Stevens 200 Review

This post is a review of my current rifle, a Stevens 200. Savage makes the Stevens brand. It even has the chief head mark on the bottom of the grip.

The other aesthetically appealing thing, for me at least, is that “STEVENS” is printed on the bolt. Having the same name as the rifle is somewhat of kick for me. Okay so I’m easily amused.

What drew me to this rifle in the first place was the price. It was the first year Savage had come out with these Stevens rifles and it was tagged at $199 from Bass Pro. It didn’t look like much when I bought it, and I wasn’t expecting much taking it home. I was mainly after a big game hunting rifle. I was extremely surprised when I got this rifle home and learned more about rifles in general. It had many features of a good rifle, but I hadn’t the knowledge or experience to look for them before I had bought it. Point being, I lucked out.

Starting from the business end of the gun, I found it had a free-floating, blued barrel. It is 22” long with a 1:10 twist. The barrel is also light and tapered, with a rounded crown on it.

Moving back we get to the stock. It’s a gray synthetic stock that is mostly hallow. Being hollow does give it a bit of a flimsy feel to it. It is, however, strong enough that I don’t worry about it. There are standard swivel studs (one on the fore-end and on the shoulder rest) that I have mounted a bi-pod and attached a military style sling. On top is my 8-32x44 BSA scope. I’ll get into the accessories with later posts.

The action is chambered for 270 Winchester. It has a standard cylindrical bolt with the afore mentioned “STEVENS” mark on it. The bolt is smooth and feels strong. The head of the bolt also has some checkering on it, I am assuming for slip resistance. But the best part of the action, other than the fact that it is safe and works, is the safety. It is on top of the action where your thumb rests as you are ready to fire. It is in a very natural position, which makes operating it very easy and natural to operate.

The trigger is a standard trigger, as the Stevens brand does not come with an option for the Accu-trigger. It seems to have a nice break on it, but my experience in that area is limited. The pull weight is still set at what ever it rolled off the factory line at. I do not have a scale to measure it. Overall it has a nice, but not great, trigger. On the back of the rifle I have mounted a Limb-Saver recoil pad, which helped with the recoil from this some what light rifle.

Needless to say, at this point the gun shoots much better than I do. Therefore I have no idea what it is capable of in terms of accuracy. The exception is that both my brother and I hit a soda can at ~415 yards with about a dozen rounds of zeroing in, each.

I am very happy with the rifle.

-Steven Kipp