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Is the hot chili I had for supper getting to me?  (Actually it is, but it usually doesn't cloud my reading comprehension.  )

Indisputably rare, the receiver at least, but indisputably also a masterpiece of cob-jobbing.  Tang-sight (an original early Stevens) on a smooth-bore?  Ser. no. on brl. can have no relation to any side-plate era Stevens, which would be in the neighborhood of 2000, according to Grant.  If there's no number on the receiver, it might be a tool-room prototype.

Just looked in the Bullard book (Jamison's) to see if there were buttstocks with that same high comb and extreme drop at heel, and found there were plenty of them--it's a Bullard trademark.  Is it possible the inletting for the tangs was similar enough to allow for interchange with little modification?

Bent_Ramrod wrote on Jul 10^th, 2016 at 10:45am:


Doesn't look like plating to me, and I presume the seller would have sense enough to test it with a magnet.  Like to ask him a few questions, such as whether there are numbers on the frame or buttstock, but am reluctant to create the impression I'm seriously interested.  Use of brass would make sense in building a prototype.

In looking closely at what can be seen of the wood to metal fit, though it HAS to be a "put-together" of unrelated parts, it seems professionally done.

But a Stevens 44 brl., or any other Stevens brl., would be marked; this one isn't.  The markings could have been polished off, but why bother?  Someone wanted to create an enigma...and succeeded.

uscra112 wrote on Jul 11^th, 2016 at 4:52am:


Though not a Stevens expert, he couldn't be THAT much of an idiot!  Clearly is a major dealer--I'd buy that side-plate, if I wasn't saving my dough for his Browning .30 MG!

There are numerous old guns that have been made into smooth bore shotguns when ammo became impossible to buy. With the sights, and features of this gun, it could easily have been a rifled barrel that got converted to a smooth bore later.

The Gun Report, Volume 37, Number 9, Feb 1992, has a John Dutcher article on Stevens side plate Rifles.

On the bottom of page 28, figure 17: 
"Experimental side plate Stevens ladies size rifle, caliber .25-20 single shot. A well-made piece with nickel plated brass frame and 24 1/2" part octagon barrel. While this rifle has no markings, it appears to be Stevens made throughout. This rifle uses the design shown in the Horr patent drawing with sliding central extractor and lever supported breechblock. (A.I. McCroski collection)"

The stock on this rifle is similar to the one on gunbroker, but it has a small swiss butt plate.

Page 29, "Figure 18. Large Experimental side plate with brass frame. This rifle works on the Otis Horr patent principle with lever supported breach block and central sliding extractor. It appears to be a factory tool room model gun and is caliber .25-21 Stevens. (Lent anonymously)"

"Figure 19. A pair of experimental Stevens side plate rifles with brass frames. Both use Otis Horr's 1885 patent lever supported breechblock and central extractors that slide in a groove below the barrel. Additionally the frames of both rifles are much shorter than those of production rifles and their operating levers pivot far forward of either patent drawing or Stevens production models. The larger rifle at the top of the photo has a sear between the hammer and unusual small button shaped trigger. The smaller rifle shown at the bottom has direct trigger to hammer contact."

On page 27, "Figure 13. An unusual large frame Ideal side plate rifle from the Stevens factory collection. This specimen, serial number 319, is notable for several reasons. It carries Stevens April 17, 1894 barrel stamp rather than the more common Aug 11, 1885 marking, and the frame has the later ripple or marcel casehardening pattern rather than the typical mottled pattern. The caliber is 22 rimfire and it has a 26 inch part octagon barrel. (Courtesy Savage Industries)"  

So there were several brass framed side plates made. Perhaps the toolroom made the prototypes from brass because it was easier to machine? With side plates, it's hard to say anything for certain, but that's part of the attraction of them.

I got real excited when I saw the "serial" number 147,757, thinking it might be an earlier patent relating to the side plates, but patent number 147,757, in 1874 relates to "cotton bale ties"! LOL.

Regards,
Ron

Thanks for digging up Dutcher's piece; rather surprised that Grant never uncovered some of that same info during the many years he spent researching Stevens--if he'd done so, it would be more or less permanently available in one of his books.  Much invaluable info of this sort becomes lost, or difficult to locate, because it was published in a periodical; and now Gun Report, I was recently told, has gone the way of Precision Shooting & Accurate Rifle, two of my favorites.