switching barrels

[oklahoma caveman]

How hard is it to switch barrels on Stevens 200 rifles? Are any special tools required? Reason for asking, I can get a stocked action sans barrel for $90. If I can also get a new unfired barrel for $85 I could potentially have the gun for less than $200. But I am no gunsmith and need to know how hard this would be. Any input is appreciated

 

[Jeff F]

If it's anything like the Savage rifles, all my buddy uses is a barrel nut wrench and head-space gauges. He has a barrel vice and action wrench but never uses them on his Savage's. He can change out a barrel in less then 10 minutes on his work bench.

If it's a stocked action your probably going to need a barrel nut, a recoil lug, the head-space gauge and the barrel nut wrench.
You may have to change the bolt head, depending on what cartridge it it set up for and what you changing it to.

 

[oklahoma caveman]

Thanks Jeff. It may end up costing less just to buy a complete rifle. Hafta do some price checking on those parts you listed

 

[redbullitt]

You are looking about 150 or so for absolutely all the tools. You can probably get by with just the vice or action wrench. Both do make it very very easy though, and can be quite useful for other things. The go no go gauges are handy and often cover more than a few calibers as well.

 

[jerkface11]

You don't need a vice or action wrench. All you need is the barrel nut wrench and the headspace gauges.

 

[dawico]

A couple of big pipe wrenches will work also, if you are trying to go really cheap and don't mind some extra fluting on the barrel and nut.

 

[WYcoyote]

Lots of info here.

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/

 

[Maverick223]

If you decide not to buy it, please refer me to it. The swap isn't that difficult, but honestly there isn't much savings *unless* you want a non-standard chambering (in which case you can save quite a bit).

 

[joed]

If you go looking for info over at Savageshooters take what they tell you with a grain of salt.

A few months ago I was considering changing calibers on my Savage 10fp from .223 to .22-250. At that site they referred me to Northland Shooters Supply. Well, I got a price of about $390 for the conversion parts from NSS. $390 ?? I could buy a new model 12 savage in .22-250 for $440 locally.

After the above incident I thought anyone owning a Savage and thinking about a conversion was nuts.

Wasn't till I mentioned it on this forum that a few nice members pointed out the conversion shouldn't cost more then $200. Heck, they even sent me links to where to buy the parts. And sure enough the price was about $190.

I asked myself why no one at the Savage site gave me any options besides NSS for the conversion, surely some of them had to know Midway carried Savage parts. I no longer spend any time on the Savage site for this reason.

 

[jpwilly]

^^^ Don't get too upset. The quality of the barrel has a lot to do with the price of a conversion. ER Shaw bbls or the house brand bbls at Midway can save a person lots of cash on a OEM quality barrel for a caliber conversion.

Me I'll be spending $300-$400 on a Match quality hand lapped barrel that should be more precise, foul less and clean out easily.

I've shot OEM quality barrels long enough to know the performance can be quite good but rarely approches that of a Match Barrel.

Yes, they do set you back as much as a new Marlin XS7, Stevens 200, etc. but consider the reloading time and cost, range time and cost spent chasing smaller groups, (if your into that sort of thing) overall cost will be dramatically reduced by having the best quality barrel you can afford.

If your hunting or plinking you probably don't need that match barrel and $100 should do.

 

[joed]

jpwilly, I think that was one of the things that made me unhappy. The after market barrel was not one of the better ones, although I don't remember who it was now.

I have match barrels on a few of my rifles, I like Krieger the best. The thing that I have noticed with a good barrel is that although it is more accurate it's amazing how well it cleans up. The Krieger barrels I have take 2 patches and they're done.