Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Stevens 70 Visible loader?

Need the Stevens guys on this.

O.K. so the visible loaders used to have case colored frames and blued barrels but then when Savage took over Stevens they started to blue the frames as well, correct?

Now what I wanna know is if you guys know the approx serial range they started doing this? The Savage 70's should be marked Savage on the barrel addy no?

Reason I'm asking is cause I'm looking at a couple and the frames seem alot brighter than the barrels. The barrels almost retain all the bluing yet I can't see any case colors on the frames.

Help? Gene? Phil? Someone?

The one I owned had the plum receiver.

Mine had a brown patina yet the barrel had nice looking blue. Might be that my case color had turned. Sorry, haven't ever seen one that didn't look similar or worse then mine. Ryan

Ya, I'm thinking both of those two were actual Stevens 70's with the case color worn off them. The Savage/Stevens were blued so there should have been something left.

The receivers did not seem to hold any finish very well. When Savage took over Stevens they started stamping the SVG logo on the left side of the receiver - I do not know if this was started immediatly after they bought them or not. I also do not know if they discontinued case hardening at that time either. I know that they still did some case hardening for some models as late as 1935 from listings from a catalog. There also should be matching proof marks on the barrel and receiver, I have only seen letters in a circle. This does not guarantee the barrel is original to the receiver as they are so easy to swap but if they don't match you know it's not original. Gene

Were all the Stevens 70's serialed with a letter and then a three digit serial number? Or did this change when Savage took over?

Also did the serial numbers run into the four digit numbers less the first letter?

All I have seen are serialed with a letter and only 3 digets. The numbers appear to have started over at least once as I have seen a very late SVG stamped gun with a B serial prefix and have one with an F.

One of the ones I'm looking at starts with an M, it must be a later run 70.

So your B prefix is a Savage made model 70?

They were all either model 70's or 71's (.22 shorts). According to John Callahan (Stevens/Savage historian) these were never serialized, the letters/numbers stamped on the tang were assembly numbers. He "lettered" a few of mine.

Yes, they were case colored and in some years blued. When Savage took over Stevens they kept the "Miserable Loaders" (I can't understand why) and introduced the "SVG" logo and offered a pistol grip.

The sharp eyed will notice the narrower extractors on some. There are many other changes that these underwent over the years trying desperately to get them to function reliably.

I don't get it, if they were never serialised and were marked with nothing but inspector stamps how did JC letter your guns?

Ya gotta ask John about that one.....

The sights were quite different on many of these. If your really interested in their development and history check out Jay Kimmel's book. It's the best referance I have seen on them. Also Cornell's Publications put's out a lot of original factory information.

Ya, I got most of what I know so far out of Kimmels book.

I still have to think they are serial numbered and that the numbers repeated several times. Maybe it's just a matter of definition, the numbering system of an alpha character and three numeric digets would cover 26,973 if 000 was not used. This seems a unnessesarily large number of characters to use just for assembly and a waste of time stamping if that was all they were used for. Even if you call them assembly numbers they would have been just like serial numbers with that many unique combinations. The alpha with 3 numeric characters was the way Whitney serialed their Kennedy lever actions and is well documented as to production numbers and years of manufacture - they however did not make enough to have to use any combinations over.

As to the model numbers 70, 71 and 72 that are seen listed they just are for different sight combinations that were offered and the base sights offered changed over the years. The 70 was the base sight set, the 71 had better Stevens sights with a tang and the 72 had Lyman front and tang sight set.

The 22 short versions were the 1/2 models - 70 1/2, 71 1/2 and 72 1/2. In a very early catalog I have the gun is only refered to as being in 22 short with the ability to handle CB's. I know there is a patent that changed the original action lock and wonder if the original design was not up to handling more than shorts? I have never seen an example that used the original design action lock so I have a lot of questions about what design was first produced or if the original design were ever produced at all.

In a vary late catalog the model is listed only as the 71 without any options, this is the last version with the pistol grip and 24" octagon barrel with out special sights (bead front sight standard).

I would agree. I have owned about 10 and seen countless others and have never seen that number repeated. However "assembly numbers" is John's defination not mine. I still have his "letters" regarding mine and his assembly numbers comments in my files.

The miserable loaders are long gone, but the letters remain.

ECO, mine looked like yours on top. Bluing looked really good but the case had turned to that brown patina. Mine had the skinnier extractors but the locking mechanism wouldn't work. They are a neat little design, just not reliable enough for me, so I moved it down the road. For what its worth, Kimmels information on them is simply a reprint of Jon Sharps work from "Book of the Rifle" Ryan

The only reason I'm buying one is because I got a tng sight for one not 3 weeks ago and I gotta put it on something......right?

I have one in 22 short somewhere. I think the toe of the rifle was filled in, it probably was from having a gallery chain on it.

I am not 100% sure but I think the sight will also fit a Favorite. The Visible loader was designed to match the size and shape of the Favorite, I do know the stocks will fit.

But Visible loaders are so odd they are cool, just try to avoid the urge to take one apart to clean it - I think this is were the nick-name miserable loader came from. This is the only gun I am aware of that our local Gander Mountain will not buy because their gunsmith will not work on them. Since many if not most of the ones you see are worn and have well used barrels I have to assume they were rather reliable or so many would not have lasted long enough to get that worn.

They were miserable to work on. Getting that little spring loaded link aligned to accept the pin inside the frame caused me many hours of grief.

Not many of mine worked properly or reliably when I got them, and it took a lot of time for me to get them right. The best one was the pistol gripped model (top one in the picture) which actually was a good shooter and a pleasure to operate. The others had seen hard times.