Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Stevens 425 High Power

Okay, here's a link that will work. Be prepared, it's 5MB in size.

Guns Illustrated Stevens 425 article

Thanks Rory...

Works perfect. Now you have to tell me how to do it...!!!


Thanks, Mike...

Good article Mike, i think i have one of those guns illistrated in my library,now i got to find it!! Don

Well, rather than use photobucket for pictures, I have an account where I have access to a full web server. So rather than just loading up pics for download, I can put any document up there and give access to it via the URL. I've been doing this computer monkey business for 20 years though, so unless you want to become a web programmer it's probably not worth it to ya. Actually, you could probably rent your own domain for $40-$50 a year or so and get access to something similar to what I do. Let me know if you're really interested in that, and I can maybe point you to one or two easy ones.

I think that I much prefer to just let you do it...!!!

Thanks so much again Rory...


Mike...

Peter,

A Little google work shows that Larry S. Sterett is still a contributing editor at Gun Week magazine. Might be worth a call
to see it he has a SN list.

Cheers for that. a great read
worth waiting to to get the working link, well done
Graham

Mike and Rory,

Thanks for all your efforts. It was worth it! It is a good article and I wanted everyone to be able to read it.

The man who sent it to me is the guy who has the 425 High Power for sale at GunsAmerica. This is what started me on this numbers "quest". I had never even seen a 425 High Power until a friend of mine walked into my shop with one and asked if I wanted to trade something for it. That's my gun now, number 4837 in .32 Rem. It's in wonderful condition with no wood repairs, excellent bore and very good original finish.

In the article by Sterett, he mentions that he thinks the Stevens #15 rifle that the 425 was numbered with must be the centerfire Crack Shot No. 15, but checking my books I don't see a centerfire Crack Shot #15 listed. I wonder if they meant the Model 45 (the deluxe version of the 44 and 44 1/2) which are centerfire rifles in larger calibers. Or is there a centerfire Crack Shot #15 and I've just missed it?

Peter

Well I just got a response from the gentleman that collects 425's and gave him a link to this thread. Hopefully he can enlighten us on some interesting information...!!!


Mike...

I just rechecked the 1912 catalog that I got the 425 info from. It has a CRACKSHOT listed but it is number 16. I believe that Stevens made a couple of designs that they called the CRACKSHOT. The one made in 1912 was only available in 22 S,L&LR or 32 shot. The number 15 is the MAYNARD JR. and they do not have serial numbers anywhere that I can find. The article says production figures were combimed but it does not say they were serial numbered together. I think from the serial numbers found and the production estimates it's more likely the 425's were not serial numbered with another gun. Gene

In Bill Wests book, Savage and Stevens Arms and history , on page 7-11 bottom of the page they list , 1915, no. 17-20 & 27-29 "favorite", 1915- 1917. This rifle was made from 1915 thru 1917 and on the rifle frame is stamped"model 1915" im thinking this was the rifle that was included in the model 425 series as far as production numbers. MAYBE!! Don

This is an interesting discussion. I saved the article to my other archived info for future reference. If I found one of these rifles it would be good to have history etc. Looking over the article it seems like the author thought it was a good design. Why do some guns fail to grab the attention of the buyer while other lesser designs thrive? Stevens was likely a big name in guns at the time these were built. They should have had a fairly loyal customer base with all the Favorites/44's/44 1/2's and others that were sold and liked as first rifles. Lack of promotion?

Chief

I've passed up several of these rifles over the years. In retrospect, I wish hadn't - at least the better ones that is. I just never found the right deal - a frequent character flaw of a collector

I failed to list the calibers of two of the rifles on the list - here they are:

1977 -- .35 Rem
5302 -- .30 Rem

Peter

Gene,
I agree, I don't think the No. 15 mentioned in connection with the 425 High Power is the #15 Maynard Jr. either.

You may be right about the production figures, but I'm curious which production figure do you favor: 26,000 - 11,000 - 5000 - or 1,000?

Also, if the 425 series High Power rifle had its own exclusive serial numbers then wouldn't it have been a fairly easy task for Savage to separate them from another gun?

Like I said in an earlier post, I don't have any axe to grind, I'm just trying to solve the mystery, and I really appreciate your great input.

Peter

As JC stated..."there are no J. Stevens serial records existing for any model and have not been since way before WW II. There are no production records either. I have a remnant of some Stevens comparison production records , but not this early and as far as I know these are the only ones that exist."

I think GeneB is correct that the production number of 11,000 for the two models might just be a combined number and not two models with one serial range. I don't see another rifle in production that had any similarity to the 425. The models that I know of that share a serial range also share parts. What Model 15 shared parts???

Based on the serial range of 425's that you have collected I think the serial range runs from 1000 to 6000, give or take. No sharing of serial range.

JMO

Peter, A friend in Vermont has Ser# 5594. .32

Thanks "lozen", your friend's gun #5594 is now the highest serial number on the list.

Rick, you may be right about the 425 serial range running from 1000 to 6000. In my very first post when I started this topic, I said that I thought the total number produced was about 5000.

According to one post, West's book states that the 425 numbering started at "1". Also, in Sterett's article he quotes a letter from Savage stating that their records show an aggregate total of 11,500 number 15 and 425 rifles produced, but they can not separate them. This info is also in West's book and the Blue Book. So obviously some production records did still exist.

I think the only way to solve this puzzle is to continue to collect the actual serial numbers (and calibers, please) of known 425 series High Power rifles. I know we won't be able to get them all, but if we get enough numbers and could figure out a typical survival rate for a similar low production gun, perhaps we could make an educated estimate.

Peter

More is better with data. Keep looking. Your doing good.

As for the production figure I favor: When buying 26,000 - When selling 1,000 (or less) . Really though Don and I had discussed this a while back and had come up with 8,000 or 9,000 maximum so 5,000 looks reasonable looking at the serial numbers now documented.

And you have a good point about the serial numbers and bring able to get a separate production number - but looking at it that way then with combined serial numbers they should have been able to get a better combined production figure than an approximate 11,000.

An old saying - "The more you learn the less you know". With the lack of records we will only have opinions and the more data that is gathered the better the opinions will be.