I just spent it on another rifle and bought a Q fix.

Later I added a timney trigger and 20MOA rail to the tikka. (it has a limb saver recoil pad and is supressed already). I'm really happy with the upgrades and now I have 2 rifles.

I have a magpul bipod on the Q, its light weight, not super expensive and it does everything I need it to do. hard for me to justify the higher cost of anything else for what im doing with it - hunting and occasionally shooting out to several hundred yards just for fun- no comps)

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What are you trying to use the gun for? Just targets? Targets and occasional hunting? How far are you planning to shoot?

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I shoot for both . . .while hunting, I have attempted shots at up to 300 or so yards but rarely attempt more than that simply because I know my relative degree of marksmanship and would rather not waste a bullet beyond that.

I have so far received feedback ranging from

1) I should not waste my money on this project and just use funds for a manufactured precision gun to
2) Go balls out as a modified Axis .308 can be a lot of fun.

I do have other guns I use for hunting so this is a just a fun project that can spruce up the shortcuts used by Savage to get to the Axis cheap retail price point.

I have the MDT Field Stock and XRS on my own guns and like them both for what they are respectively. The Field Stock is better than the tupperware stock the gun came with Mlock slots on the fore end. The XRS is on a competition rifle and has a lot more rail space. If you're just dressing up a cheap rifle the field stock is nice. The KRG Bravo is similar but a little pricier, might be a tick heavier built than the Field stock.

On bipods, the cheap ones will get you by for occasional use, but fall apart and can get quirky with heavy use.

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I recently went through this debate. I was going to upgrade my tikka t3x and put the action into an MDT chassis, proof barrel, timney trigger... but the cost of all that was to the point where I just spent it on another rifle and bought a Q fix.

Later I added a timney trigger and 20MOA rail to the tikka. (it has a limb saver recoil pad and is supressed already). I'm really happy with the upgrades and now I have 2 rifles.

I have a magpul bipod on the Q, its light weight, not super expensive and it does everything I need it to do. hard for me to justify the higher cost of anything else for what im doing with it - hunting and occasionally shooting out to several hundred yards just for fun- no comps)

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I already replaced the Axis stock trigger with a Timney.

Did the 20MOA rail actually make the difference in longer range sighting? I have just read about the benefits and it makes sense to me in theory but have bought useless crap before based on third party marketing.

I was maxing my scope much past 700 ( around 8 mils) so anything more I would have to hold over for elevation. So Id have to max my scope then hold 1 more mil over to hit at 800 , almost 3 mils for 900 and then 5 mils for 1000)

The 20moa rail theoretically will allow me to adjust 5-6 more mils so I should be able to dial to 13-14mils but I haven't stretched her out that far since I made the change.

On a Savage Axis I would say don't spend the extra money.

If anyone wants to join OP in modifying a Savage Axis II 308, I have one I need to get rid of. It has less than a box of shells through it. I won it in a raffle, sighted it in, then stuck it in the safe.

Top left is the tikka with mods. Bottom left is q fix. Might have to try and see if it likes diff ammo better. 168gr fggm

Piggy backing on this. My son's Savage Axis 22-250 has too short of a rail mounted for his scope eye relief and the scope is too low when moved back.

What's y'all's recommendation for adjusting eye relief (bringing the scope back further over the action) and raising it with either a new rail or new rings.

yep that's where I'd start a new rail that goes further back then taller rings.