Hi, what is this .22 Short Stevens I just bought (cheap)?  I studied it for several days, and cannot find any comparable ones.  That tells me it's been modified or is very uncommon.  What I think started as a 414 Armory model, has some unusual features.  Crescent butt, short fore arm, no sling swivels.  

I'm a little concerned that wood looks recently finished, there is a screw or fitting on the tang (no better pics), and that the drop of the stock is so steep it's going to be hard to hold and shoot.  What do you think? Could this be an original buttstock?  What is this rifle, or was it?

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Ah-so!  Bent tangs, I can almost see it, and think you're right.  Maybe I'll learn gunsmithing and get a torch on it....  But first it has to arrive.

Thanks.  I'll report back when I get it and take the stock off.  To me, the top one looks bent downwards, but the bottom one does not.  Which would be strange.  Also, if I bend them up, I presume the wood will have to be shaved to match the new angle, against the receiver?

I restocked my 414 but the original butt stock had been shortened and had an attachment point for a cheek rest as it was being shot with a scope. I'll take some before and after pics with both stocks and add them here later. I'm guessing that an original stock might have been halfway between my old one and my new long one. I'm assuming that my old one has been shortened but I believe that some felt that a shorter stock was more conducive to offhand shooting. Maybe someone with a 414 will check in with a measurement.

I feel I can do the woodwork, but not the tang metal bending.  That scares me.  May have to take it to a local gunsmith and ask him to heat and bend it.  But I'll know more once I get it, and will post more.

Good deal, thanks for showing that.

I’ve had two Stevens 44 1/2’s with bent tangs from shipping. Dang usps! The first one was shipped to CPA, and they fixed it for me. The second barreled action 44 1/2 was sent out for reboring, and when I got it back the top tang was bent. I used a piece of white pvc plastic pipe about 18” long, so it wouldn’t mar the tang, and carefully bent it back cold. I suggested using heat to bend the tangs on the 414, due to the 44 action being cast rather than forged. Never ship a barreled action when the action has tangs without really protecting the tangs, or better yet, leave them apart.

Model 44 receivers are malleable iron.  Cast iron that has been soaked at high temperature in an oxidizing matrix (usually mill scale, i.e. rust), long enough for most of the carbon to be  leached out. The oxygen combines with the carbon to form CO gas, which exits the vessel.  What's left is akin to a low carbon steel, but with some spherical nodules of carbon still in the metal.   

Heating to a dull red, or less, to bend the tangs will do it no harm.   

What you must not do is heat it to the point that the carbon nodules go back into solution, because the result when cooled will be a brittle, high-carbon steel.  I don't have any authoritative information about what that temperature is, but we can assume that it is above the temperature used for case hardening, and below that needed to fusion weld.  (It's pretty well known that welding malleable does dissolve the nodules, leaving the weld zone very brittle.)

My 414 is 12 1/4 " from the receiver to the middle of the stock butt. Front end is 20"

Regards, Wayne

I'm looking forward to getting it and deciding what to do with it.  It's .22 Short, so if the twist is slow, and bore pitted, I may convert it to something else.  May just keep it as is too.  The single shots seem to be trending down in value, fast.  I could probably just buy another one in better condition and .22 LR about as cheap as I got this.

I bought a flintlock last year, and damn glad I did. All you need is powder.

Rebel wrote on Jan 26^th, 2021 at 12:22pm:


And especially the "antique" by ATF rules single shots. Since they're classified as "non guns" it might be they'll become much more valuable because of their antique status.

Since no 44 1/2s were made before 1902 I guess that one is out of the mix.

I don't even argue anymore. Auction houses vary. Some demand an FFL for anything others will or won't recognize C&R status. I just have to pickup any FFL items 1/2 mile from home, give the the guy $20 do the check and go home. Everybody's an expert and I'm to weary to debate.

AZshot wrote on Jan 27^th, 2021 at 2:08pm:


I personally think the date is silly also. But I wouldn't call it a "loophole". It's simply a date ATF chose to designate guns they considered too old to worry about tracking. 
Now personally I feel a gun that's made in 1899 isn't any different than the same gun made before, and think they should simply say if the introduction date is pre 1899, then any identical guns built afterwards apply to the earlier date.
But that probably makes too much sense for ATF, so doubt they'll ever do so.

I went into my local Cabelas store back about 5 years ago, not long after it opened, as I heard they'd bought someone's collection. I found 4 old Marlins I wanted, and all were antique, and one was a Ballard Perfection. I negotiated a slightly lower price of 10% off all of them, even though they said they don't reduce prices until guns are there 60 days. But then they tried to do background checks and paperwork on all 4 guns!
I pitched a fit, and pulled my Marlin pocket sheet out with build dates per year by serial number, but since I homemade it they wouldn't accept it. Then as we're debating it I looked on their book shelf and they had a copy of Bill Brophy's book on Marlin history! I grabbed it and turned to p. 629 where the serial number dates are, and showed them all the guns were antiques! They gave in and sold them without paperwork.
But when I got to the checkout, the people there again tried to do paperwork, and I had to have them go back and get the manager of the Gun Library to come over and tell them they were exempt. They argued with him too, and wanted to do paperwork regardless, but finally gave in. Only took 2 hours to get through this checkout process! Lots of machines that resemble people at Cabelas, and are tough to reprogram!

MrTipUp wrote on Jan 27^th, 2021 at 6:45pm:


Based on the new smokeless powders, wouldn't the date be even earlier if this was true? The first smokeless powder was introduced in 1884, and by around 1894/95 was very commonly found in the US. And DuPont introduced Lesmoke in 1911, which was probably the best of the early smokeless powders. 
So still seems 1898 is an arbitrary date picked out of thin air to me.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the 1898 date come up with because of the gun control act of 1968.

OK, I got the rifle.  You win some, you lose some.  This one has some problems.  The wood is recently redone, you can smell the varnish.  The barrel unscrewed easily, some kind of silvery grease on the threads and screw.  The bore is decent, somewhat shiny.   

Now the bigger problems.   

1.  When I cock the hammer, it has a good half cock and full cock.  When you pull the trigger, it's floppy, nothing touching the sear.  I figured I bought a lemon, the decided to push the hammer forward.  I can feel a bump and it goes forward a few mms.  Then - you can pull the trigger and it falls.  Is that normal?  I've had set triggers, but never a set hammer.

2. I took a few .22 Rem HV shorts and test fired.  The first fired fine.  Ejected fine.  I put in another and fired it. Got blasted in the face with hot gasses.  The rim blew out where the firing pin crushed it. It jammed in the chamber and I brought it home and tapped it out.  The firing pin face seem smooth and round.  The ejector has a dent in it where the firing pin goes.  Was the blowout a fluke?   

The lever screw on the LEFT side it broken in half.  I'm reading it may just be a pin, should I drive it out from the right?  The right screw came out.   

I suppose all this is fixable...

oneatatime wrote on Jan 29^th, 2021 at 12:39am:

It’s possible that someone put the pivot pins in from the right side, in other words backwards. Funny, my 414 had the pivot pin retaining screws on the right side broken in half at the screw slots also when I got it.

Thanks all.  Got it apart and cleaned and lubed it.  The extractor seems in good shape, but had a few sharp edges I lightly filed.  I fired a CB cap in the yard and no blowout.  The one that had blown out earlier was a High Velocity.  It's case ruptured right at the extractor, which seems also to be where the firing pin hits.  Basically my theory is the heavy hammer fall crushed the case against that sharp extractor edge.  I'll fire a few more and see if I fixed it.  The bore is pretty good, the chamber pretty tight. 

The lever does hold up against the tang, but barely.  After cleaning, it's not as snug up there, but it doesn't droop unless you fiddle with it.   

The trigger I didn't take out.  Like you say, probable the geometry is not right, because of the bent tang.  But if I push the hammer forward, it will trip fine.   

I think I'll sell it and get another, it's just not my thing to fiddle with too many problems.  If anyone wants it I'd let it go for what I have in it.

That's where it hits.
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I think you need a new extractor or the old one welded up and re- cut with less of a groove for the firing pin to catch on. You possibly could use a new firing pin also.

Frankly, I'm not sure why I'd be rebuilding the block, extractor, or firing pin.  I had one blowout case.  The firing pin is smooth and rounded. 

I smoothed the rough edges of the extractor rim, it's not breaking the brass case rim anymore.  I also think I read that some of these did have the extractor strike exactly where the extractor is.  I need to find that link.  But can anyone with a 414 say where theirs strikes?