Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Stevens 1915 Favorite 22LR Project Rifle

Picked up this .22LR Stevens Favorite, Model of 1915, from a friend at a gun show. The sights sucked, the dovetail cuts wouldn’t accommodate new sights, the bore was a bit rough and, before long, the lever wouldn’t stay closed. But, the wood was pretty nice.

Jack First Gun Parts supplied some new guts. Marbles Gun Sights was kind enough to supply an adjustable tang sight with correct hole spacing. I already had a Lyman 17A globe front and folding rear. Once the barrel was cut off and re-crowned behind the front dovetail and new dovetails cut, the new sights were installed. The wood was cleaned up and refinished with linseed oil. First stage results:





It shot pretty fair. But, I was dissatisfied with the slight bulge appearing in the fired cases, the extremely sloppy barrel fit to the receiver and the softness of the old steel. A Green Mountain barrel blank was cut for a close tolerance fit into the receiver; left it long (24.75”) with an eleven degree crown and proper dovetail cuts. A new extractor was fitted, and the takedown screw was re-contoured till it would tighten in below the surface of the receiver. Second stage results:



This project rifle now awaits a final adjustment to its crown before shipment to H&M Metal Processing in Akron OH for their Black Nitride treatment of all the steel parts (other than sights and springs), which will substantially harden and beautify them.

Stay tuned.