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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND (Read 6818 times)
418Steve
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Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Dec 9th, 2013 at 8:55pm
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Can you tell I'm a happy camper by the title?
I have my Dad's 418, but it always had a Lyman 48L reciever sight (an option) and a Redfield 60 front sight that was NOT an option--that I replaced with a Lyman 17A that was an option.  A few years ago MoodyHoller sold me the original Lyman 144 rear tang sight.  But I've been looking for 4 years now for an original Stevens  # 104 (not Lyman) "post" aka patridge sight. I  chked the auction sites, gun shows, the 4 top sight collectors I know of every 4 to 6 months, LGS odds n ends bins, and NADA.  Research showed that Stevens bolt action 416's sometimes used the same front sight, as well as the private label 416 clone Stevens sold to Sears as the Ranger 22 bolt gun. 
Was in a very nice, large old school gun shop in Maine last week and found a Ranger with the right sight!  Bought the gun to get the sight.  Here's a few photo's of it still on the Ranger if anyone is interested.  Will put it on the 418 later this week.  Shot the Ranger--I think it will be pretty accurate due to how narrow it is, but still has good visibility.
Better photo than some I've seen on the internet or the occasional 416 auction.
Photo's of the sight and the "donor" Ranger that will go up for sale shortly
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[URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/7cstevan/media/Stevens%20418/Stevens418015.jpg.html]
« Last Edit: Dec 22nd, 2013 at 8:35am by »  
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slumlord44
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #1 - Dec 9th, 2013 at 10:25pm
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Congratulations! You have been looking for this for a long time. Good research and it paid off. The 416 is an interesting gin in it's own right. Mine  was a WWII training rifle and is so marked. pretty accurate gun in it's own right. I will keep my 17A's on my 418's for now  but is good to know where to find the original sight if I want to make the change. Thanks for the info. Always learning new things here.
  
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ron
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #2 - Dec 10th, 2013 at 8:47am
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We are an end of the line State, but we do have nice older type gun shops. If you don't mind my asking, where in Maine did you find the sight?

ron

  
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418Steve
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #3 - Dec 10th, 2013 at 8:54am
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Howell's in Gray, just down the street from Larry's Guns--who I was visiting getting some Rink grips for my Benelli bullseye pistol.  I say a bit old school as most shops nowadays have all their black guns front and center and the older and metal guns are second tier.  At Howell's, everyone was looking at shotguns and wood rifles and the black guns were in the back wing and no one was out there looking at them.  They also have a smith on premises too.
  
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ron
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #4 - Dec 10th, 2013 at 7:31pm
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Steve, I know where you went. Larry and I have been friends for many years and have shot many matched together.

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moodyholler
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #5 - Dec 10th, 2013 at 9:13pm
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Wow,hat has been a while!!!!! Congrats, How much for 416? I would love one to plink with. Later, moodyholler without a 144
  
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418Steve
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #6 - Dec 20th, 2013 at 7:29am
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Asking on the Ranger 22 (416 private labelled to Sears) was $199 but negotiated down to $175. It was a bit too much perhaps even at $175.  -I think he thought he had a real Ranger which was a different and fairly good gun a while back according to the Blue Book.  
On this one, the safety didn't work, a bit of rust in the bore at 2 o'clock in a few lands even after a quick bronze brush in their shop and no magazine. 
I was going to flip it, but may keep it now. Fixed the safety in only a few min.--just a bent tab. I have a magazine coming for $25 that should be here today.  All the bore rust came out with a bit of Big 45 Frontier metal cleaner pad, some JB and Kroil in a few minutes too.
For now, I've taken the Lyman 17 from the 418 and put it on the Ranger.  Only thing I'm not used to is the 4lb 8 oz. kind of creepy trigger.  I'll work on polishing the trigger and bar surfaces today and maybe get it down to or just under 4lb that would be nice.  The wood is in VERY nice shape--no scratches or dings, just grimey that came off with warm water and Simple Green.  Metal is mostly all patina over blue, but no dents or scratches at all either.  Seems to be very accurate at 50' the other day, but the real test will come at 50 yards if the wind and weather gives us a break.  LOVE the barrel band stock and rear sight.  Action / bolt is slick and very tight.  In short, a nifty old walnut and iron gun that looks "purpose built" and that you don't see every day.  Plus, no one at the range will know what it is!
Thanks again for your help on the 414 sight.

PS--It seems I can shoot the 418 with the new 104 sight at 50' as well as I can with the Lyman 17A, even without a front tube to line up for concentricity.

Sorry for being so windy on a non-single shot rifle
Will see if I can get good photo's of both guns in the next few days--418 with the proper sight and the Ranger / 416 with the Lyman on it--the Ranger wood and metal has cleaned up very nicely. Another 2 guns brought back!
« Last Edit: Dec 22nd, 2013 at 8:37am by »  
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BP
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #7 - Dec 20th, 2013 at 5:25pm
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418Steve,

What did the overall height of the Stevens # 106 sight measure?

  

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading, the few who learn by observation, and the rest who have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
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418Steve
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #8 - Dec 21st, 2013 at 7:40am
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It is .585" (9/16") tall X 3/8 long front to back X 3/32" wide at the top.  For the record, it is just a few thou. LOWER than a Lyman 17A AUG sight with a lollipop, from bottom of base to top of solid lollipop, which I had been using.  It required about 7 to 8 clicks of lowering of the rear sights to get it back to a 6 O'clock hold on an NRA small bore rifle target at 50'.
  
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418Steve
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #9 - Dec 22nd, 2013 at 8:40am
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Hey guys, I noticed I had a typo on the proper front sight in prior posts on this thread Cry

The proper front sight is a Stevens 104, NOT a 106.  I have corrected the typo's. 

Guess some senioritis set in (must have been thinking of the rear sight for the Ranger which is a Steven 106 rear sight)
  
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Re: Stevens 418 Walnut Hill Jr. front sight FOUND
Reply #10 - Dec 23rd, 2013 at 3:58pm
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418Steve,

Thanks for the info!

  

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading, the few who learn by observation, and the rest who have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
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