Wringin' out the Stevens 87-A

[Jim]

Please see my report on my site (http://floydpics.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/wringin-out-the-stevens-87-a/).

[daniel lawecki]

Nice shooting Jim the range report is first class as always.

[atr]

Hey Jim,
those targets look good....
I have never gotten good accuracy results with the sub-sonic .22 rounds, and my High Standard SportKing is fussy about the ammo I feed it. Remington and CCI work great but Federal always jam. On the other hand the shorts will cycle the action.
art

[Jim]

Hey Jim,
those targets look good....
I have never gotten good accuracy results with the sub-sonic .22 rounds, and my High Standard SportKing is fussy about the ammo I feed it. Remington and CCI work great but Federal always jam. On the other hand the shorts will cycle the action.
art

It's been my experience that I find the best accuracy with ammo that is running along about MACH or just better. I'm really surprised to hear that shorts will cycle the action for you.

[35remington]

I presume you shot at least 15 shots between dissimilar ammo brands to condition the bore for the differing lube before shooting for group size?

[KCSO]

Jim I have my Uncles 87A and my Father in Law shot one of these from 1946 to 1997. I drilled and tappped mine and put on a scope and it will cut one ragged hole at 25 yards and shoot under an inch at 50. They are a grand old gun but Savage marketing like to killed them by changing numbers every time they changed a screw. They went from 6-187 with about a hundred model changes.

[atr]

Jim,
I too was surprised that the shorts would cycle the action. The barrel was stamped with LR, Long and Shorts, so it appeares the rifle was designed that way. The really fun part is that I can load the tube with 17 of the shorts and rattle them off. This High Standard model is a good shooter in spite of a very mushy trigger pull.

[KCSO]

Shorts are not suppose to cycle the action, it's marks semi auto with L/R only. Shorts are for when you use it as a bolt action. If shorts cycle the action the recoil spring is about shot and you are slowly beating the gun to death with L/R rounds. Allso do NOT dry fire these as the barrels will peen quickly, I'll bet I have re cut or re formed the chambers on two dozen of these.

[blixen]

Very nice testing and a good shooting rifle. What was the distance? Thanks.
I have a sav./stev. 87 with a williams peep sight on it. One of my favorite rifles. But my trigger has a long, springy pull.

[Jim]

A hundred feet, Bill. I forgot to document that. Thanks for asking, I'll update the report.

[Para82]

Have had one of those for years. Thanks for reminding me. Need to dust it off and shoot it some.I only shoot shorts in mine if the bolt is locked.

[Jim]

I shot LRs in it with the bolt locked to see if it would make a difference. It didn't seem to bother the rifle.

[KCSO]

The bolt lock is plenty strong enough for use as a bolt action with 22 LR. Actually more locking area than a lot of cheap bolt aactions. The back thrust is so weak on a 22 lr that you can just HOLD the bolt closed with your hand when you shoot.