stevens 200 22-250 build

people pay thousands of dollars for guns that shoot half as good no matter what the name or modle number. 300 bucks basic gun or 1000 bucks basic gun plus all the extra stuff
 
Nice rig and good on you for building up something you wanted. It is way too much fun.

I am surprised you had that much issue with the Boyds stock. Except for difference in action screw spacing which they don't adjust for, the stocks have been very well inletted and I have played/worked on many. But there can be 'offs'.

Enjoy the rig. I am sure handloading will get groups to shrink even more.

Did you change the trigger? The factory ones are usually stupidly heavy.

As to better, the only rifle that I would say is worth $1000 in factory form is a Tikka Varminter.

Personally, I have shot several Stevens rifles and they perform very well once they are bedded and proper handloads used. Trigger is usually heavy but easily changed. Action could use some TLC but a bolt timing gets them running like many top tier actions. Factory stock has its problems but is functional and can be very accurate once properly bedded and barrel channel opened way up.

For the money invested, they will shoot as well or better then rifles costing a whole lot more.

Jerry
 
mysticplayer said:
Nice rig and good on you for building up something you wanted. It is way too much fun.

I am surprised you had that much issue with the Boyds stock. Except for difference in action screw spacing which they don't adjust for, the stocks have been very well inletted and I have played/worked on many. But there can be 'offs'.

Enjoy the rig. I am sure handloading will get groups to shrink even more.

Did you change the trigger? The factory ones are usually stupidly heavy.

As to better, the only rifle that I would say is worth $1000 in factory form is a Tikka Varminter.

Personally, I have shot several Stevens rifles and they perform very well once they are bedded and proper handloads used. Trigger is usually heavy but easily changed. Action could use some TLC but a bolt timing gets them running like many top tier actions. Factory stock has its problems but is functional and can be very accurate once properly bedded and barrel channel opened way up.

For the money invested, they will shoot as well or better then rifles costing a whole lot more.

Jerry
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i was surprised with the boyds stock also, when i removed the old stock and compared the 2 next to one another i was pretty shocked. as ive never worked well with wood beore i took the rifle and stock to a local gunsmith. one of the screw holes was off by 1/4 inch and also the area where the trigger sits was a mess too.
as far as shooting goes, im not a reloader yet but plan on getting into it so my 1 inch groups are fine with me for now. i bought this rifle as a toy just to see how nice i could get it look/shoot. im happy with what i have.
and for the trigger, i plan on reducing the trigger pull and see how that works out. if not ill just swap it out for something alittle nicer. thank you all for the imput.
 
If the screw was off by say 1/8" then what you have is a new gen action in an old gen stock. Very common as stock companies having really tooled up for the new gen actions for general consumption.

the trigger area is a bit more of a concern. It hasn't changed so the inletting should have been a no brainer - yes, it does look dished out as there are different moving parts in a Savage but the trigger sear should drop without any wood contact.

Maybe your stock was a second - very common with onsale boyds stuff.

good luck tuning it up. Handloads will get the best performance out of it. I doubt it will take you long to decide a 3.5lbs trigger is not ideal for target work. I can help with a replacement.

enjoy...

Jerry
 
manbearpig said:
would it not be a better idea to buy a slightly more expensive rifle to begin with?

<snippage here>

Stevens 200 is $345
aftermarket stock $116
9 hours gunsmithing = $$$?
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More to the point....

Resale value = $450+_, if the bipod is included.

What did 9 hours of a gunsmiths time cost anyway?

I mean, I can see putting the work into it, just not paying someone else to do it at the wages they want in general.
It keeps the gunsmith open, so it ain't all bad.


Cheers
Trev
 
well trev, i dont sell my guns so the money doesent matter. as far as the gunsmith, im a weapons tech here in gagetown. we are PARTS CHANGERS. i do little to no wood working so i leave that to someone who has been doing it for 50 years. if i did want a nice rifle id buy one. this rifle is just a toy to see what a stevens would look/shoot like if someone put a few dollars into it. im shocked how many people here will almost bankrupt thier selves to buy a rifle. to myself guns, motorcycles, cars are toys. i play with them and enjoy them. i posted this thread to see what people think of this little rifle that started from nothing and is now a much nicer, much handier little coyote rig. people here on this site seem to get hung up on price of a weapon. i got a 1936 browing auto 5 and i beat the crap out of it. drag it throught the woods after all sorts of game. i paid 50 dollars for it from a friend of mine and i have been offered up to 700 dollars for it. its a tool i use and that is all it is. people try not to think about the dollar value of thing and trust me you will happier for it. money comes and goes.
 
angry soldier...no ones slagging on you for what you did, we all dress up our rifles and many of us like to play with the stevens as well. But you didn't really build up a rifle you just changed the stock. With the money you spent you should also have gotten a custom bbl and the rest of the work as well. If I were you I would stay away from the "smith" who fitted your stock. Modding a center feed gen 3 action to a staggered gen 2 stock is 1-2 hours tops.

The gun looks beautiful. No one likes to hear negatives when they post a new toy they are proud of. Most guys on here just want to give helpful advise though, because many of us have been through this before so want to pass along the experience and help others keep as much $$ in there pockets as well.

I'm no expert but would love to help you with your future stevens projects for FREE. Wait till you get into rebarreling those suckers then you will have some fun!! Pm me any time for trigger tuning, bolt lift, bedding and bbl changing. Also if you need a part or stock , myself and others can direct you where to get the right parts as well as what fits what. Savage has 3 different screw spacings for the same action in various years of manufacture. The most common now are gen2 4.25" (most stock makers use this) and gen 3 4.4" (most all new rifles are 4.4).

Have fun with your new tack driver..they are a great gun!!
 
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angrysoldier said:
its not a drop in fit. when i got the stock home and looked at it i could tell there was going to be problems.
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It sounds to me like you bought the wrong stock.Is your rifle the new centre feed version? If so, Boyd's does not make a stock for them yet. I bought the same stock earlier this year and couldn't be happier with it.It basically dropped right in after I pillar bedded it. I also added an over sized bolt handle and a Rifle Basix trigger set at 1 1/2 pounds. The scope is a Nikon Buckmasters 4 x14 x40 SF set in Burris Signature Zee rings. Here's a few pics:

HPIM19241.jpg


HPIM19261.jpg


HPIM19271.jpg
 
Looks great my friend. I have a 200 in 30-06 kicks a little rough but I will be doing some tinkering this winter after the hunting season which is just around the corner whoo hoo :sniper:
 
Like Jerry said, sounds like you got a centerfeed action and bought a stagerfeed stock. The action holes do not line up and the blind mag inlet is way different.

Last time I spoke with Boyds they did inlet for the new action but sold those stocks exclusively to Stockys.com and unfortunately they do not have export permits.

Its tuff right now to get proper stocks for the centerfeed actions. I lucked out and got a SSS but they do not export to Canada anymore.
 
savage112 said:
It sounds to me like you bought the wrong stock.Is your rifle the new centre feed version? If so, Boyd's does not make a stock for them yet. I bought the same stock earlier this year and couldn't be happier with it.It basically dropped right in after I pillar bedded it. I also added an over sized bolt handle and a Rifle Basix trigger set at 1 1/2 pounds. The scope is a Nikon Buckmasters 4 x14 x40 SF set in Burris Signature Zee rings. Here's a few pics:

HPIM19241.jpg


HPIM19261.jpg


HPIM19271.jpg
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nice looking rifle. im happy with the way mine turned out just a little disappointed with all the extra time and money i had to put into it. they are fun little rifles. the wife birthday is comming up and im thinking of getting her a rifle in 223, and i really do like the stevens. oh well you never know. where did you get your oversize bolt handle? was it a custom job?
 
angrysoldier said:
nice looking rifle. im happy with the way mine turned out just a little disappointed with all the extra time and money i had to put into it. they are fun little rifles. the wife birthday is comming up and im thinking of getting her a rifle in 223, and i really do like the stevens. oh well you never know. where did you get your oversize bolt handle? was it a custom job?
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i might be out of line here but IMHO if i brought in a $300 rifle and a ~$100 stock to my gunsmith, and it was going to take 9 hours of gunsmithing to get it to fit, i would expect that gunsmith to give me a call and say 'hey, the amount of labor its going to take to get this done might not really be worth it - maybe you should look for a different stock, or send this one back.' if he did not give you that call, it is not a gunsmith id ever go back to again.
 
Hmmmm looks strangely familiar

IMG_2736.jpg


Mine was a modern Stevens with a Boyd's stock and it took me about 3 hours to fit the action and 4 more for the final sanding/finishing.
 
angrysoldier said:
he only charged me 130 dollars, i have running shoes worth twice that and i dont enjoy running!
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$130 for 9 hours work? Dunno if I should think he undervalues his work or if he is actually only worth that, but if he's in business, he won't be for long and he'll drag down anyone else in the area with him.

Or he fed you a line of crap about how long it took, and charged what the job was worth.

$130 sounds a lot more reasonable than "9 hours labor", in any case.

Jobs like that are where you are supposed to learn woodwork, IMO. Risk is minimum, return is huge, and you always have the skills you pick up.

Gun plumber eh? They get spec pay yet? :D About 25 years ago I thought I wanted to be one of them. Sorta glad it didn't work out.

If yer gonna be a parts changer, might as well be a spec pay parts changer.


Cheers
Trev
 
angrysoldier said:
he only charged me 130 dollars, i have running shoes worth twice that and i dont enjoy running!
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in that case i take it back, hes a class act!
this whole time i was under the assumption that he charged you the normal shop rate for 9 hours of work.

trevj said:
$130 for 9 hours work? Dunno if I should think he undervalues his work or if he is actually only worth that, but if he's in business, he won't be for long and he'll drag down anyone else in the area with him.
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or the job took a lot longer than it should have and he charged the customer a reasonable amount for the finished product.
i did it many times while working in a body shop while going to college. you give someone an estimate, or a ballpark of what it should cost - it ends up taking longer because of some unforseen BS and you just eat the extra time.
 
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