I have been chasing my tail

I have a Stevens 200 in 223. It has a tensioned barrel, SSS trigger and Stockade gunstock, bolt lift kit as well as their bolt. The scopes have been mounted in Leupold rings and bases.

The build was done last year and I told the shop to chop the barrel to 18" and tension it, it came back with 20" so I took it back for them to do it the way I had paid for. They tried to argue that I never told them 18” so they pulled the ticket. The ticket showed 18” so they fixed it. Well I get it back and everything seems right so I screw it into the stock. It has sat for a long time but over the course of the last few months I have really began to shoot it more. Before I would shoot it probably 10 times or so in a setting when showing friends.

A couple of months ago I took it out with some friends for a few hours, it was grouping well at 400 yards then it shifted completely off the 12” target. I thought that maybe the cheap scope I was using finally gave up so I packed the rifle up for the day. After getting home I cleaned the rifle and removed the suspect scope, never taking it out of the stock. I install a much better scope than what was on there and get it zeroed at home on my 25 yard range.

I take it out again and this time it basically does the same thing, shoots great then shifts for no reason after so many rounds. I began to think to myself that maybe it is time to bed the gun into the stock to hopefully fix the problem with inconsistency because have two scopes in a row crap out is a rarity. Last night I remove the action from the stock and start prepping the stock for the bed job. When I start prepping the action I find something disturbingly wrong.

The shop that did all the work never reinstalled the recoil lug. I guess I didn’t notice it either when I first got it home. Not trying to make excuses for me but I do have some health issues right now and if I was having a bad day a nuclear explosion could have went unnoticed also.

I am sure this is the accuracy issue. The gun is capable of shooting very well, better than I had ever hoped. Before the work the gun has shot .2’s and has since then it shifts.

Now I get to talk to the shop to see what they say. Hopefully they fix it but after almost a year I am not so sure they will. I have had to take stuff back before and as a matter of fact every project they have done for me in the last two years has had to be taken back to have it done the way I paid for it to be done in the first place. I keep going back because most shops in my area will not take on custom builds, especially if it requires any type of machining.

The biggest problem I have is the 400+ rounds I have worked up specifically for this gun. Hopefully they will still shoot after everything gets fixed but in my experience anytime anything is changed the harmonics change and ammo that once shot well no longer does. If I cannot use the same ammo I have loaded I am not sure what I am going to do. It has taken me over 6 months to load the 400 rounds because of my health. I got so disgusted with this I even told my wife last night this may be the reason for me to find another hobby.

This shop promotes itself as a precision rifle builder and they do make some accurate rifle but I am wondering how many are actually as well built and accurate as they claim now. They have a 4-6 month wait on all their rifles and charge a premium ($4K+) for any rifle they build. The recoil lug seems like something major part to forget, especially for a shop that has built its reputation on accurate firearms. I am not going to mention the shop until I find out if they are going to fix the problem. I do believe this is going to be the last time I deal with them.

Dolomite

In this case they can't even use the excuse that they normally only work with remington actions :D

Sounds like you should be shipping all your rifles to SSS.

THEY ARE A PRECISION RIFLE BUILDER, and have many many guns to prove it. I don't think you could possible spend $4,000 there even if you bought the entire action and all the parts there and had every operation they do on a gun. You could have a custom action gun built for less than 4k.

Not putting a recoil lug on the gun sound to me like they don't have a clue. I am willing to bet they will tell you that they did not put it on because it is more accurate that way, and that custom action guns don't use them. The problem is the stock is not like the ones on custom guns that has a recessed large tang area to take up the work of a recoil lug.

If it was me I would drop them like a bad habit. It sounds like you have had problems with them every time you used them.

Wow, i wish you the best with the shop, and especially your health. Time has caught up to me as well. 82boy has said it very well. blue

Another perfect example of the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Any rifle that shoots in the .2s should not be messed with, ;)

I did not pay $4K for the rifle or pay that to have them build it for that price, that is what they charge for their built Remington 700's. They did start out building Savages using bolt on parts. I only use them for machine work because no other shop in the area will take on some of my crack pot ideas.

I originally dropped the rifle off to have some machine work done and they forgot to reinstall the recoil lug. They weren't trying to be deceitful and I understand people do make mistakes, hell I am the worst for getting distracted while working on something. I dropped the rifle back off today and there was a WTF moment for them. I just think this is a really important part to forget and some of the other stuff they have done have left me with a bit of skepticism now. Perhaps because my rifle isn't one of their high dollar builds they weren't as attentive they should have been.

They said they would make things right but this is the last time I will be using them for any more of my work. Problem is most shops would never even take on some of my projects.

Even though it has shot .2's it needed to be fixed, from the get go the rifle had a few issues so I began the process of correcting those problems. Even though it has shot .2's it still needed to be fixed because inconsistency is an accuracy killer. Most of this came to light because I recently started shooting it more.

I am not trying to make excuses for them because I will not use them for any more machine work. I will probably still stop in and talk to them as friends but I will find someone else who can do what needs to be done. If need be I'll have a machine shop machine any barrels I need done.

I have a wrench coming so I can swap barrels myself after any machining is done.

Dolomite

I would ask them to scribe a mark on the barrel to get the headspace set the exact same as it was before they install the recoil lug. This is the best way to make sure your loaded ammo is still spot on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kslefty

I would ask them to scribe a mark on the barrel to get the headspace set the exact same as it was before they install the recoil lug. This is the best way to make sure your loaded ammo is still spot on.

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I told them to, we will see. If not then when I get it back I can set it myself because I took a bunch of pictures on how the barrel was installed relative to the receiver. I also gave them fired cases to headspace on. Hopefully they get it right but if not I will fix it.


My health issues caught up to me last year in the middle of a 3rd world s***hole. Prior to the helicopter accident I was in pretty good shape and actually able to physically keep up with coworkers 10-15 years my junior. I had no real issues prior to this but in a moments time my family's life as well as mine has changed forever. I now have to rely on my wife for a lot and without her I am not sure what I would do. The worst part of everything is having the feeling of being helpless.

I was doing work I absolutely loved that in my eyes helped keep my family and friends safe over here. I wasn't military at the time but have been in a previous life. I'm not posting this looking for sympathy, I just want everyone to realize that doing even routine stuff takes me a lot more than most people.

Thanks for listening,
Dolomite

Scribe marks aren't going to make a difference. When they install the lug, that scribe mark will be buried under the nut so no way they'll be able to see it. Since it's the same shop though, I doubt they have multiple go-no go gauges for the same cartridge so it should be within a couple thousandths of where it was before.

Dolomite, what you have described as to your health is something that happens to far more people who are willing to spend their lives doing what is right, than most people are aware of. I realize this doesn't make it any easier to have to deal with, going from being the one who could tackle and do almost anything needed doing, to being the one who needs help to do what you simply never thought about before is very hard physically.

It can be even harder to deal with mentally since you may be forced to think about doing those things now rather than just doing them. In time you will do some of those things again, (for the most part) with out thinking about them, you will simply approach them in another manner and it will become the norm. Just hang in there, i know it doesn't seem like it, but it will get better with time. blue

...Well with a 2" shorter bbl. your loads could be interesting with the harmonics changing..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 1Shot

...Well with a 2" shorter bbl. your loads could be interesting with the harmonics changing..

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All the work was done last year. I have shot it since the work was done. The only thing they are doing is reinstalling the lug they forgot to last year. Other than that nothing else is being done.

I just got a call that it is done, I may go down today to pick it up not sure yet. I really want to so I can speak with the guy who did the work originally.

Dolomite

Bolt rifle without a recoil lug. Wow, Dolomite, that's a new one.

Good thing it was a light kicker - if it was a .243+ you'd have had seen the accuracy go to crap sooner and maybe had some stock damage around the action screw holes. As it was, friction between the action and stock/bedding plus your action screws were all that was holding the action in place - and taking all the recoil force... I can see why it shifted in the stock.

Hope they make it right for you. They owe it too you big time.
Elkbane

I won't be shooting it until I get the wrench and everything setup right myself. In speaking with the guy he was very apologetic and understood the severity of the mess up. I am going to wait to shoot it based on his statements as well as inspecting the rifle. I trust his judgement but I don't trust it enough to jeopardize myself. I will no longer be using them for any of my custom builds.

We stood around and talked for about 30 minutes after I got their about the normal stuff we talk about, guns and tools. There is no hard feelings over this between us and I will still talk to him after all of this. I explained to him that I think we are friends and friends are way more important than any inanimate object I might own.

I will no longer be using them for any of my custom builds but we are still going to be friends.


bluealtered,
Thanks for the kind words and I will make it through this, just not as unscathed as I or my doctors had hoped. None of my injuries are outwardly visible to most people, I wasn't burned or anything like that but the injuries have altered my perception of the rest of my life. I am, for the dirt time in my life, worried about being able to work to support my family.

Dolomite

...Had to reread your topic.. Got the full story now... ;)

I was able to see some witness marks and compared them to before. The headspace was so close, as a matter of fact it looked a little tighter than before. Because everything looked fine I decided to shoot it.

Shooting the loads I had worked up before seemed to be as accurate as before so everything seemed like it is going to work out. I still need to do some long range shooting to decide.

Dolomite

Dolomite i fully understand about supporting your family. However i have no doubt what so ever about your ability to do so. There are many ways to attack a problem, it may simply take a different approach and planning. You have everything you need, the love of your family and belief in your self. That is what it takes to overcome anything thrown at you. blue