I joined the brotherhood...

[therichardpowell]

...and I am hooked on these stinkin guns now.

I have been watching you guys build badass custom Savages for a couple years now and I decided it was time to start on my own.

I bought a used Stevens 200 in .308 Winchester, Centerfeed. The guy I bought it from said it had about 5 rounds through it and after looking at it I had no reason to disagree, it looked brand new, inside and out.

When I got it home though, I found the trigger felt alarmingly light... After cycling the action a few times and working the safety on and off a couple of times... the firing pin fell. I was surprised. I have a pretty well trained booger hook, never in the trigger guard unless I want it to be, but I thought maybe I bumped the trigger. After messing around, I found that it would drop the pin if I: slammed the bolt, worked the safety on and off a few times, or even pull the trigger with the safety on... which resulted in a jammed up mess and I had to remove the trigger to get the bolt to unlock. Upon removal of the trigger, I found that it had had potentially the worst trigger job ever...
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/Photo2013-06-02094704PM_zps09490781.jpg
Dip**** had ground the hell out of it and the sear was engaging by about .002", instead of the recommended .015". Needless to say I had words with the seller, rather upset about being sold a dangerous gun that now I couldn't even shoot. I am not a patient man, I have never gotten a gun and not shot it within 12 hours of getting it. Finally, a week later he mailed me a brand new trigger, I guess he had one laying around. I swapped out the trigger... and abruptly figured out why he decided to take the other one to the grinder, it was awful. I took to polishing it with emery cloth and then some steel wool and then polishing compound and a buffer on a dremel. It got a bit better and I am living with it. This is a hunting gun so, until budget allows a new one, it is good enough.

Rambling on, I opted for the Weaver one piece 0 MOA base, and Burris XTR low rings. I had considered going with steel components but decided on aluminum for the weight and cost savings. I then ordered the Wheeler scope mounting kit. I installed the Weaver base and measured the run out at each end with a dial indicator to see how close a match it was to the receiver. With a touch less than .001" runout, I opted not to bed the base as I probably would have just made it worse. I installed the rings and lapped the tops and bottoms together to get 90% contact and to ensure they are perfectly in line. With that done I mounted up the scope, a Nikon Prostaff 4-12x40 that I already had on my other hunting rifle. It's not a Schmidt and Bender, but it has served me well, and I am ballin' on a budget... I stuck on a Harris bipod that I had and a scope level, and it really started to come together.
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0870_zps013d0d11.jpg
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0869_zps586e4327.jpg
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0872_zps7fd5b4cc.jpg

[Bennybone]

Nice gun !

Too bad about the hassle, buying used adds an additional layer of risk in most things - especially firearms.

Good post to teach younger folks or new gun owners not to assume anything and obey the 10 commandments of firearm safety.

Let us know how she shoots!

Deer Season is inching closer :)

BB

[therichardpowell]

I found the tupperware stock to be pretty lackluster... sitting on the bipod, you could grab the comb of the stock and twist the stock with one finger. Again, ballin' on a budget, so I channeled out a couple of places in the stock and inserted aluminum rods into the forend. I set them into a nice bed of JB weld and then filled the forend with JB Weld. In the mean time I also bedded the action with Devcon.
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0993_zpsf9905a5d.jpg
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0994_zps63c351bc.jpg
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0992_zpsb03544cc.jpg

After it all dried it is surprisingly better. I feel that it is actually usable now.
Having done all this I was really getting into this whole hobby, and factory ammo just wasn't hitting my tickle spot, so I ordered the Lee Anniversary reloading kit and started putting together a reloading room...
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0979_zps9663187d.jpg

I have a sickness...

[therichardpowell]

Now I have development loads loaded up to find my max load and hunt for some accuracy.
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_0986_zps727a1e45.jpg
And I got the rifle on the scale, and I am pretty happy at under 9 pounds full of ammo with the bipod on... but it is not so fun to shoot, it could benefit from some weight for target shooting, but it sure will be nice toting it around the mountains this year.
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_1004_zps394d3c1a.jpg
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_1003_zps135e24f1.jpg

And yes, my scale is LEGIT... weighs my babies, and my children too...:cool:

[therichardpowell]

Nice gun !

Too bad about the hassle, buying used adds an additional layer of risk in most things - especially firearms.

Good post to teach younger folks or new gun owners not to assume anything and obey the 10 commandments of firearm safety.

Let us know how she shoots!

Deer Season is inching closer :)

BB

Thanks man.

I was actually really happy that I bought this gun and not someone who wasn't experienced with firearms... Someone could have gotten really hurt.

I will post up some gratuitous group shots after I get to go shooting... Life is so busy.

And besides deer season, bear season here starts next week...:eyebrows:

[Bennybone]

My money is on those Sierra SPs being the good to load.... Just a W-A-G.

Nice reloading shop and stock modification, I have seen a few ball bearing treatments to get weight and balance right and then the application of the goop to set it in place.

I go for lightweight everytime, especially toting guns in the Texas heat.

BB

[therichardpowell]

I am definitely trying to stay lightweight for now. I live in and hunt the Oregon cascades, and it is steep no matter where you go. Weight is an issue.

[stangfish]

There is something to be said for a accurate inexpensive light gun. I gave my grand nephew a 7mm 08 that shoots 3 shot one hole groups and it cost 500 with a bush 3200 including some warne rings. He is tickled.

[davemuzz]

Richard.....all I can say is that I'm saddened that you have performed all of this gun work in front of a small child. Why, just look at all of the baby "stuff" that is around when you do this work. Now....just exactly how do you expect a young child to remember all of the things you did to this rifle? You had better make a public statement that when this child is old enough to understand, you will purchase another Savage rifle, and you will teach this child how to do it all over again!!!

GHezzz.....Gotta tell these guys everything!!!

:)

[therichardpowell]

Richard.....all I can say is that I'm saddened that you have performed all of this gun work in front of a small child. Why, just look at all of the baby "stuff" that is around when you do this work. Now....just exactly how do you expect a young child to remember all of the things you did to this rifle? You had better make a public statement that when this child is old enough to understand, you will purchase another Savage rifle, and you will teach this child how to do it all over again!!!

GHezzz.....Gotta tell these guys everything!!!

:)

Oh man, if my daughter is into it, I will do it all over another ten times! She's six months old... and I already have my eye out for one of those pink chipmunk rifles... I will be tickled as pink as the rifle if she wants to go shooting and four wheeling with her daddy. It's something I think about daily, how to get her into it but not force it, you know?

Well I am headed to grandmas house today to help her build some fence to keep her remaining dog safe, and hopefully put one of those shiny bullets in a coyote they have stalking around their place. **** coyote started eating her chickens, which sucked but not alot of emotional attachment there, but then it got their little dog... So messed up. Now this yote will come within 150 yards of the place while 4-5 people are outside yacking away. Too brave. Hoping to knock all that bravery right out of him, and avenge their poor little dog.

[big honkin jeep]

You've come a long way but you don"t have to live with the crappy trigger even on a budget. Replace the trigger return spring with a piece of .043 music wire found at a decent hardware store. It'll make a good bit of difference. Even better find an old 3 screw trigger ( one with a sear adjustment screw) and tune it up and use a lighter trigger return spring.

Another way I have tuned one of the old lawyer triggers is by using a piece of thin metal stock to protect the face of the sear and then welded a bead below it so the sear bottoms out against the bead.(put the bead where the set screw is located on a 3 screw trigger) Then I hand filed the bead down and tested along the way until I got the desired amount of sear engagement.
I don't have a lot of machining tools but I did have access to a wire welder and this worked well for my application.

[therichardpowell]

Making progress on the load development front. I thought I was getting pressure signs because I was getting some pretty flat primers, but today I was shooting and at about 44 grains I was getting flat primers, and at 44.5 it stopped smashing them... Weird, but even 45 grains wasn't flattening either... I'll take it. Up we go. Here's two groups, although not epic, they are very pleasing to me out of a basically factory rifle with zero reloading experience.

44.5 Grains of AA2520, CCI 250 Primer, 165 Grain Gameking, 5 shot group, 1 flyer, 2 in the center hole.
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_1090_zps1d401afc.jpg

45 Grains... I am gonna re shoot this one to see if I botched it, seems too lucky to stack two sets of 2... :frusty:
http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p736/therichardpowell/IMG_1091_zpse6247d63.jpg

I am very happy with this so far. This is my first batch of loads. Nice to see something grouping even remotely well.

[Chrazy-Chris]

Nice job on the rifle and reloads. Keep your eye out on the big name shooting supply websites- the Timney triggers go on sale once in awhile. I love mine. I'll bet you will tighten those groups up either way once your rifle gets broken in and you hone your reloads. Congrats!

[therichardpowell]

I didn't mess with it last night but I measured this morning and that group is .75" not counting the flyer! I didn't realize how tight it was. The picture was really up close so it looks pretty big but it is nice and tight. I am very happy with 3/4 MOA! And they seemed to be getting tighter. I am going to load some hotter ones and reshoot the 45 to see if I botched it. Man it's nice to see results after all the research and work I have done.

Edit: And I gotta do something with that trigger. It's awful. I can make it work but I can only imagine if it was a 2 #er.

[therichardpowell]

Well I'm dragging my thread back up. Hunting season came and went and the savage went in the safe due to interest petering out. Fast forward to now, bear season coming fast and it's time to finish getting set up for some long range pokes. I ordered an SWFA SS 10x42 MIL/MIL MIL quad reticle scope with side focus and a set of 30 mm Burris XTR rings to replace my 1"ers. Also bought the Ballistic AE app for my phone to calculate my firing solutions. And I'm dropping the barreled action off today to get cerakoted. It pissed rain all hunting season and I'm sick of seeing rust on my gun. So it's getting the kote. And lastly I finally found Varget and regular large rifle primers. So once I get it back together I will dial in a good load and start collecting data.

[therichardpowell]

Pictures to follow.

[therichardpowell]

Well I ordered the wrong scope rings. Ordered mediums not realizing my 1" ones are lows. So I gotta figure that out, but it's cerakoted, I painted the stock OD and sponge camo'd black on it, and I'm very happy with the scope so far. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/zyba3e4y.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/yvunu5ev.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/3y2ysa9e.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/ymydyvam.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/u2yge3yq.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/a7e9yhup.jpg

[barrel-nut]

Nice looking rifle! The cerakote and stock paint job really brings it up a notch or two. I have a similar setup, with the Weaver 20moa base, and XTR low rings, with a Weaver Super Slam 3-15x50 scope. My clearance is not much better than yours, but I have no real issues with it in the field.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/23/usy6u2u5.jpg

[therichardpowell]

My main issue with the medium rings is I can't get any kind of cheek weld with the Tupperware stock. The lows will make it better. Just hoping they'll let me return the mediums. On a real tight budget and I'm pretty well tapped out. Sold my AR to get all this. I really need a new stock but it ain't in the cards yet. Next though for sure. Probly a Boyd's or if I'm feeling zesty I like the Choate but the barrel channels are huge and look dumb with a factory barrel. Eventually wanna go 260 AI with this thing but not for a long time to come.

[therichardpowell]

That's a nice looking rifle yourself. What is it?