Reply With QuoteGreat Job , very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I purchased a Stevens 200 in .223 from Academy back when they were available for about 225 bucks if I remember correctly. If only I knew then what I knew now. I would have hit every Academy in a 3 state area and bought them all... lol. After making the purchase, I started looking around the internet doing some reading about the rifle and came across this site. Once I read about all the wonderful things you could do to these rifles, I got really excited and planned a build. About a year ago, I got started by purchasing a 9 twist Criterion varmint barrel along with a lug, nut and some tools from Jim at NSS. Then I bought a laminate thumbhole varmint stock from Stocky's and waited for everything to come dribbling in. I put it all together and that's when I hit a snag. I want to shoot some longer, higher BC bullets out of this rifle, and the ammo that I had loaded up for it, was too long for the chamber in this barrel. I shot an email to Criterion and they were more than accommodating. They told me to ship the barrel back along with a dummy cartridge of the ammo I wanted to shoot in it. They performed some reamer magic on the barrel and sent it back to me and didn't charge me a penny.
That brings us up to this weekend, when I finally got a chance to build this rifle... again.
Here's the action already bolted up in the wrench, the barrel, lug and barrel nut. I used a little Moly grease on the barrel threads that I had left over from assembling my AR. Also pictured is my favorite rifle building fuel.
I've tried this several ways, but I find the easiest way for me is to chuck up the action wrench in the bench vise and do all the work with the nut wrench.
Here is my calibrated whack-o-matic torqueing device.
And here is the finished product. A Timney trigger, Warne Maxima bases and rings, and a Bushnell Elite Tactical 10x40 round out the parts list. I'm not sure how I'm going to like the fixed power scope. I shopped for scopes until my head was ready to explode, and finally I just got tired and bought this one. I figured it's good glass, and if I don't like it for this application I'll throw it on my .17HMR or something. I am thrilled with the way this rifle came out. She's a tad under 12 lbs. Range report will be coming soon. I can't wait to get out and see how she shoots after all this time.
Great Job , very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very Nice... I wish I had about 3 or 4 Stevens 200 short actions laying around too...
Nice job..
Ill bet youll be wishing for a 1:8 or 1:7 barrel before long.
Originally Posted by langenc
You are probably right. That's probably the one thing I would change if I could. I'm hoping this one will shoot the 70gr TSX, for those larger varmints. We shall see.
Thanks for the kind words guys. I had a ball building this one, and I'm already hatching a plot for another build in the back of my mind... lol
That can certainly be arranged...
That build came together nicely. Please let us know if there's anything else we can help out with!
Thanks a bunch. If I can ever finish remodeling my kitchen, I'm going to see what she can really do. It looks really promising after the first 15 rounds. You guys have definitely earned some repeat business. Keep up the good work.
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