Are there any informations sources that show or describe engraving patterns for Stevens 44 1/2s? The rifle action shown in the picture belonged to a famous local shooter and gun retailer. Adelaide refers to the Capital of South Australia where there is a history of German Ring Target Shooting. Note that the rifle is a full re-build as only the action body was found but does appear to be factory nickel plate.

As Red says, this engraving is more extensive than and bears little resemblance to standard factory patterns.  On the other hand, there are documented special orders that veer considerably away from those standards, including a centralized "name" in all-capitals - i.e., as with so many things back then, you could get what you were willing to pay for.  That being said, it's also just my personal opinion that the work here is a hair less polished than I would have expected, even allowing that on the relatively lower grades the designs were etched more often than cut, suggesting again just to me that Stevens never intended to compete with the likes of the Ulrich family.

Bill Lawrence

frnkeore wrote on Feb 24^th, 2019 at 3:38pm:


Especially in the border decoration, which is actually a widely-used pattern, but not one of Stevens' "regular" patterns; probably just one favored by the particular engraver assigned to the job.  Workmanship seems to be of a higher grade, but then the magnification isn't as great as on the one above.   

Thanks for the replies, should have posted the other side as well, so here it is

Sometimes these once expensive, fancy guns got used, and abused. So on occasion I see them reworked into different configurations than they likely started life as. Then we fast forward to today, and someone buys the poorly reworked gun and strips off the less desirable wood and barrel with plans to redo it all. If the plan doesn't come to fruition they occasionally show up for sale as just the action, or maybe a barreled action.
I've purchased a couple actions that were factory engraved, and somehow parted from their original barrels and stocks. Always sad to see that, and wonder what they once looked like. But I've rebuilt the guns to what I hoped they started life as, and that's all I could do was guess and proceed from there.

BP your comment is quite correct. The receiver was found in a biscuit tin on a rubbish dump. Fortunately the person that found it recognised what it was.

Curious as why no one seemed to think it was engraved by a local Australian engraver instead of Stevens? Does Talbot lake have any shooting provenance? Nice rifle would like to see the whole view.

In 1913 there was a Narrandera Rifle Club. Narrandera is the site of Talbot Lake.