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slumlord44
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Stevens 414 Armory
Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:08pm
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I picked up a decent 414 at the Kansas City Gun Show last weekend. Excellent blue, good case, nice wood with a small split in the forend. Correct peep sight, sling swivals and butplate. Bore is decent, but not mint, not what I would call bad at all. It had a broken firing pin which I ordered Monday. The guy was asking $1295. Got it for $1100 after refusing to go $1150 and starting to walk away. Got one question. Gun is chambered for .22 short. Got it home. Working on cleaning the bore. Got curious. Tried .22 long rifle and it chambered. Apparently it has been opened up to long rifle chambering. Comments on the effect on accuracy and collectability of this alteration?
  
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38_Cal
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #1 - Jul 31st, 2008 at 11:02pm
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Can't discuss collectibility with you, but the .22 short uses a 20" twist, while the .22 l.r. uses a 16" rate.  You'll probably find that you won't get the accuracy you want when using l.r. ammo, and if a previous owner used lots of shorts in the long rifle chamber, you may even find difficult extraction with an eroded chamber at the short mouth position.

David
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David Kaiser
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J.D.Steele
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #2 - Aug 1st, 2008 at 7:58am
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I shoot lots of CB Longs into a bullet trap target frame at the far end of my shop; fairly accurate from a 16" twist, quite good from a slower twist and no further damage to the chamber. Regards, Joe
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #3 - Aug 1st, 2008 at 11:17pm
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My accuracy concern is in shooting shorts in the longrifle chamber. The gap is my concern. I think it may be a non problem. I will know more when I get the firing pin next week and get a chance to try it out on paper. My only point of reference is my Thompson Contender in .410/45 Colt. It is extremely with .45 Colt with cowboy loads.
  
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38_Cal
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #4 - Aug 1st, 2008 at 11:23pm
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Joe sorta scooted around the subject, but using .22 longs in your rifle would prevent any (further) damage to the chamber, and because of the 29 gr. bullet used in both the short and long, you should be getting proper stability.  The basic problem you'll run into is finding high quality .22 long ammo.

David
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David Kaiser
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slumlord44
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #5 - Aug 2nd, 2008 at 11:51pm
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I am not worried about damaging the chamber. I will never shoot it enough to hurt it if I clean it regularly. Concerned about the accuracy of the shorts in the long rifle chamber with this rifle with the correct rate of twist for the .22 short.
  
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pavogrande
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #6 - Nov 3rd, 2008 at 11:17pm
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I recently aquired a 414 which looks original and in general good condition. Your descrition of proper sights, butt plate, ect,  makes me wonder where you obtain this detailed info.  Since I only paid about $200 perhaps my grandkids will eventually have a beer on me --  Mine has a peep sight, globe style front, faily good blue on heavy barrel. The stock is rather long going to about 4" from the muzzle with a second attaching screw near the end.  Butt plate is a plastic/rubber -- Reciever finish is best described as "patina", but not rusty or pitted. Bore is certainly used but not dark ---  Winner???    
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Stevens 414 Armory
Reply #7 - Nov 4th, 2008 at 10:11pm
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You got a winner there! As for details, I read a lot. Several books on single shot rifles by Frank Dehass, they are still available. A couple of books that are out of print. Old magazine articles I have collected over the years. Reprints of the old Stevens catalogs from Cornel Publictions.
The globe front sight sounds right. The early ones had a metal butplate and the later ones had a plastic butplate. The correct peep sight has a flat piece of metal with the peep hole in it rather than the usual round disk. FYI, this rifle was used by the US Olympic Team to win the Olympics in 1912. I consider myself to know enough to be dangerous!Still learning. 
IMHO you got a great deal. Shoot it and have fun with it. I would hope that your grandkids also shoot it and enjoy it rather than cash in on it. I am always happy to share what I do know and to learn more that I don't know from others. If I can help you with additional info from my resources, send me a PM.
  
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