Stevens Model 200 .308 project with pics (56k beware)

Xzuatl

Senior Member
I just bought a new Stevens Model 200 in .308 from CW Barret. This is going to be a project gun for me so I promised I would chronicle the progress here.

I am very happy with it. The weight and ergonomics are excellent. It comes to the shoulder nicely. The trigger is great, no creep, breaks clean, but it is a tad heavy though it can be adjusted. The factory stock on the Stevens has a hollow butt with a square of styrofoam in it. I pulled that out and filled it with a liquid spray foam. The fore end has a little play in it, but not unusable. The barrel is fully free floating. I am going to take it to the range this weekend to do a short barrel break in and then get a accuracy base line. Next comes Pahse II, bedding the action, lightening the trigger, adding a limbsaver pad, bondo-modding the stock, and doing a camo job. Pics will accompany the post as soon as I get to it.

5/17/08
I scoped it with a Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40 and slinged it Saturday and headed off to the range.
stevens-2.jpg


I fired 50 rounds breaking in the barrel, getting it zeroed, and trying out some 150 and 180 grain winchester soft points. The rifle is pretty light, so the recoil and muzzle jump was pretty severe, my shoulder was killing me by the time I shot my 5 round group. You can see the result of my flinching with shot #3. The heavy trigger was also a problem. The trigger and the flinching became clearly apparent when I unknowingly attempted a shot without a round in the chamber. I was amazed at how badly I was yanking the shot. I was shooting off of my rolled up soft rifle case at a range table, so I was muscling the rifle while aiming to boot. Anyway here is my 5 round group using federal gold match 168gr bthp at 100 yards, cross winds about 8 mph..


target1.jpg


This rifle is much better than I am, I cant wait to mod it up .

05/22-23: Taking the plunge.
I decided to add some support to the fore end, so I cut an aluminum arrow, and screwed it into place on both sides. This will also give the bondo something to hold on to.

stockfix1.jpg


I also put in some screws for weight and support on the cheek rest.

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Next comes the bondo. I clamped a wooden flat wrapped in wax paper to the bottom of the fore end to help shape the bondo.

bondo1.jpg


Saturday, I will file, sand, and shape it all, added filler where needed. So I will either have a nice modded stock this weekend, or I'll be ordering a new one.

05/29/08
I have finished the rough sanding, now just have to fill in some gaps and fine sand. I put some more aluminum rods with bondo in the well on the interior of the stock.

stock1.jpg



06/06/08
Finished sanding, primed (Rust-Oleum Plastic primer) and painted the stock. Painted the base layer of the barrel and receiver. I used brown Rust-Oleum MultiColor Textured spray paint. I have used Rust-Oleum before on project rifles and it really holds up well. I sprayed a light coat and then let it cure, then repeat. Next task it to prep the stock for bedding.

paintedstock1.jpg


Notice the modded bedding screws (hex nuts minus the hex) to allow a nice seating for the bedding.

barrel1.jpg


Two picks of the bedding prep work and a dry run. The tape around the barrel is to make sure that is stays fully floating.Hopefully one bedding run will do the trick.

bedprep1.jpg


And now a pic of the finished bedding pre-trim. I used J BWeld since it was readily available for the bedding and the neutral kiwi was an excellent release agent. With the bedding looking good, I used the rest of the J BWeld in the well in front of the lug to help give the stock some more support.

20080607.jpg


And now the finished product! I used Krylon Satin Crystal Clear Acrylic spray for a tough finish.

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SnowHunter

Senior Member
Can't wait to see how it turns out! Sounds very much like what I did when I had my Stevens 200 in .25-06
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
Updated with a range report
 

SnowHunter

Senior Member
Looks like a shooter!!!

I filled the stock on the one I had with bondo to help the weight thing. But, when you pull the trigger on a deer, ya probably won't notice the weight, although it'll be easier on ya off the bench with more weight.
 

SmokyMtnSmoke

Senior Member
Looks like you are on your way. I forgot to tell you to get a LIMBSAVER recoil pad. I did the same thing as you on my first range trip. Bruised my should up and had a hard time getting her sighted in. I too was flinching horribly. That hockey puck of a factory pad is a bruiser. You'd of thought that .308 was 300 WinMag when you squeezed one off. A LimbSaver took care of that problem.

I just ordered a three screw trigger from Northland Shooters Supply - Maple Grove, MN. I hope to get it installed very soon. I also wanted to offer to you the use of my barrel wrench if you need to change barrels.

I look forward to seeing your mods. Mine is still factory but I'd love to mod mine as $$ allows.
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
Looks like a shooter!!!

I filled the stock on the one I had with bondo to help the weight thing. But, when you pull the trigger on a deer, ya probably won't notice the weight, although it'll be easier on ya off the bench with more weight.
Yup, it's amazing for the price. :banana:

Looks like you are on your way. I forgot to tell you to get a LIMBSAVER recoil pad. I did the same thing as you on my first range trip. Bruised my should up and had a hard time getting her sighted in. I too was flinching horribly. That hockey puck of a factory pad is a bruiser. You'd of thought that .308 was 300 WinMag when you squeezed one off. A LimbSaver took care of that problem.

I just ordered a three screw trigger from Northland Shooters Supply - Maple Grove, MN. I hope to get it installed very soon. I also wanted to offer to you the use of my barrel wrench if you need to change barrels.

I look forward to seeing your mods. Mine is still factory but I'd love to mod mine as $$ allows.
I had every intention of getting a limbsaver, just wanted to see what the stock Stevens would do. And boy did I. :eek: I will probably leave the stock trigger during phase two. It feels great, just heavy. I know it can be adjusted to be lighter, hopefully that will be enough.
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
Updated with bondo extravaganza.
 

SnowHunter

Senior Member
Updated with bondo extravaganza.

:hair: omg, you put it on the outside? :rofl: well thats unique to say the least :D

I put mind on the inside of the fore end and buttstock. I'm very interested to see how it looks when you're done filing and sanding it down!! :cool:
 

BookHound

Senior Member
That is certainly an interesting approach. For the check piece I favor using an Eagle stock pack. It is very easy to "shim" it to raise the level if needed. The pack also is very much more comfortable on which to rest your check instead of a hard stock. In the zippered compartment I keep various dope cards, a lens pen, a small all-weather writing pad, small calculator and an all-weather pen.

This is a cheaper version of the stock pack from Blackhawk. I very much prefer Eagle as I think they are better made, but these are okay too and nearly identical.
rem700OnMat2%20(Medium).jpg


Mark
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
:hair: omg, you put it on the outside? :rofl: well thats unique to say the least :D

I put mind on the inside of the fore end and buttstock. I'm very interested to see how it looks when you're done filing and sanding it down!! :cool:

Hopefully it will look similar to this. :love:
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
That is certainly an interesting approach. For the check piece I favor using an Eagle stock pack. It is very easy to "shim" it to raise the level if needed. The pack also is very much more comfortable on which to rest your check instead of a hard stock. In the zippered compartment I keep various dope cards, a lens pen, a small all-weather writing pad, small calculator and an all-weather pen.

Mark

I actually thought about a slip on, but since I already have the bondo, and plan on doing a most excellent camo job, I figured it would take away from the 'look' I was going for.
 

bighonkinjeep

Senior Member
There are a lot of complaints about the flex in savage factory stocks. The flex point seems to be right in front of the recoil lug. It probably wouldnt hurt to extend the stiffening rods well past this point on the next one. Dont forget to bed the action and free float the tang. This is what will really help in the accuracy dept.Devcon plastic steel works great for bedding synthetic stocks and kiwi neutral shoe polish is the preferred release agent. It should look good when finished but bondo is a lotta work.
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
There are a lot of complaints about the flex in savage factory stocks. The flex point seems to be right in front of the recoil lug. It probably wouldnt hurt to extend the stiffening rods well past this point on the next one. Dont forget to bed the action and free float the tang. This is what will really help in the accuracy dept.Devcon plastic steel works great for bedding synthetic stocks and kiwi neutral shoe polish is the preferred release agent. It should look good when finished but bondo is a lotta work.

I just finished up the rough sanding so now I need to added filler for a few gaps\pits and then fine sand. I will be bedding the action and will most likely extend the devcon past the lug nut into bottom of the stock channel. This will hopefully also cut down on any flexing. The bondo was not that hard to deal with. I used a high tooth steel file and it really made short work of it.
 

SmokyMtnSmoke

Senior Member
Man that project is coming along nicely. I'm looking forward to the finished project.

I wish Hogue would get there proverbial finger out of their arses and make a Overmold stock for the tens of thousand of Savage 10/110's that are out there. Someday I'd like to get a Bell and Carlson .
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
Man that project is coming along nicely. I'm looking forward to the finished project.

I wish Hogue would get there proverbial finger out of their arses and make a Overmold stock for the tens of thousand of Savage 10/110's that are out there. Someday I'd like to get a Bell and Carlson .

Thanks, I can't wait to get done with it. If I am lucky I can find about an hour to work on it on any particular day, gotta finish the honey do list first. When I decide to upgrade to a heavy barrel I will get a nice stock that won't need the bondo treatment. :clap:
 

SmokyMtnSmoke

Senior Member
Thanks, I can't wait to get done with it. If I am lucky I can find about an hour to work on it on any particular day, gotta finish the honey do list first. When I decide to upgrade to a heavy barrel I will get a nice stock that won't need the bondo treatment. :clap:

We're on the same page there too. When I 'upgrade' to a heavy barrel, I'll upgrade the stock as well. But for an out of the box accurate gun, I don't think you can beat the deal of these Savage/Stevens M200's.

I added the three screw trigger the other night that I ordered from Northland. It took all of 15 minutes and WOW what a difference. This is my deer rifle so I'll keep it plain and ready for service. I do want to put some kind a 'coating' on it tho. Maybe Alumahyde ;)
 

Xzuatl

Senior Member
Update: Finished the sanding and base painting.
 
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