Finished my Stevens Project

H

hounddawg

New member
A month or two back I decided I wanted to customize a rifle to exactly what I wanted instead of buying something off the shelf. I like the Savage 10 actions and they have a reputation for being the small block Chevy of the rifle world so I ordered a Stevens 200 in .243. Decided to go with a varmint build so I switched calibers to .204 Ruger with a Criterion barrel, changed the bolt head to a .223, put it in a Choate tactical stock, CDI magazine frame and trigger guard, AI magazine, a Rifle Basix trigger, and a large knob Savage bolt handle. Put a Mueller Eradicator scope on it and played with my airbrush for awhile and here is what came out. Dies should be in Monday and weather permitting wil have it at the range Tuesday.


 
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Thanks, that was my first attempt with a airbrush other than a couple of hours worth of practice

The only original Stevens part is the receiver and the bolt assembly. If I were to do this over knowing what I know now I would have just ordered a Savage target action instead of the Stevens. But on the other hand I can convert this back into a .243 deer rifle suitable for humping through the mountains in about a hour
 
nah if I wanted to do a deer I would just put the .243 barrel and large boltface back on and sit in a stand overlooking a beanfield. Next purchase will be a .308 bull barrel then I will sell my F/TR and use part of the cash to set up for 6BR. Savage 110 actions really are easy to swap barrels on.
 
Think I have found my powder and load, RL10x and 39 Gr sierras, RL10x and 32 gr Sierras did pretty good also. It did not ike TAC and Varget gave me so so groups of around .75 to 1 inch. Needless to say 5 pounds of RL10x and 500 39 gr Sierras on the UPS truck


 
I have found BenchMark 26.5gr and SBK 32gr. to group exceptional in my CZ 527 Varmint in Kevlar .204. :)
 
was gonna try the Benchmark next if the RL10x didn't work out. Was hoping for the Varget or TAC since I have several pounds of each. But I don't have the patience to do ladders with the Sierras with them and with Dogtown the Varget showed a bit of promise but the TAC was all over.

Going to try it at 200, 300, 600, and 800 next week and see if it can at least hold it's own at 600 BR and 800 F open or will just fall apart at the longer ranges. Probably will end up ordering a 6BR or 30BR for LR though. However this is a fun little caliber to shoot at 100 and shoots great groups, cheap to shoot and almost no recoil.
 
Probably will end up ordering a 6BR or 30BR for LR though.
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Why not just build a .243 or .260 for long range? It will probably feed better than the BR cartridge and all you would have to do is pick up another ACIS mag for a repeater. I built my Stevens into a 1:7 twist .243 Win, I haven't taken it past 300 yet but it is sub moa at that range with 107 Sierra MK bullets, but I can run the 115 Bergers and DTAC bullets as well.

I've been seriously thinking of the CDI bottom metal as well when I go to restock my rifle. I want to do the McMillan A5 stock with detachable bottom metal so I can run a 10 round magazine. I'm hoping to head down to Raton and do some shooting at the NRA Whittington Center for the sporting rifle competition. I chose the .243 just because of the rules for the match 6mm-308 cal rifles and MV of 3000 fps or less, plus you have to shoot 60 rounds a day so I didn't want a cartridge that would beat me up. I already have quite a few dies for the .243 as well and with the heavy match bullets available I didn't se any reason to pick a 6.5 caliber at the time.
 
.243 tends to be a bit of a barrel burner and the .243 AI is even worse. Great hunting cartridges, accurate, plenty of power for mid size game and easy on the shoulder but I put 50 - 100 to rounds a week through my rifles. I could easily burn out a .243 barrel in 6 months to a year.

Knocking around some other ideas, 30 BR, 6.5 Creedmore, .280 Remington, 25-06, 6.5 x 47. There is no rush as I need to build my toy fund back up a bit first for the dies, bullets and brass. Also want to see how this little cartridge runs at the longer ranges. Will be May or June at least before I decide.

On the 6BR I have 600 or so 6mm bullets sitting in my bench drawer that I can either sell at a loss or go with another 6mm caliber. Like I said though no hurry, I still have a .308 for LR even if the .204 falls flat on its face at 300+

On the McMillan, buddy of mine had his rig up at the range yesterday and he has a Mac on it, beautiful stocks. I doctered the choate up to look sort of like a Mac with a home grown texture job and it shoot ok but it still aint a McMillan

Love the CDI mag though, took me two evenings to get it fitted and I still have to make sure it is seated well or I get feed issues.
 
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.243 tends to be a bit of a barrel burner
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I doubt I'll see much a difference in barrel life on my rifle vs. the 6mm BR. The type of shooting I want to do with it, and should get me past 5-6K rounds before I loose the accuracy I want. I should have enough shank left to set it back and clean the throat up at least once on my 26" barrel. You could always do the 6XC which will be a little better with the heavies than the BR and longer barrel life than the .243 Win.

BTW you need more bullets if all you have is 600 6mm in your drawer. :D I've got about 5X that, most are 55-70 grains for my little 6X47 Rem. I'm light on the heavies as I'm still trying to find the bullet my rifle likes best 105-115 grain range.
 
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