Not A .204

[bigblue]

Through the buying and selling/trading of rifles, I recently noticed a void in my hunting rifle line up that needed to be filled. The void sat between my Marlin .22LR and a Remington Seven in .260. I had been researching the .204 Ruger and the .22-250 as possible choices and had asked Doc about his experience with CZ rifles in particular. As it turns out I chose to go with the .223. I have had rifles in that caliber before and have a ton of reloading components for it. The choice was also made because I wanted a bit heavier bullet and have had good luck with 69gr. bullets from a 1-9" twist .223. I wanted to keep the rifle light enough to tote in the woods so the usual heavy barreled 8.5-12lb. varmint rifles where out and the choices were limited. I ended up doing something I swore I'd never do again, I reneged and bought a Stevens 200 in .223.
I had with a Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 a while back that was blowing the primers out of it's cases and experienced a lack of support or concern from Savage's customer service. That ammo was factory Remington and may have caused the problem, to this day I'm not sure whether the rifle or the ammo was to blame.
My choice of the Stevens was based on the 1-9" twist rate and on it's light weight of 6.5lbs. Previous experience with the Stevens 200 tells me I'll most likely end up bedding a rod into the fore end of the stock to stiffen it up a bit and I may end up spending the money for a Timney trigger whose pull weight can be adjusted from 1 ½ - 4 pounds and is fully adjustable for sear engagement (creep) and over-travel. Of course the stock will also need a paint job which I always enjoy doing. I have also looked at getting an oversized varmint/tactical style bolt handle. I already have a new Simmons Aetec 4-14x44 scope sitting in it's box just waiting for this rifle.
Don

[GrampaJer]

The Water Pump, still workig on ya LOL...

[bigblue]

Dec 30, 2009 8:05:45 GMT -6 GrampaJer said:

The Water Pump, still workig on ya LOL...

I just consider this the rebate!
Don

[DocHolladay]

Hope its a shooter and you dont run into the same problems.

[juliang]

Don, I got an older Savage from Psycho a few years back. I got one of the Bell and Carson stock and fitted a SSS trigger. The rifle shoots extremely well now and looks like it should. I did a quick internet search and Boyds have some great laminated stocks for $92....
Good choice with the 223 IMHO. You can load 40gr bullets to almost 204 velocities and still load the heavier 223 bullets, a lot more versatile.

[bigblue]

Their have always been two things that make the Savage/Stevens rifles so practical. First are their great button rifled barrels. Every one I've ever shot had the ability to be a great shooter with the right trigger and load. I sure hope I don't end up eating those words! Second is the versatility of being able to change out barrels and bolt heads and switch calibers without a trip to your gunsmith. A new sporter weight barrel can be had for $80 with the tactical/varmint barrels selling for $175-205. You can't switch barrels on a Thompson Center Encore that cheaply.
Even completely stock these rifles are very capable shooters.
I still see places like Academy Sports selling Stevens 200s under $200! While I don't have an Academy store near me, you guys are lucky enough to have two nearby. One in Franklin and another in Madison, TN.
Don

[bigblue]

I picked up the Stevens 200 in .223 today and started working on it. The trigger pull was factory set at 5lbs. and I was able to get that safely down to 3.5lbs. The change will help a lot, but to be honest I think I've become spoiled by the triggers on my Tikka T-3 and on my Remington Mod. Seven rifles. I'm considering a Timney trigger for this rifle so that may definitely be in it's future. With the trigger done I moved on to the stock using a Dremel to remove enough material out of the inside of the fore end to allow me to lay two pieces of 1/8" square key stock with one going down each side from the tip of the fore end back to the seat for the recoil lug. I used a plastic epoxy to secure them in order to stiffen up the fore end. Once that was firmed up I removed all the hardware from the stock and sprayed two coats of an adhesion enhancer on the stock. It then got two coats of Rustoleum multicolor textured paint, two coats of Krylon O.D. ultra-flat paint and followed up with two coats of clear matte to seal it all up. Nothing fancy, but it's a nice improvement on the original gray stock. Once I get it all back together I'll post a photo. I mounted a Simmons Aetec 4-16x44 SF scope on the rifle. I'm hoping to get decent accuracy, at least enough to use this as a light weight varmint/predator rifle.
Don

[DocHolladay]

With the way you work up loads, you should have a shooter for sure.

Don, I thought about putting bar stock in my remington 700 stock and full length bedding it to hold the bars in. The barrel is pretty much laying flat in the stock now and shoots good, so I thought it would shoot good bedded all the way. I may or may not save money over a new stock by bedding, it really depends on if I read the instructions or not....lol.

[bigblue]

Well here's some photos and like I said nothing fancy about the paint job, but I like it better than the original gray. The textured paint worked out real well underneath the flat OD. Once I can get to the range I'll be sure to post my results.
Don

[DocHolladay]

Looks great Don. I like the texture also.