My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family FINISHED

[ShawnT]

I was back home in Ohio a for the Ohio Deer season. My Dad had been telling me that my Uncle still had a .22 rifle that they hunted with when they were kids. According to him they all (he had 5 brothers) liked hunting squirrels and rabbits with this little rifle that had an octagon barrel, but he is not really a "Gun guy" so he could never tell me what it was. The thing he did remember was that they had to shoot 22 shorts as it had a lot of blow back when they shot if they used Long Rifle ammo. Then he remembered that they had to hold "Some Lever" to shoot it. I had tried to figure out what the rifle could be but he had no answers for me. Last week My Uncle came over to the house and said he had something for me to look at. Low and behold he had this mysterious rifle.

He had asked me to "Fix up" a couple rifles for him a couple years ago, a Winchester 67 and an Iver Johnson Model X. He told me he wanted me to "Fix" this one up like I did the others. While he and dad told me about hunting with it he told me that he wanted me to "Have" this rifle as long as I fixed it up and brought it back for him to see. I said OK I would do my best to get it working the way it should. They also said this was their uncles rifle and that he won it in some kind of rifle shoot. 8) I barely remember that uncle but do remember that he and my grandpa were both crack shots.

This is what he handed me. A Stephens Favorite 1915.


I had never seen one but had thought that they had either a falling or a rolling block of some kind. This is a real neat little rifle. There are a number of problems with it though. The stock had been repaired poorly once in the long ago past. The wood that slips between the top and bottom tang metal had apparently split or broke out so someone glued and pined a new piece inside. Unfortunately they had seemed to use a piece that was a bit wide and split the stock or it was too wide and they could not get it pulled back tight. Then filled it all with glue that you can see around the tang. The biggest problem is with the action. Well the lever they had to hold closed is the lever to open the action. Pull the hammer back and it just drops open and will not lock closed. I told them it might have not been too wise to have been shooting this rifle as it was. The Block and lever screws are completely worn out creating a lot of slop in the action so the cam parts will not lock it closed, plus it looks like the hole in the block and maybe the lever look worn too. Can't get the right screws either. The only screws I could find were at Dixie and I spoke to the gunsmith to get the dimensions. The Block screw he had is the right "original" dimensions per info I found on line, but my screw was larger. Seems it had been increased from .215 dia to .245. A Remington action screw fits the threads perfectly so that makes it a 1/4 x 28 thread. So I ordered some Screw Blanks from Brownells to make my own. Not sure but I am thinking that I might have to drill out the block and lever holes and put bushings in them to get the parts relocated back to where they should be to get it to lock up right. I am currently stripping the finish off of the forend to see what I have to work with. I plan to order a replacement butt stock from Gunstocks Inc. Once I get the forend stripped if it is not too good I will just get the forend at the same time. Might do that anyway.

My Dad talked about the little rifle all the rest of the week. Never heard him talk about a rifle like that, guess it brought back some good memories he had with his brothers. I think he is real anxious to see it get fixed up. He is 75 and remembered hunting with it when they were kids so this one has been around. I suspect that they never lubed the block and lever screws that lead to the wear. But then again to them it was just a tool used to put some meat on the table. If Grandma told the boys to go get some squirrels for supper, they went and got some squirrels.

Here is a few more pictures of my little "Winter" project.

 

[cayuga]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Mine is a Stevens Provin Favorite. This was my Great Grandfathers. And the story is, he purchase it for $3.00 from a Sears and Roebuck catalog. Whether that's true, who knows. It was handed down through the boys and finally given to my father who of course gave it to me. It will handle a .22 caliber long rifle shell. I have shot it. And it is a pretty good shooter. And according to my Dad they used to put a leather thong and put that through the loop the attaches to the turn out screw on the bottom and the rifle would go over the saddle horn in case they accidentally dropped it when riding out to hunt on horses. That way it did not dump off the saddle. This was the family farm rifle used for butchering animals and the boys would hunt anything that walked with it.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Cool. I had heard of them but never saw one. This one has the Octagon barrel and even though I need to scrub the bore better it looked good after a few patches and a little brushing. Even my nephew said it looked like a cool little rifle. I really hope this one turns out good, the action issues are the only thing causing me concern. Will take some careful study to decide on how I want to fix it. No parts are really available. Fitting a new stock is the easy part. Saw a Lever on Gunbroker but they want a lot for it and they have too much bad feedback for my liking. My dad and Uncle both said all the brothers loved hunting with it and it had taken a truck load of squirrels and bunnies. 8)

 

[cayuga]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

A rather funny story...

I was in a shop that does framing of art work, having them do a wild life print for me. And there on the wall in a glass case was a Provin Favorite rifle, just like mine. They really did a nice job on the case. The woman saw me admiring it and said... bet you never seen one of them before. I smiled and said... lady I own one. But mine is in better shape then that one. She just about went blind staring at me. She told me .... you don't own one. I smiled and told her the company that made them, how it opened the barrel, how the half cock worked on it, and where I got it from. She seemed really excited suddenly and said.. would you like to sell it. I just smiled and told her no thanks, it was my Great Grandfathers and no money in the world could get it away from me. She then said she wanted a second one so she could show both sides and cross barrels. I figure she must have had a customer in mind. But I told her good luck finding one, as that is the second one I seen now. The shop has gone out of business but I always wondered what happened to that rifle.

I want to pass it down to my great nephew and then I can tell him it was his Great Great Great Grandfathers rifle. That to me is cool.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

A rather funny story...

I was in a shop that does framing of art work, having them do a wild life print for me. And there on the wall in a glass case was a Provin Favorite rifle, just like mine. They really did a nice job on the case. The woman saw me admiring it and said... bet you never seen one of them before. I smiled and said... lady I own one. But mine is in better shape then that one. She just about went blind staring at me. She told me .... you don't own one. I smiled and told her the company that made them, how it opened the barrel, how the half cock worked on it, and where I got it from. She seemed really excited suddenly and said.. would you like to sell it. I just smiled and told her no thanks, it was my Great Grandfathers and no money in the world could get it away from me. She then said she wanted a second one so she could show both sides and cross barrels. I figure she must have had a customer in mind. But I told her good luck finding one, as that is the second one I seen now. The shop has gone out of business but I always wondered what happened to that rifle.

I want to pass it down to my great nephew and then I can tell him it was his Great Great Great Grandfathers rifle. That to me is cool.[/quote]

I could not agree more. I really hope this one comes out good and functions good. I will just take my time getting it up and running. Then this one will stay in the family too if I have anything to do with it. :wink:

I have never heard the "Provin" name. I did some searching for a day or 2 after I got this one but never saw mention of it. Do you know if that was part of Stephens or some model made for a company of that name?

 

[cayuga]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

the butt plate says Steven's Favorite. But I can remember my Dad always talking about the "Ole Provin Favorite." I tried to climb up into the raised ceiling part to get a picture of the writing on it. Because I have always wondered about the exact words. In places what is etched on the barrel is hard if not near impossible to read. But other then a lot of dust on the old rifle, here is the picture I could get of it.

Maybe the Provin part is all in my head. Or what my Dad put in my head. Someday I will pull that down and clean it and check it again. The butt is clear... Steven's Favorite. But as you can see in the second picture the stock on mine is broken also. But was repaired with that very common fix all in the depression called baling wire. My Dad always loved to tell how his Grandpa was butchering a cow. And he'd shot it in the head with the rifle. But the cow did not go down. Instead it kind of made the cow mad. So Grandpa smacked it with the rifle breaking the stock. But he knocked the cow down and used a knife on it then. But my Dad who can speak Norwegian then began reciting all the words that Grandpa was swearing as he finished off the cow using his "Sticker" and broken rifle. When I asked Dad what the words meant... he just laughed and said... you don't need to know how to swear in two languages.

For those interested, that ring underneath turns out. When it reached a certain point you twist the barrel 45ºs and it unlocks from the receiver and pulls out. You can then load it, or take your thumb nail and unload it. Not the fastest rifle you'd ever shoot. But the stories of the animals my father and uncles used to hunt and bring home in Northern Minnesota where they grew up always brought smiles to young boys faces, intent to hear every detail of the hunts they had as kids.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

For those interested, that ring underneath turns out. When it reached a certain point you twist the barrel 45ºs and it unlocks from the receiver and pulls out. You can then load it, or take your thumb nail and unload it. Not the fastest rifle you'd ever shoot.

Oh Wow, I missed that. Now I see that yours don't have the lever. That is a cool little rifle you have. I would bet that is older than mine.

I guess the one I have is more of a Rolling Block style. It does have an extractor. The large screw on mine is for the "Take Down" aspect the barrel only has a small divot drilled in it for the screw to lock the barrel on. Loosen it up and just slip the barrel out, no rotating.



On mine the actual Model was printed on the top of the tang.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Dave,

Is the butt plate on yours plastic or rubber?

I am pretty sure mine was replaced, and it don't have the logo. I have seen 2 replacements that had the Stephens Favorite Logo, one rubber and one plastic.

Thanks,

 

[cayuga]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

The one on mine is metal. It looks like some kind of white metal. But the metal is at least 1/2 inch thick.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Ok, Thanks. I think I saw one of those somewhere too.

 

[ronlaughlin]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Dad gave me his old Stevens when i was 9. It is in pretty good condition considering he used it, and i used it, and our son used it. When i was 11, i carried the rifle out on the prairie after school, and shot at anything, and everything. We brought home jackrabbits because they were worth about $0.70. A box of ammo cost $0.72, if i remember correctly. Might have brought home only 2 jackrabbits. Brought home a couple of pheasants, because mom asked us to. Hunting success was scant, but we tried. Our favorite game was cottontail, but we didn't get many. The rifle was given to our son when he was about 6. He right away, shot it better than i could.

Why the rifle is here, i don't understand. It seems to me the boy should have it, but he doesn't. Perhaps i ended up with it. when he was going through a divorce. When he started shooting the rifle, i worked, worked, and worked the trigger-sear connection. He benefited from a better trigger. I just pulled it, and it is still kinda stiff, but it broke clean with no creep. This rifle seems to need no work; it seems to be in shooting condition. It doesn't handle the newer high speed ammo, but when last we shot it, it worked good with target ammo, and longs, instead of long rifle. If we had some longs, we could shoot the rifle tomorrow.

It has a steel butt plate.

When i was a boy, i dry fired the rifle all the time. Dad didn't want me to, but he wasn't always around. The rifle comes apart into two pieces, when the hand screw bolt is loosened. One day when i put it together, i didn't get it tight; dry fired it, and busted the firing pin. This was about 1953, and there were no parts available for the rifle. Old Ernie Bender, gunsmith, made a firing pin, and when Dad gave me the rifle back, he told me not to dry fire it; i didn't, and never did, until just now, after checking to see if the rifle was put together tight. Just had to see what the trigger felt like..

 

[cayuga]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Wow that is in good shape. The crack shot... very cool.

I talked to my father on the phone last night. I mentioned this thread about old Steven's rifles. He then laughed and said.. you mean the old barn gun? I then had him clarify. He of course went into over an hour of telling me all the stories over again. He was really having fun. Then he said... I always wondered where that rifle went. I told him he gave that to me years ago along with a number of his other guns. But at his age, I guess I am thankful he remembers to tie his shoes. Wait, their slip ons...

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Ron,

That one is in great shape. Thanks for sharing the pics. I saw that some parts might be interchangeable but others not. The actions were changed some here and there. There are some firing pins available now. Dixie and Numrich have those. When I was in High school one of the things my brother and I did to make some extra money was to trap fox. When my uncle handed me this little rifle my first though was, "this would make a fantastic little trappers rifle" since it was small and light.

Dave,

My dad was like that too. I had never seen him talk so much about a rifle or any gun for that matter. The way he kept taking about him and his brothers sort of fighting to see who got to hunt with it, was real cool! One of the stories that we talked about was that Grandpa and the boys always killed a couple of hogs a year. Grandpa had a smoke house too. I told him that I remembered the last hog they slaughtered and that grandpa shot it with a 22 and then I rode on his lap on the little Farmall cub to drag it to the barrel of scalding water. He and my dad looked at each other and dad said he was shocked I could remember that. I told them where the pen was and where we drug the hog to the scalding drum. They said that was where they always did it so I definitely was remembering correctly. My uncle also told me that this little rifle was the one Grandpa always used, I did not remember that part. Guess he liked it too. 8)

I do wish this one did not have some of the wear it does as it makes it harder to decide how to restore it since I can't just replace the parts. The screw holes in the lever and block are pretty worn and worn more on one side that the other. The Lever screw hole in the frame where the head of the screw is also worn. Really going to be a challenge.

 

[WV Hunter]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Cool guns guys!

Shawn, looking fwd to seeing how you refurb her.

 

[cayuga]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

When I showed mine to a gun smith/collector he told me not to re-blue the barrel or fix the stock. But leave it as is and keep the barrel rust free. He claimed they loose value if you fix them up with modern methods.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

When I showed mine to a gun smith/collector he told me not to re-blue the barrel or fix the stock. But leave it as is and keep the barrel rust free. He claimed they loose value if you fix them up with modern methods.

I know it does diminish the value to some collectors, but this is something they wanted to see "fixed" up. I don't plan to blue it, but will replace the stock, I want to try dong it with an Oil type finish. I also want it to get it in working order so it can be safely shot. Not too worried about it's value. I don't think anyone could give you what it's sentimental value would be worth. :wink:

 

[Squeeze]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

this place has replacement stevens favorite stock blanks. with all the wood issues, I would keep the old, but replace with new.
http://www.longrifles-pr.com/stocks.shtml Cant beat that.

 

[ShawnT]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

this place has replacement stevens favorite stock blanks. with all the wood issues, I would keep the old, but replace with new.
http://www.longrifles-pr.com/stocks.shtml Cant beat that.

Squeeze,

Have you ordered from them before? I was looking here but have not ordered from them either.

http://www.gunstocksinc.com/web_pages/P ... stocks.htm

 

[Squeeze]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

Not me personally, But a smith I used on a custom build did, and sent reciepts from them after with the finished gun. They are also about the only place I can find with the allen inline action. I keep going back to stare at that and drool. I just konow I'm going to HAVE to order a barrel and that action. Probably after the holidays activities die down. looking at these guys and what they build with a small lathe and a mill, has me wanting for one of each also. Going to have to clean out the cellar and make some room among all the woodworking shop there now. I havent been making decoys in years and mostly that stuff just sits, barely getting used anymore. BUT you cant go wrong with tools..or more guns

 

[Squeeze]

Re: My Latest Project is a Favorite of the family

After this post, I keep seeing the gun pop up here and there. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?264216-Another-Stevens-Favorite-question