Stevens/Savage
Not only are Stevens (or Savages) a wonderful rifle out of the box, there is so much more you can do with them.
Check out
www.savageshooters.com and tool around that website a little bit. There is so much to learn there. You can have a multi-caliber rifle for the cost of a barrel and bolt face per caliber. A savage is easy for almost anyone with reasonable mechanical inclination to work on, you can change a barrel and bolt face in about 10 minutes with no gunsmithing required thanks to the barrel nut. There are plenty of accessories for a savage, ranging from triggers to stocks and more. They are the most accurate stock rifle out of the box bar none, and no one will ever convince me otherwise (very few will argue to begin with). Not to mention that they are cheaper than almost anything else (especially a stevens, which is just simply a savage without accutrigger).
There are some drawbacks. The long action is VERY long. The synthetic stock that comes on them isn't the greatest, especially if you shoot with bipods (forearm flex). The finish isn't the absolute greatest (though I don't care much bout that. I'd rather it not be too pretty to begin with or I'll be too tempted to not shoot it) but it's not bad. Working the bolt after a shot (re-cocking the firing pin) is sometimes unbearable, though I've seen this differ from rifle to rifle.
All in all, amazing rifles and you can build you're own semi-custom rifle with a little time and know-how. I have even taken the factory synthetic stock and did a pretty darn good bondo job to make it almost mcmillan-like. The bolt will get better as you shoot it, and MUCH better if you break it down and polish & time it. The long action is still VERY long though, thats the only thing I really don't like but I can live with it.
Congratulations on a fine rifle, I hope all of you have as much joy with yours as I have with mine. God bless
