Hi, I'm new here, so I'll just jump right in. I recently acquired a Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 at a fair deal. I thought it would be a great gun for my daughter to shoot, but I'm having difficulty getting a load worked up that it likes. Anyone have any experience with these guns?
Also, I have a New England single shot in 7mm-08 that she has used in the past. It has fair accuracy, but I wonder if I'm expecting too much from these two. What is the expected accracy level of these two models? I have Remingtons, a Ruger and a Winchester that all shoot well....far better than these two.
All modern rifles should be able to attain at least 2" MOA given the "correct" ammo from the bench.
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They will shoot 2", but I like 1" groups a lot better, and though they don't do it all the time, my Remingtons and my Ruger do it regularly. 2" at 100 yards is 8" at 400.....I don't care for that kind of accuracy. I'm still playing with loads looking for the magic one.....
Probably a dumb question, but have you had a good gunsmith check the crown of the bore? I know improper use of a cleaning rod will damage the crown thus resulting in less than desirable accuracy. Learned that lesson years ago when I bought a gun from a "friend".
I've owned very few rifles that I couldn't get to shoot 1 1/4" 5-shot groups. Some took more work than others and some shot much better.
There's far more 1/2" groups fired on the internet than ever fired on a rifle range.....so don't get your expectations too high......and yes.....it might produce some little clover leafs occasionally!
Glass bed the action, free float the barrel, and try bullets known for accuracy.....Ballistic tips among them as well as SSTs
I have no experience with the break action rifle but the Stevens should produce good groups for you.....possibly MOA!
Probably a dumb question, but have you had a good gunsmith check the crown of the bore? I know improper use of a cleaning rod will damage the crown thus resulting in less than desirable accuracy. Learned that lesson years ago when I bought a gun from a "friend".
I haven't done that. I bought the single shot from a friend who bought it new, and I'm the only one who's put a cleaning rod through it. He used a bore snake to clean it, and only hunted with it for two seasons, firing less than two boxes through it. The Stevens' crown I don't know about...though the gun looked clean/nearly new. The only reason I went for it was that it came with 5 boxes of Winchester Supreme ammo and a camo zip case for $250.
The stocks are flimsy on the 200s. You may have to increase your bbl float and mebbe some bedding but it shouldn't take much to get it goin. You could even see if pressuring the bbl against the stock with aluminum foil in different spots will help.
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They will shoot 2", but I like 1" groups a lot better, and though they don't do it all the time, my Remingtons and my Ruger do it regularly. 2" at 100 yards is 8" at 400.....I don't care for that kind of accuracy. I'm still playing with loads looking for the magic one.....
My question would be do you expect your child to shoot 400 yards?
2" at 100 yards from a discount rifle isn't too shabby and certainly huntable.
2" groups from a budget rifle is acceptable in my book, though I suspect you could do a bit better with some tweaking. That's still good enough hunting accuracy for out to 250 yards or more.
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Acceptable accuracy?
