Thank You everyone
When you swapped out the barrel did you use the Savage 110 barrel as a replacement, or are there barrels listed for the Stevens 200 now?
Yes, I used the Savage 110 barrel, they work just fine. Both rifles have them on. They were purchased through Midway. The 223 barrel was real rough and fouled up quickly. I can not tell you how much I polished that bore, but it was a lot. I would shoot about 20 rounds, clean, polish. I did that cycle many times. I kept it up until it was not copper fouling any more. Now it shoots great. There are other sources of barrels now too. Shilen, Sharp Shooters Supply, PAC-NOR are just a couple of places that make replacement barrels for Savages. The A&B barrels are about the cheapest, not the best.
How well does the 221Fireball feed? Considering changing out my Savage 112 in 223Rem to 300Whisper at some stage for a short range varminter and cast bullet shooter.
Cheers...
I had trouble with the Fire Ball to start with. I used a Sharp Shooters single feed ramp. It did not want to feed. The bullet would enter the chamber. but the neck would hang up on the lip of the chamber mouth. After I figured out what was happening, I took the barrel back off and put a small chamfer on the chamber mouth. Just enough that the neck would not hang. I did it with a 60 degree deburring tool by hand. It feeds real slick now. If you wanted to keep it as a magazine feed, you would have to try it, to see if there were any thing hanging up. If the feed angle is steeper than the feed ramp, then It may feed just fine.
All of the work is easy to do.
It is mostly a matter of swapping out parts. The top one was an unfinished stock from Boyds. You can buy the finished or unfinished. The bottom one is the 200 stock that was sanded down so there were no rough spots and no "parting lines". I pained it a two tone to start with, but did not like the look. It was a beige with the checkering painted black. I did not like that, so I painted it a semi-gloss black all over. I had to open the barrel channels on both stocks. I used Krylon Fussion paint for 200 stock. I bought stainless steel trigger guards and bolt handles from an outfit over in Ohio (Sharp Shooters Supply). I drilled out the mounting holes to 8X32 and tapped them. I bedded the recoil lug in with JB Weld in both stocks. I added Rifle Basix triggers to both of them. Really the only thing left stock was the receiver and bolt. Changing barrels is real easy. I caught a break on the 223 barrel. I bought it on clearance for $100 + a barrel wrench. I paid $130 for the 221 barrel, but had the wrench already. I polished both of the barrels. the 223 got a lot more polishing than the 221 (see above). After shooting them some the action has smoothed out. Not as slick as my Remington 700, but not bad. The Savage guns have got to be the easiest guns to work on there is; and they shoot good too. These are not super cheap rifles, but they are cheaper than a top of the line rifle and shoot just about as well. I want to get one of their new actions and build a rifle with it. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to share. I love to talk about my guns. BTW I am a Maintenance Supervisor and I would love to build rifles for a living. I do not know how much better it could get than that.
Like I said above, if anyone has any questions, please ask...I do like to talk about reloading and guns.
