1890's Savage Steven Favorite reproduction pics

[Stacey Lee]

Howdee !
I know this rifle is borderline postable at CasCity, but the little rifles and calibers are way overlooked here, and I also believe 1890 is plenty Western enough to post something about it.
This rifle is in .22 LR ........Serial number 181 from Canadas Stevens Factory. These little guns were specially made for serious one shot accurate hunting way back when , when there was little else to choose from to do this job , so it is certainly no Parlor gun, nor plinker, it had a definmate mission in mind and so did Mr. Stevens when he designed it.


This one is mine personally I did some work on. It is factory gold plated on the lever action, falling block, trigger, hammer, with me doing all the lettering , numbers, dates in 23kt inlay myself too.
The stock has tooooo many coats of hand rubbed Tru-oil to list, I lost count after about 30 or so.
I installed a Pachmyre recoil pad , obviously not for kick but looks, I like pads myself. It also has a Bronze Medallion inlayed into the buttstock of Mr. Stevens face that says " the Father of .22 Hunting".
I installed a VERY nice Lyman Front Globe Sight with inserts, and a rear Williams fold down semi-buckhorn with white diamond insert. Looks like a Mini-Buffalo gun !!! Now I just need to find some Mini-Buffalo to shoot? Oh yeh, Rabbits look like buffalo, right ? Sure they do !!
This rifle will shoot serious MOA with CCI Grean Tag ammo, and Mini-Mags do pretty nice out to 100 yards or so too. This is a serious one shot meat getter, and I have and do that. It has honestly paid for itself in game alone, let alone pure joy of shooting such a fine weapon with so much History.

I asked advice from Steel Horse Bailey on loads of PB in a .22 case for this gun to work up, so am busy doing that, and of course I appreciate his insight greatly on that by the way, very knowledgable man indeed. I think when I fall my first rabbit with a BP load in this rifle I will do back flips with joy no doubt !!! Look forward to hearing what that bullet sounds like, let alone a puff of smoke from the barrel !!! I wonder if the rabbit will know that he just died with a great deal of hunting history and heritage behind the bullet and gun that killed him? Probably not, but I sure will.

I really wish more people would post pics on this CasCity thing. I know you all have some cool historical guns like this Stevens, so how about posting them and relating some History facts about them too, ok ?

Ps...., it was a great day when Savage reproduced this long time "Favorite" weapon again for us to enjoy in the 21st Century. It hasn't really changed a lick , and is still one of the most accurate falling blocks in the world, only in super tiny caliber for our super tiny "Suppers and Dinners " we like to take with it. By far one of the best squirrel or rabbit guns on earth, hands down. One shot one kill, remember that!

Cheers, and enjoy the post and pics, this gun deserves some well needed Historical attention indeed.

Sincerely, Stacey Lee

[Dick Dastardly]

One of the first guns I ever shot was a stevens single shot.  I can't recollect the exact model, but I think it was called a Stevens Crack Shot.  Anyway, with it and a box of 22 shorts, I shot a lot of bunnies, squirrels and field gophers.  I sure wish I knew where that lil gun went. . .

Nice pix.

DD-DLoS

[Adirondack Jack]

Yers is purty for sure.  Mine's just old.







Smoothbore, model of 1894.  Shoots BB caps or shot nicely, but has a bit of excess headspace (cases bulge near the rims), so I don't shoot it a lot.

[rifle]

I like both those rifles. Always saw the Stevens 22 as a "hunting" rifle used when hunting meant "no wasting ammo". Neve knew there was a "22 Shot" smoothbore. How does that shoot? How close would a squirrel have to be to humanely kill it?

[Stacey Lee]

Howdee Rifle,

I guess way back in the way back machine in 1890 hunting days, waisting ammo was a bad thing to do, especially for a kid when his dad probably supplied the ammo . Probably would have got a good a$$ whippen for it actually.
But, in my opinion, accuracy was on Stevens' mind , not waisting ammo, hence the Falling Block design on the rifle . That, and if you know anything about Savage or Stevens rifles, the rifling in the barrel is some of the best in the world !!!!!!
My other opinion on the comment of not waisting ammo would be , why would anyone want more than one shot for one squirrel ? Probably ought to give up hunting if you plan on missing. But hey, that is just how I was raised, Seminole Indian, we don't miss much nor ever plan to miss, just ask the Cavalry, whats left of them back then in lower Florida , ha ha ha.
Back up shots are nice, but one shot, one kill is a motto to live by and your DUTY as a hunter to try to provide to humainly dispatch Gods little creatures you plan on eating. At least you better be eating what your shooting I hope ? Well, ok, steel plates are not really eatable, but you get my point anyway right ?

Good point you made though on not waisting ammo back then, I never even thought of that angle !!! Thanks for enlightening my otherwise narrow mind !!! Ha aha ha !!!

Cheers and have a great day all of you !!!
Sincerely, Stacey Lee

[Adirondack Jack]

I've not shot the little stevens at squirrels yet.  My 12 year old did dispatch a bird out of a tree at maybe 40 feet with it, and the bird dropped like a stone.  With BB caps, once I got it dialed (no rear sight), I shot bats in my attic with it, and the round ball is very effective with no fear of holing the roof    IMHO, it was a good barn gun, for just that reason.  Not gonna wreck the place to dispatch vermin or a snake

[Montana Slim]

I've got a Stevens 1915. I can use it for NCOWS .22 side matches. There certainly are applications for these rifles.

Slim

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Awesome  pics of a great rifle, SL!

AJ, don't ya wish yours could talk?  The stories it'd tell ...

[buck]

  Thanks for sharing your pics, Stacey...that is a kewl lookin lil buff gun.  How do you post pics on here anyway?  I dont know how.  I do have one of them new fangled digital camers and a scanner, but I never larned how to post pics.