Well I finally bought my hunting rifle. I looked at pretty much every brand on earth known to name and chose a stevens because a of a few facts. #1 it is cheap. #2 It is going to see a rough life as a hunting rifle so why beat up a pretty gun. #3 based on the savage 110 action I know the thing is going to be a tack driver. Well I got it home and within 30 seconds started tinkering. I have taken some pictures along the way and figure I will post them here for all that might be interested to see.
The opening.
I handled the rifle in the store a few times with different hunting buddies and they all agreed that I was nuts to even think about buying such a cheap rifle. They also made fun of the stock. They started calling it "Macaroni and Cheese" because the stock was so flexible. Also they asked me lots of questions about being cheap and how to properly cook beans and wieners etc because I was obviously so cheap for buying this rifle that I must know the answers to these other questions regarding being cheap as well. Little did they know they were only pouring gas on the fire.... It was because of all those comments that I knew I would be buying the stevens and making it just as cool if not cooler than their guns.
At about minute 3 into owning the stevens I had it ripped apart and got the trigger feeling good enough for now, replacing it might be in the future but for now a simple adjustment will be fine. It feels pretty good to. Found instructions here.... http://www.varminthunters.com/tech/savage/
Lets face it the stock on a stevens 200 leaves something to be desired. The Macarroni and cheese jokes were actually closer to facts. Put this stock in boiling water for a few minutes and you can actually eat it for dinner. Part of my plan was to start cheap though so replacing it was out of the question.
First thing I didn't like was the checkering. It was actually more slippy feeling on the checkering than on the smooth parts. So out comes the sandpaper.
Also the barrel and stock are way to close together in stock form so sandpaper to the rescue on that issue as well.
Got it all smooth and decided the grey was pretty ugly as well. I was tempted to paint it cheese yellow to suit it's now permanent name of "macaroni and cheese" I primed and painted
I decided to go with digital camo since I have never painted it before and it seemed like a fun choice. So I bought some sticker making paper to make it easy.
I used Krylon camo paint as well as kryon plasticoat to give good ol "macaroni and cheese" some color!
The fun part is taking the tape off because up until that point you really have no idea if your camo job looks good or bad.
I traced around the camo with a sharpie and plan to clear coat it after it really all has a time to dry. I painted a color every few days and made sure I had at least 3-6 beers on hand any time sanding was involved because it is very boring and takes a long time to sand out the checkering. This is as far as I have gotten but will be bedding it and installing a limbsaver before I ever even shoot the thing. Oh I should note that I bought some snap caps and have fired the trigger about 500 times or so and that alone has made the trigger pretty light and smooth.
The opening.
I handled the rifle in the store a few times with different hunting buddies and they all agreed that I was nuts to even think about buying such a cheap rifle. They also made fun of the stock. They started calling it "Macaroni and Cheese" because the stock was so flexible. Also they asked me lots of questions about being cheap and how to properly cook beans and wieners etc because I was obviously so cheap for buying this rifle that I must know the answers to these other questions regarding being cheap as well. Little did they know they were only pouring gas on the fire.... It was because of all those comments that I knew I would be buying the stevens and making it just as cool if not cooler than their guns.
At about minute 3 into owning the stevens I had it ripped apart and got the trigger feeling good enough for now, replacing it might be in the future but for now a simple adjustment will be fine. It feels pretty good to. Found instructions here.... http://www.varminthunters.com/tech/savage/
Lets face it the stock on a stevens 200 leaves something to be desired. The Macarroni and cheese jokes were actually closer to facts. Put this stock in boiling water for a few minutes and you can actually eat it for dinner. Part of my plan was to start cheap though so replacing it was out of the question.
First thing I didn't like was the checkering. It was actually more slippy feeling on the checkering than on the smooth parts. So out comes the sandpaper.
Also the barrel and stock are way to close together in stock form so sandpaper to the rescue on that issue as well.
Got it all smooth and decided the grey was pretty ugly as well. I was tempted to paint it cheese yellow to suit it's now permanent name of "macaroni and cheese" I primed and painted
I decided to go with digital camo since I have never painted it before and it seemed like a fun choice. So I bought some sticker making paper to make it easy.
I used Krylon camo paint as well as kryon plasticoat to give good ol "macaroni and cheese" some color!
The fun part is taking the tape off because up until that point you really have no idea if your camo job looks good or bad.
I traced around the camo with a sharpie and plan to clear coat it after it really all has a time to dry. I painted a color every few days and made sure I had at least 3-6 beers on hand any time sanding was involved because it is very boring and takes a long time to sand out the checkering. This is as far as I have gotten but will be bedding it and installing a limbsaver before I ever even shoot the thing. Oh I should note that I bought some snap caps and have fired the trigger about 500 times or so and that alone has made the trigger pretty light and smooth.
