A day late as usual, but here is my 2 cents:
I have a Stevens 200 in 223. It is very accurate with 55 and 60 grain ammo of all types tried. The stock was ugly and a flimsy piece of "stuff". I bedded it with epoxy, a shim, and a machine screw to support the tang (I know sacrilege). I then sprayed it with Duplicolor bedliner after drawknifing the mold lines off the stock. It is sub MOA effectively all of the time, with some truly little bitty groups.
The Stevens has a hard slab of rubber for a recoil pad (not an issue on 223, just making observation). It is, by Savage Marketing Dept own admission, made using wornout stock molds for the 10/110 series rifles.
I have had 4 barrels on my Handi frame, 223, 308, 44, 357. The 223 was a literal tackdriver, single hole rifle with ONLY 45 Win White Box ammo. The 308 was a 2" rifle and the 44 slugged out at .432. The 357 is a work in progress.
I am sorry to rain on the Handi parade, but there are few real bargains. The rifle is at $200-250 price point and so is Mossberg ATR and Stevens 200. They are all great hunting rifles for the average hunter, not necessarily for the gun nut crowd.
The die hard Handi people love them because you like to tinker and improve things. You can more or less say, "I did this". That's cool. Same here, but don't kid yourselves about the consistency of any rifle under, say, $400.
The Remington 700 is a better rifle, it is a simple fact. But it is also in a different price class, and is apples to oranges.
Handi is better finished than Stevens, especially with wood. I second what Partsman says about visibility of hammer being cocked. My father in law disagrees and says that a child can't safely lower hammer on live round. Swapping barrels CHEAPER and easier on Handi.
Stevens is repeater......is probably as inconsistent as Handi in quality/accuracy. I got a good one and I love it for plinking.
To answer the question then, I would say to buy the Handi. But not because it is an awesome rifle. In this price category it fulfills your need to have a youth hunting rifle, and is barrel swappable with mechanical skill at the range.
Rifles themselves are like groups. We remember the best rifles and we remember the best groups. We blame poor groups on wind, or pulling the shot, or Ramadan. With rifles we take the best shooting Handis to the range and shuffle the lesser ones to the back of the safe or closet. Sure, I fired a single hole group that was less than .250 inches ONE time with my 7-08. But it isn't a quarter MOA rifle. It was a statistical anomaly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distributionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristicLaugh if you want, but this is how your brain really works. And, yes, I have pretty advanced degree to be working at Wal-Mart.
