Stevens 200 Action / Budget Long Range Rifle Build

TORCHRIDER

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I have aquired a like new Stevens 200 rifle in .270 Winchester, and would like to use the action to build a budget long range rifle. What is entailed in building a .338 edge from this action?

I have built a few other guns from parts (10/22, AR 15, 1911) but this would be my first bolt gun. Detailed guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
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The tools you'll need are a nut wrench (Stainless, $25 from Jim Briggs) and an action wrench. The cheap wheeler one from Midway works good.

For the rifle, you'll need a magnum bolthead. You can get a bare one and all the parts from midway.

Get your prefit barrel from any of the manufacturers. A Shilen from Jim Briggs would be a good choice. Or, one from Sin Arms fitted with a muzzle brake.

You'll also want to upgrade stocks. I'd look at Stockade, Bell & Carlson, and Choate.

You could also get a better trigger. I've had very good luck with a factory 3-screw. You could also get a Sharp Shooter Supply or Rifle Basix SAV-2.

The tools, bolthead, and barrel are the minimum to get you shooting. The stock and trigger will bring it up to a great rifle.
 
Not sure you can do an edge on the Stevens 200 action I believe you would need a savage large shank action to do any of the ultra mag cases. I just did a savage 116 from 270 to a 6.5-284 and I love it remember anything like a 7 rem mag or larger will need a new bolt face.
 
Many have built 338's on that action and I may for my next venture. You probably won't be able to use the mag but other than that it won't be that bad. Mcgowen outlet even has A standard shank barrel ready to go. Geargrinder pretty much has you covered in his post. The site in my sig line has some details on a build with one under the builds section. Savage shooters would be a good read as well.
 
Sell it and buy the right Mag action for the job. It will handle better pressures and you will be money ahead. Nothing wrong with the Savage action but the combo you have is "bad for business":)
 
Sell it and buy the right Mag action for the job. It will handle better pressures and you will be money ahead. Nothing wrong with the Savage action but the combo you have is "bad for business":)

Wrong.

The Savage action can handle the Edge pressures just fine.

There is no difference between this action and any magnum Savage action. Just like there is no difference between a Rem 700 270win action and a Rem700 7mag action. They are built the same. Just different bolt faces.

I've built many RUM and WSM rifles on small shank Savage actions. Never had a problem related to pressure. No bolt lug setback, no abutment setback....nothing.
 
Wrong.

The Savage action can handle the Edge pressures just fine.

There is no difference between this action and any magnum Savage action. Just like there is no difference between a Rem 700 270win action and a Rem700 7mag action. They are built the same. Just different bolt faces.

I've built many RUM and WSM rifles on small shank Savage actions. Never had a problem related to pressure. No bolt lug setback, no abutment setback....nothing.

I second these comments. Built a couple mags off of the small shank. Not a problem. Build is easy.
 
In questions of my own... Does steven action need or can they be helped buy truing/blueprinting the action to make it a great shooter. I have a stevens and would like to change mine over to a 7Rem Mag. I have the barrel and the stuff to do it with minus the head space gauge. I also wanted to get a switch barrel for a 7mm-300win mag caliber as well. I'm a little unguided on the action treads being recut to true because I've been told you will need to have the threads cut on the barrel as well so the barrel to match so will the barrel have to be set back and recut, chambered etc.etc.etc. I think this makes it where you cannot get one of the pre-fits. Is this correct?. O yes the gun started off a 300win mag so no bolt face change.
 
In questions of my own... Does steven action need or can they be helped buy truing/blueprinting the action to make it a great shooter. I have a stevens and would like to change mine over to a 7Rem Mag. I have the barrel and the stuff to do it with minus the head space gauge. I also wanted to get a switch barrel for a 7mm-300win mag caliber as well. I'm a little unguided on the action treads being recut to true because I've been told you will need to have the threads cut on the barrel as well so the barrel to match so will the barrel have to be set back and recut, chambered etc.etc.etc. I think this makes it where you cannot get one of the pre-fits. Is this correct?. O yes the gun started off a 300win mag so no bolt face change.

Don't touch your action threads if you ever want to use a prefit barrel.

You can send your action to Stockade or SSS for a time and true. They will face the action and barrel nut in relation to the action threads. They will also true your bolt head lugs and abutments. They will also recut the cocking ramp and install a bolt lift kit to reduce the force needed to lift the bolt.

All said, everything they do has very little to do with accuracy, but will greatly improve the function of the rifle.

There are many things a regular person can do to improve a Savage action. Polish the cocking ramp, adjust the trigger, and fire several hundred rounds will usually fetch the biggest improvements.
 
The tools you'll need are a nut wrench (Stainless, $25 from Jim Briggs) and an action wrench. The cheap wheeler one from Midway works good.

For the rifle, you'll need a magnum bolthead. You can get a bare one and all the parts from midway.

Get your prefit barrel from any of the manufacturers. A Shilen from Jim Briggs would be a good choice. Or, one from Sin Arms fitted with a muzzle brake.

You'll also want to upgrade stocks. I'd look at Stockade, Bell & Carlson, and Choate.

You could also get a better trigger. I've had very good luck with a factory 3-screw. You could also get a Sharp Shooter Supply or Rifle Basix SAV-2.

The tools, bolthead, and barrel are the minimum to get you shooting. The stock and trigger will bring it up to a great rifle.
Hello I bought a Stevens 200 3006 and the magazine is attached to the stock, (center feed) I cant find a stock for the rifle? any help would be great.
 
Hello I bought a Stevens 200 3006 and the magazine is attached to the stock, (center feed) I cant find a stock for the rifle? any help would be great.

The only difference between centerfeed stocks and staggerfeed stocks is the inletting for the "L" clip for your centerfeed magazine.

The screw spacing is the same. All you need to do is figure out a way to fasten you magazine to the stock. Maybe just inlet for the "L" clip. Or, use some epoxy to lighly glue your magazine into the mag well. That's what I did when I converted a stagger feed 7mmRM into a center feed 223. Just made a spring retainer for the bottom of the magazine then used a couple balls of the knead together epoxy putty to fix the magazine into the correct position.
 
I have a couple of Stevens action based rifles. One is a long action I bought from Jim Briggs, that I have 6.5x55, 7mm and 300mag barrels for, the short action was a .308 rifle I bought that usually sports a .223 barrel.

With the exception of the .308, all barrels were bought used. They are exactly as accurate as I am. Timney Triggers were purchased from Brownells for both actions, easy retrofit, crisp, appears to be about the same as the Rifle Basix trigger. Boltheads/parts for the magnum and .223 were purchased from Midway. Boyds laminate stocks were used for both these centerfeed (mag box attached to the stock) actions. Stiff stock, actions fit nicely, needed to do a little sanding to fit the thicker Shilen 6.5x55 barrel.

I started this little rifle building hobby with no previous experience. The Article "Long Range Rifle On A Budget" on this site started the ball rolling. Strongly encourage visiting SavageShooters.com for all the info/links needed to do the work on these rifles.
 
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