Grandpa's Rifle ... and it has a lever!

[JimT]

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This is a Stevens Marksman .22 - my grandpa bought it back in the early 1900's and used it on his farm for 60 years. He put down cows, slaughtered pigs, shot stray dogs and removed a bunch of groundhogs with it over the years. When he passed, I got it from Grandma. I am the oldest grandson and that started what I hope will be a tradition for many generations. From Grandpa to grandson. This will go to my oldest grandson.

It still shoots well and is very accurate. A testimony to how well they used to make the "cheaper" guns.

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The rifle is take-down though it hasn't been taken down maybe since it was made! The action is pretty strong. I had one of these I picked up that was missing a barrel. I took a Mossberg barrel, rechambered it to .22 Magnum and when my daughter was 11 years old she took a nice Javelina with it. In Arizona the .22 Magnum rifle is legal for Javelina .. or at least it was then.

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[piller]

She looks happy there. From what you have said elsewhere, it sounds as if she was raised well. The .22 Magnum in that type of single shot sounds like a lot of fun. Actually, that type of single shot sounds like a lot of fun.

[AmBraCol]

One of our "family rifles" is a Stevens Favorite. The first time I saw a gun similar to yours, that breaks instead of having a rolling block, was at my wife's grandparent's house. It was a 44 caliber shotgun, although they used 410 shotshells in it. They are lovely, light, handy tools. The one that my brother inherited belonged to an old rancher that Dad used to work for. For some reason he was talking about "pounding a bolt into the barrel and throwing it into the cowpond". Dad convinced him that if the purpose was to never see it again that he'd make sure it happened. That old rifle went to Brazil and then was carried back to the US and still gives good service. Yeah, I've got a soft spot for those old Stevens rifles.

[JimT]

I took it to the Range this morning with my 8 year old grandson. I set up some 2" x 2" wood blocks at 50 feet and within a few shots he was on them and blew them to splinters. It was great fun. I took a piece that was 2" long and about 3/4" wide .. set it up and offhand hit it first shot. The last time I hunted with this old gun was in the late 90's/early 2000's. Went out shooting pigeons out of the cow sheds. I nailed more than one pigeon at better than 30 yards. It's an easy gun to shoot. The grandson liked it better than the Ruger 10/22 with the red dot sight.

[JBowen]

That is a special gun for sure, Jim.
J. Stevens and Son made a lot of "utility" guns back before 1915. They were tools for the common people. I have my Great-Grandpa's old J Stevens
16 ga single shot that he used around the farm. That gun had to put game on the table as well and it is very well used.

JBowen