Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Old savage and Stevens

I was looking at an old shooters bible and saw some of the drawings of old Savage and Stevens rifles. They were the kind that had the real fancy stocks with crazy curls at trigger guard and butt plate... I never seem to see any of those old styles for sale or even displayed. Do any of you guys have any or even just some pics? Do you know if they are 22 cal or larger and do they go by a certain group name?
Here's one small group I found;
http://www.pbase.com/halp/image/86362790

Thanks

Dan, in the 1912 catalog Stevens has a number of Models offered. They were all listed as "Ideal", then a number - No. 44 up to No. 56 with some numbers missing in 1912, later catalogs had even fewer listed. Some also had another name after the No.

The example in your link, the No. 46, is not in the 1912 catalog.

The No 45 Ideal "Range" is more basic gun with straight grip & 44� action and for 1912 was available in-
-rimfires- 22 Short, 22 Long Rifle, 22 W.R.F., 25 Stevens, and 32 Long
-centerfire- .22/15/60, .25/20 Stevens, .25/21, .25/25, .28/30/120, 32 long, .32/20, .32 Ideal, .32/40.

Same offerings in the "Ideal" No 47 "Modern Range" which had a heavier No.3 barrel - both model had Swiss butt plates.

Flipping the page is see the "Ideal" No. 49 "Walnut Hill" which looks almost identical to the one you linked to but it might just have a heavier barrel or some other difference to what would have been a No. 46.

I think (not sure) that earlier some of the same names and numbers were used for guns with the 44 action, which was not as good as the 44�. I know the earlier 44 action was also offered in .38/55 but the action used for the chambering was slightly different than the one used for 32/40 and lighter; even with the differences itstill was probably not really strong enough (a No 44 action can be determined to be a 38/55 just by looking at the hammer when cocked). Stevens experimented using a 44 action in 22 Hornet and found that they would not handle it for long and would soon "shoot loose" according to the few sources that mention it. The 44 was a heavy swinging block action and the 44� was a true falling block with; in his book on single shot's DeHass ranks the 44� as one of the top 10 single shot action designs.

Trying to figure out a high end Stevens single shot can turn into a real confusing mess sometimes - not only were there numerous models that changed over the years there were also pages of options available for each model.

I've got pictures somewhere of a bunch of gorgeous Stevens rifles on display at the Cody museum. Hopefully I can find time to find them. They all predate the Savage involvement in Stevens, don't they?

WWI seems more the end of the high end single shot than the take over by Savage. In Stevens catalog No 55 with a price list dated Dec 1, 1920 there were only two models of large frame single shots listed and both were very basic models; The Ideal No 44 and the Ideal No 414 Armory model. These are also the only two large frame's in a 1919 dated pocket catalog - that's the earliest post war catalog I have. These two model were still available into the early 1930's when the No. 417 & No. 418 & variants came out - these were still listed on a price list dated as late as March 7,1946, catalog No. 43 which I think was the last Stevens only catalog.

Thanks Gene and Calhoun. I now have enough info to really narrow down what I want in one of these beautys. I really like the design features (curled buttplate/intricate trigger guards...) of these old rifles. Considering there were so many made, I wonder why they never pop up here or in local shows. But of course, if I had one I'd sure try and hang onto it. I would really like one of these in a good deer cal. and I could set the 99H down for a few hunts. The only thing now is to save up due to the high prices I see for nice 46 & 47's.

Found one pic.

Most of the high end single shots from both Stevens and Winchester were in the Scheutzen configuration. This type of target shooting was brought over from Germany and the German areas of Switzerland, and was popular in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries. It pretty well died out at the onset of WWI, when all things German became unpopular. While they were catalog items for a fair number of years, their cost and very specialized use led to a rather small number produced. Most of the Scheutzen style rifles one sees were WWII bring-backs. At one time (early sixties) the German ones were available quite reasonably due to the hassle of finding/making ammunition for them.

HD,

Saving up is a good idea. If you would rather have a new rifle on a 441/2 action, google CPA. They make new scheutzen rifles based on the Stevens actions, usually the 44 1/2. Big money though. They may also be a source of parts for the old rifles but I'm not sure of that.