I just was looking through the Marlin Firearms book by Brophy and on page 658 I was surprised the see a photo of a Stevens 425 and a description of that firearm. In that description, Brophy says that the Stevens 425 was introduced in 1911 and he further writes..."In direct competition with the Marlin lever action rifle, the Stevens Model 425 lever action rifle did not fare well in the marketplace...As a result, the rifle was short-lived. Only about 1,000 were manufactured up to 1917."
So we have the Blue Book and some other sources claiming 26,000, and Bill West's book claiming 10,000. Then there are several articles that claim a production of about 5000. Now, here's Brophy saying that "only about 1,000 were manufactured..."
If the 425 was numbered with the more numerous Stevens Crackshot rifles then there is a possiblity that the High Power serial numbers are not consecutive and if most of the 425 production occured (as I read somewhere) in 1911 and 1912, then perhaps that explains why we have so few 425 serial numbers on our list, and that they are all 4-digit numbers.
I will continue to search for High Power serial numbers.
