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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial # (Read 3932 times)
Smoke
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #30 - Jun 2nd, 2024 at 7:43pm
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Perhaps Stevens was responding the assumed preferences of shooters old enough to have been using the really long, early Malcolm scopes and wanted to attract as customers those not ready for the shorter "new fangled" stuff like the Win 5A and Lyman A5 scopes?

(did I get those backwards again?  Tongue
  
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rkba2nd
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #31 - Jun 2nd, 2024 at 11:25pm
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Yes Smoke, but nobody is keeping score. Marlinguy  The adding four inches to the scope is to accommodate the use of sight mounting dovetails and proper eye relief for the rifle in question. If requirements overlap from one maker to another, so be it. It would seem to me that the formula is mostly meant as a help to the buyer in deciding the proper scope. Steven's taking into account mount location, eye relief, field of view etc, for the customers particular rifle. I have no idea if this was Steven's reasoning, just my read on it.
  

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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #32 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 1:35am
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Like any good business, Stevens was covering the bases as far as it could.  In the case of the scope Marlinguy is getting from me, there are two stop pins: one just forward past the mid-point and a second one about 4" from the front.   

They're screws so that the user could move the front ring easily between the two, and from the finish on the scope, it's clear that the front ring has spent time in both places.

A pragmatic design on a 24" long scope.

p.s.  I want to thank you all for this discussion.  It's been more fun than I had with the scope itself Smiley
  
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marlinguy
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #33 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 9:46am
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The added 4" to the scope vs. barrel length would also be the same for a Winchester, or any other brand of rifle, so not sure it has anything to do with makers? The mounts are the only thing specific to a maker, and that only pertains to the rifle makers with other than the usual 3/8" front and rear dovetails. 
Eye relief would be the only thing that could change the length of the scope vs. barrel length, as Stevens offered some scopes with extremely long eye relief. The Stevens scope on my Ballard #3 that was sent to Stevens to be rebored to .25 Stevens RF has a good 6"or 7" of eye relief, so it sits farther forward than any of my other full length scopes do.

It's also interesting that none of the Stevens catalog page illustrations I've ever seen show the nicely rounded front rings the early scopes had on them? They all show the plain flat front rings even when illustrations show a rounded rear ring.
  

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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #34 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 10:16am
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marlinguy wrote on Jun 3rd, 2024 at 9:46am:
The added 4" to the scope vs. barrel length would also be the same for a Winchester, or any other brand of rifle, so not sure it has anything to do with makers? The mounts are the only thing specific to a maker, and that only pertains to the rifle makers with other than the usual 3/8" front and rear dovetails. 
Eye relief would be the only thing that could change the length of the scope vs. barrel length, as Stevens offered some scopes with extremely long eye relief. The Stevens scope on my Ballard #3 that was sent to Stevens to be rebored to .25 Stevens RF has a good 6"or 7" of eye relief, so it sits farther forward than any of my other full length scopes do.

It's also interesting that none of the Stevens catalog page illustrations I've ever seen show the nicely rounded front rings the early scopes had on them? They all show the plain flat front rings even when illustrations show a rounded rear ring.

When Stevens bought out Catarac and started advertising as their own brand, one of the improvement that was promoted was the screw on lens ring and lens that could easily be removed for cleaning. This replaced the round style that was pinned on. 

What I have never seen a definitive answer to is it the Catarac scopes sold by Stevens were branded Stevens. 

The Malcom scopes were at least referred to as Malcom in the catalogs.
  
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marlinguy
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #35 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 1:42pm
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Don't think I've ever seen a Cataract Scope Co. scope, or a  scope that looked like a Stevens, but wasn't marked. Which leads me to believe that any made for Stevens were likely marked or we'd see similar scopes unmarked eventually.
  

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Schutzenbob
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #36 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 2:35pm
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I've only seen one Cataract Tool & Optical Co. Scope, Ed Mason had it, and he told me that it had belonged to Richard Nixon's father. It was a first-class scope with very clear lenses, I believe a 1" tube that attached to the side of an action and had a micrometer for the elevation adjustment. This is one mounted on a Krag
  
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marlinguy
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #37 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 4:27pm
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Schutzenbob wrote on Jun 3rd, 2024 at 2:35pm:
I've only seen one Cataract Tool & Optical Co. Scope, Ed Mason had it, and he told me that it had belonged to Richard Nixon's father. It was a first-class scope with very clear lenses, I believe a 1" tube that attached to the side of an action and had a micrometer for the elevation adjustment. This is one mounted on a Krag


Very cool setup! Hope I can find one I can also afford someday!
  

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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #38 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 7:34pm
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Schutzenbob wrote on Jun 3rd, 2024 at 2:35pm:
I've only seen one Cataract Tool & Optical Co. Scope, Ed Mason had it, and he told me that it had belonged to Richard Nixon's father. It was a first-class scope with very clear lenses, I believe a 1" tube that attached to the side of an action and had a micrometer for the elevation adjustment. This is one mounted on a Krag


Richard Nixon as in the President of the United States?

I’m sorry if that is a dumb question and that there is a well known single shot rifle aficionado also so named.
  
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Schutzenbob
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #39 - Jun 3rd, 2024 at 9:06pm
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Otony,

Ed Mason was a Quaker and lived in Whittier California, which is the area where Richard Nixon (President Nixon) grew up. In the 1970's I joined Brea R&P Club which was on Union 76 property in Brea Ca., which was very near Yorba Linda where Richard Nixon was born. This is a Cataract Tool & Optical Co. Scope mounted on a Stevens rifle.
« Last Edit: Jun 16th, 2024 at 12:35pm by Schutzenbob »  
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rkba2nd
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #40 - Jun 4th, 2024 at 4:23pm
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SchuetzenBob    The rear mount on the cataract scope mounted on the Krag rifle that you posted, looks very much like a rear mount on a Malcolm scope I have. I believe the Malcolm scope company was in business long before Cataract was, but not sure on that, given the lack of information available on these old scopes. If the mount on the Malcolm was not patented, it would seem possible that Cataract "borrowed" the idea from Malcolm. I have collected quite a number of catalogs available from various sources to include Cornell publications, to identify marked and unmarked scopes that I have or that passed through my hands, but even then there is a lack of pertinent information. This post has been of keen interest to me, and hope that more solid information surfaces as a result. I thank you for your contributions.
  

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marlinguy
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #41 - Jun 4th, 2024 at 4:59pm
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Wm Malcolm was established in 1855, about 25 years before Cataract began business. Cataract started in 1880 and sold to Stevens in I believe 1900 or 1901?
  

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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #42 - Jun 4th, 2024 at 5:02pm
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Cornell Publications has an 1899 Cataract tool and Optical catalog reprint. It might be an interesting one to have.
  
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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #43 - Jun 4th, 2024 at 10:59pm
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Thanks Sure shot,   I will order one. It must be fairly new, as I check their inventory fairly often, and get their catalog sent to me roughly once a month.
  

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Re: Stevens Scope Model# vs Serial #
Reply #44 - Jun 8th, 2024 at 2:22pm
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I have been looking for a Stevens #4253 scope 
It will be 3x, 14" long and have internal adjustments. 
I've only seen a Stevens catalog picture that gave the above data. 
If anyone has one please let me know.
  
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