Within the last year and a half or so I've bought 4 Stevens mod 200s. They were all MOA or better out of the box. All stripped a lot of copper off bullets and were a bear to clean. The one in .270 has been somewhat of a night mare. I have been removing deep blue color for two weeks, no exageration. Twice now I've given it the solvent Bon-Ami treatment to little avail.

This is not a request on how to get a barrel clean as I'm getting ready to replace it with a 6.5 X 55 Shaw barrel that I aquired.This is being posted as an advisory.\

The 22-250 barrel responded well to the Bon-Ami and severe cleaning treament as did the .223. The .243 barrel was finely replaced with a .250-3000 deep throated barrel ( sweet )and I will never look back. roger

FYI The barrel on the Savage 12VBSS-S is flawless. I post this as they are made by the same company. roger

Roger,

Sounds like the stevens get the bad barrels and the non accutrigger... and the Savages get the better stuff...

quote:

Originally posted by seafire/B17G:
Roger,

Sounds like the stevens get the bad barrels and the non accutrigger... and the Savages get the better stuff...

That well may be ,John. Just now got back from the range. When the accutrigger works it is really pleasant but mine locks up about every fourth or fifth shot now. You knowit's a sad thing that Savage does not have a warranty repair center on the west coast. At least one of my Stevens does the same thing. Nagativity? No, not even sour grapes, just the facts. roger

MY stevens 200 in 300 win mag has a very smooth barrel and is a joy to clean. It makes my tikka T-3 look like sandpaper. However...the tikka is clearly a better shooter (Savage isn't bad though).
NO complaints on the stevens 200 for the money it's a great buy.

My Stevens 200 in 270 outshoots, slightly, my Savage Classic in 243. Cleaning is not a problem, bore is very nice.

quote:

Originally posted by wymple:
My Stevens 200 in 270 outshoots, slightly, my Savage Classic in 243. Cleaning is not a problem, bore is very nice.

Be glad to swap. roger

My Stevens 200 in .223 has one of the smoothest bores of any factory rifle I own. Very little copper fouling and most of what I get is powder fouling. I use CLP Foaming Bore Cleaner and Butches Bore Shine and rarely do I see much blue.

quote:

Originally posted by hunt127588:
My Stevens 200 in .223 has one of the smoothest bores of any factory rifle I own. Very little copper fouling and most of what I get is powder fouling. I use CLP Foaming Bore Cleaner and Butches Bore Shine and rarely do I see much blue.

My mod 200, 223 isn't near bad also. roger

Its been my practice to fire a few lapping rounds through factory barrels if they prove hard to clean. Hasn't affected their initial accuracy, but has made them easier to clean.

On factory unlapped barreled rifled, I scrub the bore well with a tight fitting patch loaded with JB Bore Paste, about 100 strokes. That smoothes out the bore good, and accuracy improves.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
Within the last year and a half or so I've bought 4 Stevens mod 200s. They were all MOA or better out of the box. All stripped a lot of copper off bullets and were a bear to clean. The one in .270 has been somewhat of a night mare. I have been removing deep blue color for two weeks, no exageration. Twice now I've given it the solvent Bon-Ami treatment to little avail.

This is not a request on how to get a barrel clean as I'm getting ready to replace it with a 6.5 X 55 Shaw barrel that I aquired.This is being posted as an advisory.\

The 22-250 barrel responded well to the Bon-Ami and severe cleaning treament as did the .223. The .243 barrel was finely replaced with a .250-3000 deep throated barrel ( sweet )and I will never look back. roger

These ain't top end rifles we're talking about. For the price, how can you argue with the performance?? If the barrel's rough, it means you need to shoot it some more and smooth things out.

quote:

Originally posted by Tex21:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by bartsche:


These ain't top end rifles we're talking about. For the price, how can you argue with the performance??

No arguement here. This is intended more of a performance advisement that you really do get what you pay for. No free lunch I guess. roger

For almost two years now I've been a Savage Stevens advocate.Looking at things objectively, however, things (me) are changing.

The 12VBss-s shoots like a charm. The accutrigger hangs up or sticks about every fourth or fifth shot. One of my four Stevens Mod 200s does the same thing, with the old style trigger.

Two maybe three of the Stevens had feeding problems. The 22-250 was so unmanagable I cobbled up a single shot follower for it. Two of them when actuating the bolt allowed the cartridge to jump up so the rear end of the case was higher than the bolt and would jam. Intentionally rapidly ( really fast) slaming the bolt forward helped a lot. Slow? Forget it.

My .270 Stevens suffers dramaticly from bore fouling.

For shooting paper I guess these problems are livable. For dependable field rifles they do not measure up. I'm sure with a little work the situuations can be bettered but for someone to take the rfiles out of the box and be used reliably it's a crap shoot. roger

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by wymple:
My Stevens 200 in 270 outshoots, slightly, my Savage Classic in 243. Cleaning is not a problem, bore is very nice.


Be glad to swap. roger

It's too pretty, and still a good shooter.