Sure shot wrote on Mar 5
th, 2024 at 8:06am:
Well I was curious about this so I looked in my reprint Stevens #50 c1902 catalog. Apparently Stevens did make rifles with a center extractor using breech block and lever screws a short time before they switched to the pins. See part #13C and #14A.
If they did, I haven't seen any, except for this one and Chris Stroner's which fall at serial numbers well before the range where standard issue was side extractor and bolts, which runs from 14768 to 16801 and includes 17 observed specimens, (so far).
Prototypes that escaped? Possibly they did a few but the tooling wasn't right, and it took nearly a year to sort it out?
As far as I can see there would not be any difference between a screw for the side extractor and one for a center extractor. Diameter (.288") and OAL would be the same.
I misidentified s/n 13853 as being in this family, but it has the central extractor and
bolts, at a number well before either feature became standard issue. A close look at my pic of the open breech face
seems to show the side extractor slot, and I want to assume it is a conversion.
All very curious indeed.