the last thing that seemed that bad to me was the remmy 710.
Again, I must disagree with you. Yes, the Remy 710 is trully a POS. The bolt is terrible. But to compare the axis as like the 710 is like comparing apples to oranges.The bolt on the 710 is freaking rough as hec. The axis bolt is like butter. The 710 doesnt have a floating barrel. The axis does. They both have bad triggers out of the box. The 710 can be adjusted and the axis can have the spring clipped or a replacement trigger all together.
At the end of the day, the axis, Stevens, and especially the 710 IS NOT a Savage model 11 or 12 not a remmy 700, nor a Winny 70. But the axis and stevens are shooters. Hec the 710 shot decent, but the bolt was too much for me. Well, the stevens is in fact a model 11 minus the accutrigger.
The only real drawback I see about the axis is that you really cannot do much with aftermarket parts outside of a trigger. Stocks are not an option seeing how the barrel lug is in the stock and not attached to the action. If a person is wanting to do some customization, the Axis IS NOT for them. However, if a person is looking for a basic, lightweight, extremely accurate rifle to shoot, then they should take a lONG LOOK at the Axis.