Has anyone seen any old Stevens 44 1/2 for sale lately? I'm getting an itch to use one for silhouette. They used to be a dime a dozen now they seem to be getting scarce.

Thanks all

Bob

Get ready for sticker shock if you find one. They are like M1 Carbines, everybody wants one.

Ouch! Yeah, they were so plentiful...kinda like enfields..they had them in every local GS with 20 or so in a barrel. Your choice $20. When the barrel got low they'd toss some more in...

I am not gonna sell my Paratrooper Carbine for one tho...

I had a 44½ some ~20 years ago. The barrel was too pitted for anything but jacketed bullets. Wish I'd kept it but wound up selling. It would have been a neat project to update it with a new barrel.

I looked the other day and found only one 44½ on Gunbroker, and they wanted big bucks for it. CPA rifles is of course making new repros.

Good gun and good cartridge. .25-20 SS I speak of

If you guys found that many 44 1/2s someplace, it must have been on some other planet! I've been looking for and finding single shot rifles for 65 years and have found a handful of 44 1/2s, most of them in obsolete rimfire chamberings or converted to some formerly popular, formerly hot varmint cartridge.

Now if you are talking about Stevens Model 44 (no fraction) "Ideal" rifles with the lever operated sort of rolling block action instead of the 44 1/2's true falling block, that's a different story. LOTS of those once upon a time, and those that were converted to more modern varmint cartridges soon shot loose, or worse.

True. This is a 44:

And a pretty rifle, too!

I think the local pawn/gun shop had one about a week ago. Might have been a 44, not the 44 1/2. Don't know the price or condition of the bore. Caliber didn't interest me, so I didn't dig deeper.

Gilmer Pawn (903) 843-3170 Ask for Robert (the owner).

Ed

It stands to reason that there are a lot fewer examples of the 44 1/2 out there; they were made for a much shorter time than the 44, which translates to demand and price. (and once someone has one, they tend to hang onto it)
I don't think they were made in any rimfire cartridge other than 22lr, but that may be wrong.
Gunrunner auctions had 2 or 3 44 1/2 in their lots this month and they went a lot cheaper than I thought they would (or should have). I should have bid on them.
If you want a high-quality 44 1/2 reproduction, you can't beat the CPAs. Beautiful and pricey.

Sorry, I can't share where one might be available like Ed did, but I can see if I can make you want one even more......

This one was made available to me last Fall by a good friend. It is an original 44.5 action that was recased and rebarreled to 38-55 by CPA. It has a 10X Unertl that is as clear as a bell and the rifle will shoot cast bullets to near MOA most all the time I can do my part. I removed the hooked buttplate because I just couldn't hold the thing properly with it on. Had to install a 1" pad to get the LOP about right for me.

Unfortunately, it has the dehorned type Unertl rings. If anyone has a micrometer type rear ring for a 7/8" tube that they'll part with, let me know.



Although the half round, half octagonal barrel is long and heavy making the piece fairly cumbersome for hunting, I toted it to a shooting house on a few occasions and managed to kill a 7 point right at the end of our season.

Try watching here:

http://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=fs

Try watching here:

http://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=fs