Acceptable accuracy?
 

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.

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!

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.

The magical 1MOA number everyone throws around seems to be the std.

Many guns are 1MOA guns, I bet at least 70% are. But rare is the consistent MOA gun/shooter combo.

For that gun, I would feel ok with 1.5-2MOA.

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.

try 120 gr noslers
2 of my 7-08's wouldnt shoot 139 gr, 120's were fine and 162's were fine
didnt try any in the 150 range

...... I've not shot the 120 gr. yet. What I have found that worked well for me and some others was the 140 gr. Accubond and IMR 4350 at 48.0 gr. This load should be worked up to carefully, as anything else. I did try the Partitions in it with little luck, as well as 139 Hornady SP. Guns are individuals, and each will tell you what it likes to eat the best. I do think I will give the 120's a try this summer and see how they shoot in my gun, a Rem. 700 action. Good luck and be safe...

Absolutely not. But if I happen to see a deer in the foodplot at 400 yards and that particular rifle is handy, I don't want to have to pass over it just because it won't shoot well wnough to take the shot. Within reason, I expect all my rifles to shoot good enough for anyone to use. I also don't want to adopt the attitude that since my daughter will be shooting it, its accuracy isn't important. If anything, the less trigger time a shooter has, the more accuracy they need from the gun, no?

Huntability, with a rifle shooting 2" groups should be fine if the max yardage will be 200 yds. or so. I've been hunting over 45 years, shot a lot of game both east and west and I can count on one hand the number of animals I shot over 200 yds. Most of the rifles I have shoot consistant 1" groups and some that shoot better, some worse. In fact, my favorite rifle is my Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70. It shoots about 2 1/2" - 3" groups but that doesn't stop me from using it for black bear. And it has never let me down.
I am willing to bet that your Stevens will begin shooting better the more you play with it.

try a limbsaver barrel deresinator on those guns. my browning abolt micro would only shoot 1 1/2 -2in at 100 yds. added the limbsaver and its shooting 139grn hornady's at 3/4in now. you just have to find the sweet spot. mine is 4 1/4 in from the muzzle.

Some folks swear by these things... personally, I've always felt that there is something wrong with the barrel and/or the bedding if they help any. Kinda like taking pain pills for a toothache.... you haven't fixed the underlying problem. But hey....

My first suggestion is to put the gun in some sort of "Lead Sled" device to take some variables out of the equation.... such as human error, and TRIGGER PULL! You would be surprised at how much groups improve when the rifle does'nt move any tiny bit while the trigger is being squeezed. And, let the barrel cool completely between shots....this should take the "action and/or barrel to stock presure" out of the equation also. Then all your left with is crown (which I doubt is it, but still possible) and ammunition.

I'm going to have to agree strongly with Vapodog and Bigcountry. What is expected and what actually happens is two different things. Gun/Man combo thing is a big one. If you know someone in your club that is a really exceptional shot let him try a couple groups with your rifle and see how it does. We do it all the time at our club and on any given day it just might could be you. Not to brag but I'm usually one they hand a rifle to for a so called second opinion. Even just this year I had a really bad day at the range and handed my father my rifle and said shoot a few. It was me on that day.

If you use the MOA rule. If you got a 2" group at 200 then at 300 it's 3" and so on so forth. I would personally suggest trying to get it a 1 1/2" and under. It's not so easy to shoot 1/2" groups as most claim. I would say the average guy and the average rifle set up are around the 2" mark for hunting class rifles. But before I went and did any gunsmith work on the rifle I'd play around with different loads and bullet weights. Or let someone else have a crack at it. 2" is acceptable in most cases of hunting except for long range applications. And even that's not a absolute. I've seen a rifle shooting 2 1/2 groups still hit a pie plate at 500 yards 2 out of 3 times. Human error is a lot. I don't like vises or rests that put all the recoil back into the rifle. But they can tell you what's going on with the rifle and the load. I know if I shoot a group and three of them are touching and two of them are flyers I did that myself not the gun.

No matter the accuracy of a gun it will never be displayed without the shooter doing their part. I don't agree with accuracy making up for lack of practice at the range but I do agree that I would not accept poor accuracy just because a kid will be using it. I dont feel that 2" groups are poor accuracy for a deer rifle, but then again rarely will I ever have a shot over 150 yards anywhere I hunt.