Finished my Stevens

Here are some semi-crappy cell pics, my decent camera is MIA. The whole goal of this rifle initially was a cheap 2nd deer gun...it's turned into a bit more than that, as I love this caliber.

This is the Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 I got for $196 out the door on that great sale Academy had a while back....unfortunately that's the Academy that was in Joplin, MO and is gone now...add another $200 for the Nikon Monarch UCC 3-9x40, and another C-note for the stock. Not too shabby for a $500 rifle. I'll post some target pics after we go to the range Saturday evening.

[img width=600 height=450]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1/loyal_poppy/Boom%20stuff/Photo0081.jpg[/img]

The tinge of red and shiny in the center of the bedding is all that is visible of the forward pillar. The red is the remnants of the red sharpie I was using to check contact where I relived the wood around the pillar, as well as proper contact of the receiver to the pillar itself. I made the pillars .430 diameter, reamed the factory screw holes to .440, and ran a 1/2-13 tap thru them for grip. The pillars were heavily textured as well, and were faced to be .010 proud of the wood on the bottom side.The pillars were glued in first with JB Weld, and the bedding material is Devcon. A fiend of mine is gonna do his rifle in my shop over the weekend, and I plan on adding a bit more compound forward of the lug recess to turn down the suck a little on the way it looks there. It has some contact with the barrel nut, so the stability is there, but I was a little disappointed in the way it looked.

[img width=600 height=450]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1/loyal_poppy/Boom%20stuff/Photo0083.jpg[/img]

I notched the rear pillar out prior to installation. I decided I wouldn't try to put any bedding material in the rear side, because I didn't want to try to get the ignition system apart, since I had done some polishing work to it, and made a new spring out of .04 piano wire. The trigger is a very crisp 3.5# now, and I didn't want to take a chance on messing it up. If it's not broke, DON'T BREAK IT is my motto.

[img width=600 height=450]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1/loyal_poppy/Boom%20stuff/Photo0082.jpg[/img]

Very nice. Gotta love it when the final outcome turns out so well. NICE!!

Who manufactured stock?

It's aBoyds featherweight thumbhole in pepper laminate.

If your Boyd's stock is similar to mine you really need to bed the whole action. Bedding half the action is probably as effective as weighing half of your powder charges. I would bed the front, back, and sides. Some say it isn't necessary, but my stock was a pretty sloppy fit. Taking the trigger apart isn't really that big of a deal once you've done it a couple times.

It fits pretty tight now, with the pillars. The front bedded area and the pillars is the only places the action touches right now. If I have issues with it I'll probably skim the back area around the notched pillar.

PLEASE post sone pics when you shoot it....i have a brand new Stevens ($179.00) sitting in the safe i thought about selling or modifying , but if they shoot like there other calibers, i mijust do what you did , except cut out the "heart" of the butt stock, leaving the cheekpiece and enough to be strong, to make it a lightweight...Thanks , rsbhunter

Will do. It's been tough getting the time lately, working on a bathroom when I'm not at work work...not to mention it's been over 100 every day for a month now. Getting a bit tired of that.

68injunhed, i know what you mean on the heat...you must live near me in NM...we just yeaterday broke the all time record with 38 days at 100 or better.....not in a row, but still!!!! and more to come...rsbhunter

SE Kansas here, but ya, it's been bad. I'm 42, and it's the hottest, driest July I can remember.

That looks great! I will be doing that to my Stevens .308 this Fall.

Did you Devcon your magazine into the stock? or is it jsut resting in it. Im about to bed a stevens 200 into a boyds prairie hunter stock and still absorbing all the info i can gather. If you could, would you mind posting a pic of your whole bedding? just as a reference to a newby
thanks
Stephen

No, the magazine is just sitting in there. I had to lightly sand away some material to mimic the fit it had in the factory synthetic stock, as it was binding and not feeding at first.

As far as pics of the complete bedding, the pics I have posted are all I have, I didn't take "in process" pics.

Looks great! I have the same stock and really like it. Only thing I did was relieve the tang area so that the tang free floated.

Thanks! I wrapped a couple layers of blue masking tape around mine when I glued the rear pillar in. Removed the tape, re-installed, and voila! Free floating tang.

Now to get some uninterrupted time to actually shoot it. >:( Too many irons in the fire, but at least the weather is backing off from full on hellfire.