Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors J.Stevens ID

I picked up this old single shot 22 WRF 24" barrel made in Chicopee MA and there is no model number to be found. I'd like to find out how to disassemble the bolt and give it a good cleaning. What you see in the pics is all I can find. I googled some that are similar but not the same,such as stevens model 15, savage 3 and springfield 53.

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I would say it's definitely a Model 3. It matches perfectly the description and picture in West's book, page 15-21. The only anomaly not mentioned therein is the caliber of yours - .22WRF. If a factory chambering would it be rare? I don't know. I don't see evidence of a .22 Long Rifle roll stamp having been eradicated to make way for the .22WRF stamp so it's probably a factory job. Neat!

Thanks I will check into that. I do think it's a factory rifle. One thing I don't like is that when you chamber a round it cocks it to fire, ya either have to release the bolt firing pin or what I do is squeeze the trigger while chambering,makes the bolt close easy and not ready to fire,then pull the firing pin back which locks it and then fire.

Everything points to the model 3 except caliber. I did see where as the rear bolt knob turns to a safe position which is different from mine, mine doesn't rotate to a safe..

The picture of your bolt knob has an "S" on it, and there is an arrow on the bolt. If it doesn't rotate, do you think something may be amiss?

In the last pic I think I see an "S" on the rear edge of the bolt.

Keith, if you go to the pic, 4th or 5th down, with the bolt still in the rifle, you can see it clear. it's actually on the knob, not the bolt, and there is an arrow that looks like it points to the "S", if it's rotated.

I don't know if that is actually called a knob, it's the piece at the end of the bolt that turns. I always called them a cocking knob.

It is an S but with bolt in there is part of the bottom of the bolt that slides in a track, not allowing the bolt knob to turn. There is also an arrow on the bolt body that when NOT in the rifle the arrow and the S can be lined up (pic 4)

Calling all cars, calling all cars. Be on the lookout for GeneB. Bring him in to the station if found. Urgently needed for technical clarification. Acknowledge, over.

Please tell me where the rifle came from?

Pictures of the barrell chanel and under the but plate may help.

Stevens/Springfield Model 53B

53B shows the bolt knob being threaded where mine I don't believe is.

Many models of the single shot .22s of the 30s got chambered in .22 WRF. Either they didn't make many of them or they got worn out over the years. I have a Win Model 68 (the "target model" of the 67!!!!) in .22 WRF. And I've seen a Remington Model 510S in ".22 Rem Special" as the Remingtons called the WRF. Both of these are pretty rare (as if anyone cared).

Don't know about Savage/Stevens--this is the first I've seen,although a friend of mine has a Model 44 "Ideal" single shot in that cal. But the .22 WRF/.22 Special was believed to have extraordinary powers by its advocates back in the day. I believe that this was due to its flat bullet shape rather than any huge boost in power over ordinary .22 LRs.

My Dad fed his grandma, baby brother, and himself their protein with a Rem 12S for several years in the Depression in ND. He was so very glad when Roosevelt's "Tree Army" accepted him: three hots and a cot and a few $ to send home to Grandma Grimes. Baby brother Bob got the .22 Special pump and later a career in the USMC. My favorite uncle until he stopped a Chinese bullet in 1952....

Made in Chicopee Falls MA

Pictures, please include the bottom of the butplate.

Butt plate on this is just flat steel,nothing on it or underneath

Any markings on the stock?

From what I see it's a No. 53 "SPRINGFIELD JUNIOR" OF THE "1931 improved design" as show in Stevens catalog No 58 chambered for 22 S, L & LR Regular or Hi-Speed Cartridges. Hi-Speed 22 loads were introduced about 1931 and not all 22's could handle them, today we call 'Regular' cartridges 'Standard Velocity'. The 22 W.R.F. chambering was added in the next catalog. A price list dated May1, 1935 for catalog No 60 lists the No 53 as "discontinued". Later No 53 was used again for an improved design as part of the 'Buckhorn' series without the grooved stock and the nose of the forearm painted black, this was a stronger design and they added 25 Stevens as an option.

To put the gun on safe pull the cocking knob back about 1/8" from full cock & turn clockwise (you will be pulling against an almost fully compressed main spring), the bar on the bottom of the cocking knob will then be blocked by the rear of the receiver, there is a notch it fits in.

The earlier guns had a rebounding firing pin for safety, yours does not, so do not un-cock it with a round in the chamber, the firing pin will rest on the rim & it could fire if the cocking knob is bumped.

PS, it is based on the same action as the Savage Model 3.

No markings on stock and when someone refinished it they sanded down the inside and painted it black.

Gene I'll try moving to safe again,played with different ways on it earlier but maybe missed that one.

Well I was able to get it on safe,not the easiest with just the little knob to pull on and close to the stock,big mitts don't help either but feel better with it on safe. Thanks

Now is there a way to disassemble, don't really want to knock out any pins.

Be nice if the knob on the bolt had a little rod welded on it to use for cocking and to help put on safe

I don't know what model that is, but I have seen one like it that belonged to a neighbor of my family when I was a kid. Mr. Howard was a older man who ran a trap line and had an old, worn, cut-down Stevens single shot bolt gun in .22 WRF that he carried in his pack basket to kill fishers, foxes, and 'cats. He was the reason that I shot .22 WRF ammo in my Savage 24 and 65 when I was hunting something that I wanted to eat and saved the .22 WMR ammo for varmints..

Danny, I have a couple older Savage Model 3's with a bolt very similar to yours, they have a cocking piece that looks larger but otherwise the same. They appear to be made so they cannot be disassembled completely, there are two blind pins in the ones I have and I see no way to remove them.

ADDED- I pulled my rifles out and what I have are B versions, a Savage 3-B and a Stevens 53-B, yours is an earlier version. Mine do have a larger cocking knob which may have been part of the upgrade for the B version, I assume there also was an 'A' version of both? Catalogs never list the alpha character.

One is a special 53-B made for Montgomery Wards. It's marked 'STEVENS' '53-B' on the top of the barrel, 'Wards Westernfield' on the receiver and 'STEVENS Buckhorn Rifle' on the underside of the barrel just in front of the forearm.



Montgomery Ward's had Mossberg scopes made under their own name and this Stevens rifle is drilled & tapped for them.

Not that it is dirty but if it gets a little friction started what would be something good to soak it in and would it dissolve the gunk.

Danny, would give it a squirt or two of lighter fluid in the area(s) of concern and then wipe the entire bolt down with a lightly oiled rag.

Another question since it puts a lot of force closing the bolt and compressing the firing pin spring I have held the trigger back, close the bolt then cock it. Is this a bad idea? Just don't want to break the bolt handle. Since I was informed how the safety works it seems like less stress on the bolt. Thanks for everyone's help help in clearing things up.

Went out and shot a few rounds and it's fairly accurate. A question though is this made to cock when closing bolt, it's quite hard and don't want to break off the bolt if it's not suppose to cock like that.

Dannyl, I looked at your pictures again and your bolt should cock on open and not on close, the angle cut in the rear is supposed to cam the lug on the bottom of the bolt back and into a rounded indent that holds it cocked. My thought are that the indent may have worn where it would not hold it cocked and a previous owner ground off the inside of the prong on the cocking knob to keep it from uncocking with the action open. I've heard of the ident wearing to the point it will not keep the bolt cocked and that becomes a real problem, you need two hands to close the bolt, one to turn the cocking knob to the correct position and hold it and one to then close the bolt.

Sounds about right Gene and thanks. The way I started doing it is I hold the trigger while closing the bolt which closes easily then when wanting to fire pull the bolt back and it locks. If not doing it this way it's just a matter of time before the bolt handle gives and breaks I think.

Gene do you do work on these bolts? Now it appears something broke and it will not fire. Bolt locks back and when you pull the trigger there isn't enough force and it's very noticeable in the sound when it goes forward. I see under the bolt there is a pin that floats, I think it's the firing pin. In my pictures at the beginning of thread the 5th pic down, at the bottom of pic it shows the little pin I'm referring to.

Danny, If it's the short pin, that's the ejector. Like I mentioned before these bolts have blind pins holding them together and I know of no way to pull those out to do any repairs.



Looking at your pictures again I think the problem might all be in your cocking knob or the end of the shaft it's attached to. It looks like the prong on the bottom of the cocking knob is slipping over the outside of the bolt body and not being held in the cocked position - either it's bent, loose, or the shaft is bent, this being out of place could be what's binding the firing pin. Look at these pictures again to see how the gun should stay cocked with the bolt opened or out of the gun.

In cocked position through the cutout the internal rod goes back forward. Like you said something is stopping it from staying back (cocked)
The internal spring feels good and strong.

Danny, here are better pictures. One or more parts on your gun is either worn, bent or modified so the bolt will not stay cocked.

Mine looks like the correct photo, problem is it stays in that position. I can move it by hand but doesn't move when trigger is pulled.
When cocking the bolt slides to the rear but doesn't stay.

Yours does not look like the correct photo, the prong on your cocking piece is worn off so it slips over the outside of the bolt and does not get fully cocked as the bolt is opened and is not held at full cock like it should. Take a closer look at the the pictures of mine.

Here is a detail of yours -

I will have to check the only smith somewhat near and see if he can build it up. Must be why it would cock when I closed the bolt or at least felt like it with all the force it took to close it.