Budget Stevens 200 build

[bennettk90]

Talked to them about a month and a half ago...they had some family stuff come up and it put them behind (production time). I can wait. It just makes the final product that much more fulfilling. Sux though because i am slightly impatient (understatement) most of the time. Especially when i am this excited for the final product.

[bennettk90]

well, during my waiting period for the stock i decided to work on a basic tumbler set up for cleaning some .308 cases.
first tried using an oscillating tool with a coffee can attached to it as some kind of a vibratory tumbler. everything was going fine until i clamped it in a vise mounted to my shed work bench. when i turned it on it vibrated so louldly i felt as if i was in a giant drum. forgot that my workbench was built into the shed frame(for extra durability). my wife heard it inside the house and thought i was trying to create frankenstein or something so she came outside to investigate...EPIC FAIL!!!

so i decided to make another (quieter attempt) at a tumbler. based it on some designs from some other forums. used my belt sander as the power source and rigged up 2 shafts riding on bearings with 2 pulleys and an "eagle belt". put some grip sleeve on the driven shaft and voila!! a tumbler.

[bennettk90]

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/bennettk90/th_2013-10-28_11-18-34_656.jpg (http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/bennettk90/2013-10-28_11-18-34_656.mp4)

[bennettk90]

BOOYA!! cheap and dirty just the way i like it.
in the spirit of Halloween maybe I'll tumble some cases inside a pumpkin. hahahha

[LoneWolf]

Any updates. Scrolling through this thread has caught my interest. Trigger guard is unique and turned out stellar!

[bennettk90]

Well guys. I am still waiting for my stock. I have been In contact with stockade and they are still working on catching up so....I'll keep waiting

[bennettk90]

Ok everybody. I got my money saver stock from stockade yesterday. Didn't look too rough, just a few spots that needed some love. After a rough sand on the seams and some pin hole spots, I put bondo on the seams, butt and around the edges of the stock. I sanded with 100 grit and finished with 320. After cleaning everything up, I put the action and barrel into the stock just to see how it looks. upon tightening down the action screws I noticed i could not cycle the bolt. After some investigating, I found that the front action screw was too long and touching the bolt face, locking the whole thing up. I now have to decide on weather I want to shorten the screw or add a spacer to take up the slack. I'll figure that out later. Good news though, my triggerguard still fits in the new stock so +1 for me. I think its all ready for paint, so until I get to that, here are some pics of the woodchuck stock
.

[bennettk90]

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/bennettk90/20131231_153010.jpg (http://s792.photobucket.com/user/bennettk90/media/20131231_153010.jpg.html)

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/bennettk90/20131231_102152-1.jpg (http://s792.photobucket.com/user/bennettk90/media/20131231_102152-1.jpg.html)

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/bennettk90/20131231_145326.jpg (http://s792.photobucket.com/user/bennettk90/media/20131231_145326.jpg.html)

[bennettk90]

While I was waiting for the stock, I made my first batch of .308 win shells, turned out good. I'm gonna test them out before i change my factory set up, just to make sure they work fine in a factory rifle. heres a pic. 168 gn Horniday hpbt I believe they are the zmax bullets, got them from midway as blemished bullets. used some spent shells from my last range session.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/bennettk90/20131230_170957.jpg (http://s792.photobucket.com/user/bennettk90/media/20131230_170957.jpg.html)

[buxman66]

Build looks great! Just looked thru this thread page by page. Very nice t'guard Impressive! Bridgeport milling machine would fit your bill nice. Got 4-5 of em @ work I have access to myself. Try one out, you'll
want one! I'm gonna be following your build.

[SlimySquirrel]

Hey that is really coming together nice!

Does that money saver have the integral bedding bock?

Cant tell from the picture...

[bennettk90]

Yeah, only thing that it doesnt have is the finish. They pretty much pull it out of the mold and there you go. Still had to clean the releasing agent off of it. Thats why I was willing to wait. They make the best savage stocks, for the money.

[fossil]

Good to see you finally got your stock. My brother waited 31-weeks to get his Stockade stock and you're right in there too - Stockade should just tell people it will be an 8-month wait before you get your stock. JMHO

[bennettk90]

Yeah, mine was ordered in february delivered december

[TheTomcat]

Wow, very cool. Really nice job on the trigger guard and bolt knob. You could sell those!

[243LPR]

I would just shorten the front screw.

[bennettk90]

Yeah. Grabbed some new screws from work and cut them to fit. All better. The action is all back to normal.

[buxman66]

Cool good to hear it. What are you thinking for optics?

Eta: maybe shoulda asked what's the specifics on the Redfield.

[bennettk90]

Its a 4x12 accuranger varmint reticle. Really cool scope. Not really a target scope but I like the rangefinder capabilities

[bennettk90]

ok guys. little issue. went to put my new barrel on and everything was looking good until setting head spacing. i used my go gauge to set spacing and then put a .004 shim on the bolt face (minus the ejector parts), everything ok until i tried to put my resized brass in to check everything, and not even close to closing. factory rounds are fine but the resized stuff is a no go. the thing that gets me is that i just shot off a few of my reloaded rounds through the factory barrel and they were fine, after switching barrels now they dont fit. is it because of the "match" barrel. I read that for new match chambers, it is not recommended using resized brass, only factory rounds. is it not working because they were first fired in the other barrel, and is formed to work in that specific chamber. or could it also be that i need a full resizing die instead of my lee hand loader that only neck sizes. i figured i would ask the knowledge of the forum before i call NSS.