Seasoned with big bores, green with the .22's

[2644ever]

Some evil entity made me do it: I purchased a .223 Rem rifle... It's a Stevens 200 with a slim 22" barrel with a 1 in 9" twist. Just wanted to find out what could be expected from such a rifle as I've always been impressed by what I could obtain from reworked Savage actions or Savage .308 Win rifles out of the box. So did I just buy a lemon? I'd like to shoot 68 and 69 grainers and the 75 A-Max from Hornady, is the rifle up to the task? I plan to change the sorry excuse for a recoil lug for a Holland as I always did on my Savages, but maybe I'll just resurface it along with barrel nut. I'm pleasantly surprised by the reliability of the magazine, it's a new type that feeds from the center and cycles flawlessly even if you try to pull an Alvin York.
So if anybody on this forum has the same rifle, i'd like to know his opinion about it. Thank you guys.

 

[MrMajestic]

I have a Model 12 Varmint barreled, accu-everything and a 1in9" twist. It shoots the 75 gr. A-Max in Lapua cases full of VV N140 and ignited by any match primer into 1/2 MOA all day. Not apples to apples but hope this helps. FYI it really likes Hornady's 68 gr. BTHP also!

 

[2644ever]

Thanks, His Majesty it's good to know the 1 in 9" twist won't be borderline with the A-Max, and as I have a full can of N 540 left from previous experiments, I think I may have a potential winner, provided I don't treat the tube like it were a heavy one. One last thing, I have access to surplus SS-109 ammo, it chambers easily with a very slight resistance (just to warn you it's there) and i've heard all types of caveat about 5,56 ammo and commercial .223 chambers. Is it safe to shoot this stuff, in order to break the barrel in or is it hazardous because of the leade that's supposed to be different? I'm a complete newbie regarding .223's, should I disassemble the rifle, put the barrel on a lathe and ream a 5,56 chamber in order to be safe with military ammo, or is the aforementioned hazard just plain BS?

 

[MrMajestic]

The leade in my model 12 is very long and I doubt any civilian or military ammo would jam the rifling. My 75 gr. handloads exceed the magazine length and my Colt AR upper leade is close to the same length. Are there witness marks on the bullet when you chamber a round? I would not do anything to the barrel until you see how it shoots. If you are in question about the 5.56 stuff have your gunsmith check it out before firing it.

 

[2644ever]

Just checked with an SS109 round, no marks of any kind. As a matter of fact, I also checked with a resized case and an A-Max and I can load as long as 2.299 before meeting the rifling. This is good news for the A-Max and it's not as good for the SS-109 accuracywise. We'll see...

 

[2644ever]

Finally tested the rifle at 400yds. After a very simplified break in process (cleaning after 1st shot then every 5 rounds) I can say that it's very promising either with the old M-193 or the SS-109.
Trigger is decent but needs some polishing work anyway as there's a little amount of creep at the very start.
Can't wait to reload and try the a-max.
Outstanding little rifle for the money.

 

[MrMajestic]

Glad it's working out for you. Break-in is critical, factory barrels are real rough but smooth out with a proper procedure. No copper at all in mine but it took 75-100 rounds.