I picked up a Stevens Model 200 in .223 a couple days before Christmas at Sportsmans Warehouse for $259.99. With it I also picked up Warne Rings and Bases, and Butler Creek Flip Open Scope Lense Covers (for the 3x9x40mm Nikon Buckmaster I bought from a friend). All totalled I have $425.00 in this Stevens Model 200 in .223 including scope, mounts and covers.
As was stated the mold lines are visible in the stock, but that is cosmetic not functional. The molded in Aluminum Pillars on my stock could have been a little longer the way it looks as they do not extend to the top of the "Plastic". The Forend is indeed Free Floated as advertised. The only thing I have found so far that may need a little attention is when the stock screws are tightened I can feel the Barreled Action pull down into the stock, and this Rifle may or may not need to be bedded in the future.
Upon getting the Rifle ready to shoot I found instructions on another site on how to tune the old style Savage Trigger (which is what the Stevens uses). This was fairly simple and straight forward,, and was quite easy to do if the instructions were followed. The whole thing took about 20 minutes once I found the little E Clip I lost when disassembling the trigger. The end result was a super crisp 2 3/4 pound trigger. (I did not set the Trigger Pull Weight Screw any lighter than this for now, and may or may not lighten it up slightly after I get a couple hundred rounds throug this rifle).
After thoroughly cleaning the bore I headed to the range with some Ultra Max Commercial Reloads with 55gr. Winchester Pointed Soft Point Bullets. I zeroed the rifle initially at 30 yards, and once satisfied it was zeroed I moved back to 100 yards. The first 2 rounds fired at 100 yards were seperated by less than a half a bullet hole. However I should not have looked through the spotting scope as I must have got excited and pulled the 3rd shot. Yep knew it when the gun went off. At any rate I put the next 2 rounds between the first 3 and ended up with the first 5 shots at 100 yards going into 1". I shot another 5 - 5 shot groups at 100 yards that day, and the first was the largest, and the smallest was 5/8". I was quite pleased.
So far I have fired about 100 rounds through this Rifle and have not changed my mind yet. I think for the $$$ this is a hell of a rifle.
Larry
PS, yes for the record it does have a 1 in 9" Rifling Twist.
