

Stevens himself referred to this quality as “hang.” The balance is muzzle-heavy, but the vertical angle of the grip compensates for this, making the Stevens a very stable shooting platform indeed. When the pistol is raised, you’re naturally looking directly at the sights and target. The angle and length of the grip are perfect. Typically, the firing pin is not spring-loaded - and most original guns exhibit some peening at the edge of the chamber caused by dry-firing the pistol without a fired case in place. The manual extractor is operated by an articulated arm attached to the bottom of the frame and the extractor extension. The barrel is locked and unlocked by a pushbutton-operated traverse bolt that locks into a slot milled into the right side of the breech. The barrel pivots on a thru-bolt at the front of the frame. It’s an easy trigger to tune for weight of pull. The trigger with its integral sear bears directly on the hammer, which sports a half-cock safety notch and a full cock notch.

The Stevens action is brilliant in its simplicity. They are not uncommon and, thankfully, don’t command premium prices for the more common models. Nevertheless, Stevens pistols keep showing up at gun shows and in gun stores. bullet.īecause the production records of Stevens’ single shots have been lost, the quantities of each model manufactured and the serial number ranges are unknown.

If you were to turn back the clock and walk along the firing line of a 50-yard pistol match being shot in the 1880s and 1890s, you would find men, properly attired in business suits and hats, shooting a Stevens single-shot, target-grade pistol chambered for the “.22 Long-rifle” cartridge loaded by UMC, probably with 5 grains of black powder and a 40-gr. 22 Long-rifle cartridge in a Stevens rifle is a marvel of accuracy … some remarkedly fine targets have been made with it up to and including 200 yards, and even farther, under favorable weather conditions.” 22 Short cartridge will shoot with remarkable accuracy at 75 feet. 22-calibre Long-rifle cartridge was originated by this company and brought about by a demand for a cartridge which would have a longer and more accurate range than the. By January 1, 1902, the factory covered 451,000 square feet (10.3 acres!), employed over 1,000 men and women, and was declared by Stevens as being the “largest producer of firearms for sporting purposes in the world.”Īn equally important claim that Stevens could make was his company’s development and launch of the. The basic action provided the foundation for an expansive family of Stevens pistols, rifles and shotguns. Allen of Springfield, Massachusetts, Samuel Colt, Edward Wesson and the Massachusetts Arms Co., Joshua Stevens was 50 years old when he filed his patent in 1864 for a breech loading tip-up action that would launch the J. Born in 1814 and professionally associated as a master machinist and toolmaker for Cyrus B.
