Finally got to really try out my Stevens 200 in .223

[powderburn]

Have had a Stevens 200 in .223 for a few months that I picked up in a trade and finally had the chance to sight it in a shoot it a bit this weekend. I mounted up an old 3x9 scopechief VI I had sitting around the house in keeping with my goal to have a good inexpensive varmint/ paper punching rifle to shoot. Well I took it to a buddy's farm along with 20 rounds of federal bulk pack fmj ammo. Bore sighted it up and after 3 shots had it printing 2 inches high at 100 yds. Buddy has a 300 yd berm built at the end of his pasture with a couple of steel rams set up so we turned our attention there. I didn't want to shoot his rams with the FMJ ammo so we picked out a white looking flower that was sticking up in front of the berm. Shot about 8 times at a the bloom of Queen Anne's Lace about 3" in diameter. Buddy said he could see the bullets in his spotting scope and said he could see me cutting pieces out of the bloom on every shot but I never did hit the stem and cut the flower head off. It was fun and I am very pleased with our little informal shoot. I figure if I can hit a flower at 300 yds the ground hogs,crows and coyotes better be on the lookout. Now to try and work up some good reloads with sp bullets.

[GaCop]

If your barrel is 1/9 twist, give the 60 grain V-Max a try.

[powderburn]

Thanks. It is a 1x9 but I am sort of hoping to find a 55gr load for it as I have a stash on hand. If I get a chance or have to buy I'll purchase some of the v max as they seem pretty popular.

[nonnieselman]

my lil stevens 223 truck rifle shot Sierra 55gr HPs a lil under an inch at 100 with H335 and Wolf primers.
I loaded some 68gr BTHPs im gonna try and see if i can find a load it likes. 75gr Amax do a number on critters too :D

[savageboy]

Try the Sierra 65gr Game kings too on critters- I have killed 14 deer w/ that combination. I would imagine that it would work well on Coyotes, etc. Prob a little thick jacket for smaller animals. But, it made dead deer very fast.

[nonnieselman]

we have a deprivation permit on the farm so we take care of deer, hogs, and anything that gets in the crop..
We shoot alot so i just use the cheap Tracers and load them hot with H335. Ive dropped countless critters out to 350yds.
The .270 comes into play at 350+.