giving stevens 200 a fair shot (long range ukd rifle)

[pdd614]

giving stevens 200 a fair shot (long range 30-06)

I had a few objectives with this "budget" rifle. One being that I wanted to really give the savage/stevens a fair shot at being a truly capable long range rifle. The second objective was a rifle that delivered sufficient energy on feral hogs at distances beyond 600 yards. And lastly, I want to compare shooting a true lefty rifle, ie my 6.5x47, to shooting a right bolt from the left side.

This is what I have come up with for this budget rifle. The rifle was built by a very respected local gunsmith Gene Williams. Notice I had him fit the barrel like any other action by having him omit the barrel nut.


Stevens 200 long action, purchased as a complete 270 rifle from academy two years ago for only 189.00.
I had an extra mike rock 1-10 twist medium palma barrel
30-06 would be my chambering, hopefully shooting the 208 amax at around 2650-2700 fps from a 26 inch barrel.
cdi bottom metal with modified magazine to feed the 06
Manners t5a stock with bottom picatinny rail for my atlas bipod, and two flush cups down the left side
SSS bolt handle
Timney trigger
egw 20 moa rail
SAS brake to fit my arbiter suppressor
Leupold MK4 medium rings
Weaver 3-15 ffp, mil adjusted, emdr reticle
Tab gear biathlon sling

A few crappy pics until I get the 06 pillar bedded and out to the field for some testing.





Over the next year or so, I will run this rifle as hard a possible to see how it shakes out. I will keep you guys updated on this thread with accuracy, velocity, hunting, and reliability reports. Stay tuned.

 

[Strongbad]

A couple of friends and I have picked up a pile of the 200's in 270 from Academy for that very purpose. Mine was in the box for months until I finally pulled it out a few weeks ago. Anyway, a shooting buddy built a similar config to yours only he decided to go with a 260 using a Brux barrel and a Choate stock. The trigger, base, etc. is all the same to yours. If yours shoots half as good as his, it should be a sweet shooting rifle. I had originally planned to build mine up in 6.5 Creedmor but I've decided that I'm going to use it to build my 6.5/375 Ruger, or atleast my first 6.5/375 Ruger. I had originally planned on starting with a custom action etc. but this will get me there quicker and cheaper and with a 2nd kiddo on the way if I want to get it build in the next couple of years I had better change my direction.

How do you like the CDI bottom metal? I'm glad he's finally got them in stock for a long action. That was one of my top "wants" for the 200 build. I'd like to have a repeater. Dropping a single shot follower in there didn't really ring my bell.

 

[pdd614]

I would say so far the CDI bottom metal has been the biggest disappointment. The mag cutout in the bottom metal does not match up with the bottom port in the action. It is simply too far forward. To make this work without bullet tips getting caught on the feeding ramp, you have to cut out and reshape the feeding ramp on the action. This seems silly to me when you consider that you are loosing several millimeters of feeding space on the back side of the action. Overall I think CDI really needs to do a redesign on this bottom metal.

The picture above shows about how much metal will have to be taken out at the feeding ramp. And the pic below shows how much space is unused to the rear.

 

[BoilerUP]

Great looking rifle, but not much "budget" about a Stevens with $300+ barrel requiring gunsmithing, $700+ stock, $600+ optic, $200+ bottom metal, etc!

I'd think 2800fps should be achievable with the '06 and the 208 A-Max from a 26" tube.

Even though spacing is the same, I wonder if the LA CDI bottom metal would fit up better with a staggerfeed action than a centerfeed action...

 

[pdd614]

Maybe I should have called it my "blown out of budget" rifle.

 

[BoilerUP]

How you like the T5A?

I'm thinking T2/T2A or T4/T4A for my 10FP...

 

[pdd614]

Time will have to tell on whether I prefer the t5a to my t4. I have spent the last couple years shooting my stiller 6.5x47 in a manners t4. I have a little over 4k rounds through that little lapua, and a new bartlein barrel should be here soon. The 30-06 and the 6.5 have very similar ballistics, except the 06 will deliver alot more energy.
Here is a pic of the competition.

 

[pdd614]

Initial impressions of the Weaver scope are good, although it is clear that it is not up to the quality of the Vortex Razor. I don't expect this scope to be in the same league, but it does have alot of the same features. It's a nice first focal plane 3-15, mil adjusted, 5 mils per turn, locking turrets, and illumination.

Getting used to not having a zero stop with this scope is going to take some time. I am constantly using the zero stop on the razor. With only 5 mils per turn you end up on the second turn past 600-800. It's nice to just crank down on the turret until you hit the stop.

I do however like the locking turrets on the weaver. I usually don't adjust the turret for windage, and choose instead to just use the reticle. That makes it nice that I won't have to worry about my windage turrret getting bumped off zero. The turret adjustments are crisp and tactile.

I do have a bit of a grip out the scopes reticle. It has hollow mil dots with hash dots on at half mil marks, and an open center. All that sounds great, except the didn't include the half mil hash dots between center and the first mils. I imagine they did this to keep the center of the reticle clear, but most of my shooting has me using between 0-1 mils of windage. That alone will make. it alot harder to pick out a .4 mil wind adjustment, or anything between .2-.8.

Here is a link to the reticle for a more visual reference.
http://www.weaveroptics.com/downloads/WO267_EMDR_Reticle_11_x_8-5.pdf

Time will tell if this Weaver will stand the test of time. I am very hard on scopes, and have broken more than a half dozen scopes. I broke as cheap bushnell scopes all the way up to a Premier Heritage. I will have a more involved test after I get some rounds downrange, and can perform a proper tracking test.

 

[pdd614]

I started working up some loads for the 06 with the 208 amax pushed by h4350. I started to see pressure signs on my Winchester brass as the speed got over 2600 fps. I've got a pound of 4831sc that may give better velocities. I'm going to give that a try this weekend. We will see.

 

[Abel]

I would like to see what the 200 does with original equipment. I thought you were going to have that tupperware stock reinforced with an aluminum rod and then glass bed the action. Then, I was expecting to see you do a trigger job on the existing trigger that would put the pull at under 4lbs. Next, I wanted to see you throw on a set of Warne mounts and a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40mm. Some custom paint on the aforementioned stock would have finished her off nicely.

Does someone have a link to a thread?

 

[pdd614]

Sorry to disappoint you, Abel!

 

[pdd614]

Before I get too far involved with the 208 amax, are there any other semi heavy weight 30 cal bullets I should look into? I am curious if anyone has had a chance to shoot some of the new berger hybrids, or maybe the 225 hornady's. I know it's a long shot for anyone to have shot these bullets, but maybe they are worth a look. Then again the 208 amax are relatively cheap when you can find them, and are of known good quality.

 

[pdd614]

Well guys, looks like I have finally nailed down a load for this rifle. After trying the 208 amax, 190 cc, 155 scenars, I couldn't get any of these bullets to group .5 moa at 500. All these bullets grouped right around .8-1.2 moa. I finally gave the 175 smk's a shot, h4350 pushes them easily to 2890 fps. The rifle is finally a solid half moa shooter at 500.

Just in time too, because the 6.5x47 is off for a new barrel as of tomorrow. I will note however that the -06 seems to be much more finicky, than my x47, to load for. The x47 seemed to print most loads into .5 moa at distance, and all I had to do was pick the speed.

 

[taliv]

cool project. don't know how i missed this thread the first time.


is that the cartridge or the action?

 

[pdd614]

Taliv, not sure I followed your question. Action is a stevens 200 long action, 30-06 is the cartridge.

 

[pdd614]

Here is a typical group from the 208 amax. Again, not good for a 500 yard group.


Here's a typical group at 500 from the 175 smk. Not bad, amazing how a barrel will like one bullet versus the other.

 

[taliv]

sorry, it was poorly worded

you seem to be pointing to the bullet and the cartridge as culprits in the poor groups.

i was asking if maybe it was the action instead.

granted, 155 to 175 to 208 is quite a spread in weight and maybe the twist you'd want for each. i have personally found 155 scenars to be quite finicky, and 208 is pretty dang heavy. and if a gun won't shoot the SMK, it probably won't shoot anything... so it very well could be the bullet.

and i think it's pretty safe to rule out the cartridge, as 6.5x47 isn't more inherently accurate than 30-06...

 

[pdd614]

I agree that cartridges aren't any more accurate than the next, but the x47 does have alot going for it. For one, only lapua makes brass for it. To me, this means that the die and reamer makers are all basing there tools off a single brand brass, when everyone under the sun makes brass for the -06. I may very well end up buying a redding bushing die for 30-06. I also believe that there is some truth to thought of lighter recoiling rifles shooting better. Or maybe better is the wrong word. I should say light recoiling rounds, i.e. 6.5's, are easier to shoot more consistently.

There is no question, in my mind, that some match barrels are better than others. And I am not talking between brand x and brand y, but between two brand x's. Sometimes you get a barrel that can do no wrong, and sometimes you have to work at finding that load. Much like I did with this Mike Rock barrel.