stevens 200 feeding issues

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Barracuda

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I have a stevens 200 in 223 and there seems to be a bit of a feeding issue.
I contacted savage and they sent me out a mag follower assembly without even batting an eye and it was here in a week. the only problem is it didnt seem to do the trick.
The problem that is happening is it seems that the rounds are rocking the so the cartridge is very often lower at the back then the front and the round is not picked up (a simple push on the front resolves it but i shouldnt have to do that). It is a flat spring design which does allow for the follower to rock instead of wound spring which would push the front and rear up evenly.
It looks to me that the rounds prefer to seat on the flared part of the feed lips. I have tried to adjust the old spring so it pushes on the rear more then the front but it still prefers to seat cockeyed

Any ideas ??? anyone else had this problem? is this something that is inhent to the stevens in 223 with a flatspring?


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Looks to me that you have your follower in backwards. I've had one of these sweet little .223's since the first batch came into the country, never had a feed issue.

Scott
 
the follower can only go in one way. The fellow at savage didnt understand why they used a flat spring as opposed to a coil which wouldnt allow it to rock as easily. Perhaps i will give savage a call this week and see if there is a coil spring that might fit?
 
Flat spings have been used in magazines since the late 1800's. They work fine, wonder why your's is not?
I'll take mine apart when I get home tonight and see what I can figure out!

Scott
 
almost all my other rifles have a flat spring also , I am suspecting it is a magazine design flaw as the same magazine is used for variety of larger diameter rounds which would have less side loading. a coil spring might compensate for this issue.
 
Not all followers are the same, some can go in backwards and others cannot. If the follower has two notches which fit into a couple of depressions in the magazine box, then it will NOT go in backwards. Such is the case my my .223 and I never have feeding issues with it. In this case, make sure that the bottom of the spring is nicely seated flat in the bottom of the stock. It can be a bit tricky sometimes.

Something seems screwy with yours. The long taper on top of the follower is up front (closer to the barrel), yours seems to have the short taper (back of the follower up front? Here's another check. When I put the bottom of the spring down on a flat surface, the rear (bolt face end) of the follower sits way up higher than the front.

Edit: cancel what I said in the previous paragraph. This is the case for the 7-08, but my .223 upon close examination is identical to yours. I don't really know what to suggest at this stage, except to make sure that the spring is properly seated in the stock. I'm sure Savage Arms won't let you down though.
 
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here are some more pictures of it with the new follower and spring. as you can see the follower can only go in one way andthe spring when sitting is higher at the back there is a fair bit of pressure on the back but i guess not enough to push the rounds up and flat.
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The 2 Stevens I owned had intermittent feeding issues, as have a few other Saages I've played with. Not bad enough for me to get really upset abotu , but it's one of the reasons I don't use Savages as primary hunting rifles.:)
 
Well after a bit of trial and error with creative bending on my old spring so it puts the majority of the pressure on the rear of the follower it seems to be feeding as it should. I cycled about a dozen fullyloaded and partially loaded magazines of dummy rounds through it without a hitch . (well......about as good as can be expected for a push feed:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D)
 
Barracuda said:
here are some more pictures of it with the new follower and spring. as you can see the follower can only go in one way andthe spring when sitting is higher at the back there is a fair bit of pressure on the back but i guess not enough to push the rounds up and flat.
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I took mine apart like this. bent the spring a little bit and put it back in the opposite way it came out. It fixed the problem.
 
I did think of feed lips but couldnt see how i could have bent them so i assumed they were /are exactly as they left the factory (I am the original owner)
I have not touched the feedlips so I dont know how i could have bent the feed lips even accidently as the magazine is non-detachable and both sides are identical in shape (they are both flared at the front) .
 
PEI ROB said:
Yes the follower is in correctly however you bent your feed lip. If it works now leave it.
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Cheers
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just wondering but should the feed lips be straight with the rest of the magazine? what do the feed lips look like on the other peoples 223s?
 
On my Stevens, the top of the feed lip is straight. Looks like yours was bent during factory install. If it works now, don't change anything. If you feel adventurous, you can open up the rear portion of the lip to let the cartridge ride higher or bend the front down so the cartridge sits more level. Or a little of both- close front, open rear.

Do it right and the back of the case will be higher so the bolt will have lots to push on. do it wrong, and the cases will spit out during cycling. At least, the lips are steel so can be tweaked without fear of breaking off.

It is more art then science.

Jerry
 
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