John unfortunatly the Link did not work for me do you happen to have a picture of the rifle that you can post here.

Picture

Aah, that's nice!

Just because I'm brave enough to ask dumb questions, is the .22-71/2 (or .22 WRF) the most "potent" cartridge that Stevens chambered their Favorites for?

Bill Lawrence

Stevens made for the UK market 1894's in rook calibers that were center fire

uscra112 wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2019 at 1:48pm:

Phil,
The couple I ran across chambered in 22-15 SS were plain jane 1894 Favorites, not #55 Lady Model's.

Interesting conversation on Favorites.  At various times, Stevens claimed that they were in rim fire only.  The calibers in order of present day survival numbers are 22, 32L, 25, 32 shot, 22 shot, and very rarely, 22-7&1/2-45 (WRF), all in rim fire.  The WRF is quite rare, in recording well over 500 "serial numbers", have seen only 2, and one loose barrel.  I cant count them in my study as I do not have serial numbers.  I found one 1915 which was re-barreled in 22 WRF- cant count that one either.  The above one is the only original 1894 in WRF I have noted, nice one.  I would be eager to find an original center fire.  (I had a 32RF converted to 32 long Colt by Curt Hardcastle in Silver City NM a while back.)

22s probably were more numerous, but the ammo was cheaper, and they ended up in the pickup floorboard with corrosive primers, and they were used up, most likely when, I suspect the other calibers were treated like "real guns" and cleaned.

James

I have a Favorite in .22 WRF marked .22WRF. Where they ever marked .22 7 1/2? I knew they were scarce which is why I grabbed this one when it came up on GunBroker. I would have to dig it out to see which model it is. I've never seen a Favorite in centerfire. Did see a 55 Ladies Model though. I believe it was on a Favorite frame but it was at a Kansas City Kansas gun show many years back and I don't recall the details. It was rough as I recall.

While one the subject of a 44 1/2:
TRADE MARK
   STEVENS 
Reg US Pat. OFF & FGH (what ever that means)
* Left side of the action has a "U" in a circle
What do these marks represent?

Except 44 1/2 wasn't produced after the war.  Or was it?

Can you post closeups of the markings?

Knowing how large company's think, it might be that they simply melted the surplus stock down (including 44 1/2's), to make Russian rifles.

I doubt Westinghouse had any interest in SS rifles or their history, when it came to making money! Sad but, I think more likely.

Frank

frnkeore wrote on Mar 24^th, 2019 at 1:36pm:


It's not impossible, but all the leftover parts put together would amount to next to nothing relative to the raw material needed for the Russian order.  And it's a fact that Stevens was back in limited production very quickly after the end of the war, which implies that the tooling needed to make those guns had survived the war.  I wonder, however, if the 44-1/2 tooling was inadvertently lost or destroyed, because it seems so incredibly backward-thinking to revive an antiquated model, the 44, & yet drop their most advanced design.

I knew I saw it somewhere:
TRADE MARK
   STEVENS
   Reg US Pat. OFF & FGH
But this marking was on the 1915 Favorites!
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Quote:

slumlord44 wrote on Mar 25^th, 2019 at 1:55am:


My understanding is that the last "General Catalog" published before the "Crash" was #54, which (according to Cope's chronology) was first published in 1914, but then revised in 1919. If there were any "left-over" 44-1/2 models assembled after the war, this 1919 ed. is where they might have last appeared; however, none are listed in my 1919 "Pocket Catalog."  Didn't realize it until I checked the #54, but the "Trademark--Stevens" marking was already in use by 1914--it's printed beside most of the rifle descriptions. 

.22 WRF was available for Favorites at no extra charge, & .22-15 for the Ladies Model ($2 extra), which, confusingly, was no longer called the model #55, but had been changed to the model #21.  

As for the years 1915-1918, I'd doubt there was advertising of any kind, but it would take a through examination of the kinds of sporting magazines Stevens might have advertised in to discover what the company was making, if anything, for the US commercial market during these years. The fact that the DBA name was changed in 1916 implies an intention to "stay in business" after the Russian contract was completed.

In response to the earlier question about Favorites ever being cataloged for Rook calibers, here's an English Stevens ad from 1904. Also, I used to have a 1915 Favorite in .22 WRF, and the barrel was marked ".22 WRF". Also, I was under the assumption that the WRF was an extra cost option in the Favorite and 44 1/2, at least in the catalogs that I have.

Schutzenbob wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2019 at 9:10pm:

That is very interesting.  I have a buggered barrel in my junk pile marked 22-7 1/2 and didn’t know what it was.  Some idiot cut an inch off and rechambered it, probably with a drill bit.  I think I might have to find a barrel off of a favorite to replace the inch that is missing, then reline it to 22 WRF and restore it for my collection.