Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors rebuilding 100 yr old Stevens 425 High Power 35 Rem

I thought I would post this here since Stevens was owned by Savage. There may be some who are familiar with the rare Stevens 425 High Power.

A nice young fellow was walking around the gun show last weekend with a Stevens 425 High Power in 35 Remington, and it caught my eye. When he got it, it was in bad shape. It became his first rust blue project, and he did a very good job. The stock was messed up and he's done nothing to it... the wood really needs to be replaced fore and aft. He's a student, and cannot afford to continue the rebuild. So, it's now my project. It came with dies, bullets and 14 pieces of brass.

A little over 5,000 of these were made, in various Remington calibers, between 1910 and 1917. This one was made toward the end of that run. The bolt design is from the Savage 99; when it opens, it tilts down sharply and disappears into the back of the receiver, just above the trigger. The lever pivot is familiar to everyone, since it looks just like a Marlin 336.

I found a new, inletted, walnut stock for this model at Robin Jones shop south of Lexington, NC... gunville.com. He also found a buttplate for me, with a Savage logo. I couldn't believe the luck of having someone so near that makes repro stocks for such a rare rifle. But then when I went to pick it up, he only had one... said that normally they don't use the best wood on Stevens 425 stocks because there's not much call for them. Rather than make me wait a couple of days while they made another, he let me have the nice one at no extra charge. It's really nice! Look below and you will see what I mean.

Mechanically, it may need only a hammer spring and a mag spring. The action is very smooth. The elevator doesn't come up until right at the end of the lever stroke, so you have to be deliberate, not quick, when you cycle it.


The receiver is D&T on top for a scope, but there are only two screws. The tang is D&T with two screws, in addition to the tang bolt, spaced 0.08" apart for a tang sight. I'll have to do some research to see what model tang sight fits that spacing. It would be very nice to find a 100 yr old tang sight that fits!

The bore is dark, but the grooves are strong. I will make some loads and shoot it this week.

That's an interesting rifle and the .35 Remington is a great caliber. Good luck on the restoration.

Awesome project! You are a lucky guy. Reminds me a lot of a Marlin.

Check out the 11 page thread on this page about the same gun.

"Reminds me a lot of a Marlin."

Only on the outside. The workings are completely different.

Should be a nice shooter when you're done. I'm envious.

Worked on the bore today... soaked it in foaming bore cleaner, ran brushes full of Hoppes #9 through it over and over again, swabbed it clean and did it all over. It got results! The bore actually shines a bit when I put a dental mirror in front of the bolt face and point a bright light into the breech.

Sure wish I could find one of these tang sights:

shot the Stevens 425 yesterday, out to 150 yards.
It's bore may be dark,
and it might choke feeding some of the short rounds,
but it's still an accurate rifle after 100 years!

It shot about 2" high at 25 yards.
I put one shot on one side of the ~3" bullseye and one shot on the other side at 150 yards.
The rounds that are full length, with 200 grain LRN bullets, had no trouble feeding.
The rounds that are slightly short of full length sometimes failed to feed.
Needs some work there.
Some of the primers I used would not go off...
need to replace the hammer spring.
But this rifle can kill Bambi right now!

Very cool. Could you adapt a tang site made for a Marlin or Winchester?

" The tang is D&T with two screws, in addition to the tang bolt, spaced 0.08" apart for a tang sight."

What is the tang screw spacing?

He just had one to many zero's.

The tang hole spacing on the 425's is 0.800".

Actually the Stevens Visible Loader tang sights have the same hole spacing but are higher on the stem than the actual 425 tang sights.

Looks Like She's Getting There
Congrats, Waiting to See Photo's When all Done
STEVE

No you don't, have a good look, they're right in the way of where you grip the gun.

I've got a Marbles on one of my 425's in 25 Rem and it's the most uncomfortable spot ever. Probably open up my finger after the first shot and that one in the pic looks even worse.

Joe
You Must Have a Problem with those Fingers and Scope Eye, When it Comes to Certain guns I Can Remember your Hand With the Pistol!

Yep, and I gashed my eyebrow this deer season dropping that 8 pt buck.

It was a one shot kill, must not have had the gun up to my shoulder tight enough.

Shot that gun 100 times and have never had that happen before.

Wasn't deep, just enough that I felt it. I'm my own worst enemy.