Well here's an update.
I was talking to my wife about figuring out why the gun won't shoot and the fact that I may not get it back from savage in time for the season and then still not having it shoot any better. She told me to just trade it in for a new rifle!
She's much smarter with our finances than I am, so she does the managing of it. She at first said I shouldn't buy a new rifle but in consideration of the possible large amounts of time and other money I may need to put into it (like a Boyd's stock, bedding it, lapping the bolt lugs, maybe a new barrel, possible firing pin spring issues that are common with the axis rifles, the ammo and time reloading) that it would be more worthwhile just getting one that would need less work to shoot well. I guess I didn't fully explain the gamble that budget rifles are when we initially purchased this one. Not to knock savage rifles because I know they make great shooting rifles. I just feel like I didn't have a winning ticket!
So, I think I'll be getting a Tikka 7mm08 after work. I really would like to keep the axis around and eventually figure it out to learn something, but I'm supposed to put that money towards the replacement rifle. I know there's other rifle options that people would whole heartedly suggest, but I love my own Tikka, it shoots well, and I have done a TON of reading on them over the last year looking for weak points. For the price, I don't feel like there is a better option for having a high likelihood of getting a really accurate gun out of the box that doesn't have any design weak points (other than the short mag box but that doesn't matter for short action cartridges). It's a gun manufacturer that I have a lot of confidence in.
Since my kids are about 85 pounds, I am really wanting to get them the compact model that comes with the adjustable LOP stock. There's one at a local store for $620! But, it only comes in the blued steel version and has a 20" vs 22.5" barrel. The superlite is $750 with the longer barrel and stainless, but I'd have to cut the butt stock to fit them or find a takeoff compact stock from someone, which seems to be a bit hard to find.
Thoughts one the shorter barrel, blued steel, and LOP issue?