Tomorrow morning I'm going to look at a Stevens 416 .22 target rifle. What should I be looking for, other than the obvious? I am getting into shooting informal indoor competition this winter, and have been looking for something like this. Most of the new .22's on the market today do nothing for me. But I think something retro like this may be just the ticket. Asking price is $339.

It would need to be in excellent shape, with some good target iron sights to get the asking price out of me.

That said, look for "X"-marked target barrel (don't consider it without this) and "US property" stamp(could add value to some collectors). If it's drilled for sights that aren't included, this may indicate some other unseen bubba-izing.

They are consistently good shooters, easily on par with winchester 75's..if they had a better magazine carrier they would be on par with win 54's. They tend to balance a little forward with their 26" heavy barrel, a consideration if you're doing offhand. Triggers and bolt travel are sometimes cruddy and feel stiff, that should be taken as another indicator of it being unloved (offer less and they clean up easily).

They are an undiscovered treasure in my opinion, and the price is bound to go up as the legions of pre WWII Winchesters keep climbing out of normal people's reach. At $339, in good shape, it will be a better shooter than anything new at that price.

A few other things to consider ... but this is comming from someone who only has owned one so this is based on only seeing a couple examples, hopefully Jeff will add any nessesary comments or corrections -

Look for the original sights or top quality name brand replacements. The original hooded front sight came with several inserts and the extras are almost always missing, so check which one it has if there are no extras and consider if it's one you would use. The original sights seem to show up consistantly on ebay but the prices seem to vary quite a bit and if you need both and aren't prepared to wait it could get expensive; possibly as much as half the current asking price if you end up needed both sights based on some recent auctions I have seen that somewhat surprised me.

These also were shipped with the scope blocks mounted, make sure they are on the gun.

here's a fun bit of history, a reference for military 22 cal trainers. Very thorough specification comparisons between the 416, 75 and 513.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12980693/1942-US-Army-WWII-Rifles-22-Caliber-144p

I pulled out my Stevens catalogs - the 416 is not listed in a Jan 1936 price list but is first found in a 1937 that is the same format as the 1936. The cover for the 1937 is loose and the top of it is what is picture on the top right. I am not sure what the optional sight offering was in place of the Lyman for the 416-2 because it doesn't give a number at this time -


Here is the listing from 1939 and the 416-1 (Lyman sights) is not listed but what became the standard sight set is for the 416-2; also note the chance in barrel length from 28" in 1937 to 26"-


Jeff - excellent link!

Thanks for all of the great info guys, it really helped out. I went and looked at the 416 this morning. It did have the "X" on the barrel, but is wasn't marked "US Property" anywhere. It had the post insert for the front sight, but that was the only insert. The blueing was pretty worn and the stock had several dings in it. The asking price was $389 and I decided to pass when they wouldn't go any lower. Thanks GeneB and JeffG for the great info.