Stevens 25-20

[mechanic1908]

I was talking to my dad yesterday and he told me he has a old Stevens single shot rifle.
It looks alot like their "favorite" model.
It is chambered in 25-20 caliber.
It has a half round,half octagonal barrel.
Does anyone know anything about these rifles and this caliber?
Is ammo available?
Thanks in advance.
Eric

 

[DaveF]

If I remember correctly, which happens occasionally, the Stevens #44 Ideal rifle (made between the 1890s to the 1930s) was commonly chambered in 25-20 Stevens, which was a popular off-hand target/small game cartridge back in it's day.
The down side is that it was a proprietory, and now obselete, cartridge design of Stevens and not interchangeable with the now more common 25-20 Winchester. The odds are it's in the Stevens chambering.
That being said, almost any calibre can be loaded for and made to shoot if you are prepared to do some digging around to find or make/adapt components, and load your own.
Regards, and good luck, DaveF.

 

[kodiak1]

Look up 25-20 Single Shot then 25-20 Winchester.
Yours is more than likely the first one.

Ken.

 

[vagrantviking]

You may need to do a chamber cast to be certain what you have but there is quite a difference between the cartridges.

I know one fellow who has (or had anway) one in a very nice 25-20SS target model and it was a great shooter. Not easy to find components for though.

If its a take-down model as many were, it would be pretty simple to get a new barrel made up in a 22 Hornet, 25-20 Win. or similar and not affect the value of the original.

 

[deckerhead]

Ya the 25-20 are rare nowadays. I have one in 22 and one in 32.....great little rifles. My 32 is from around 1900-1910, the 22's were made until the 50's but I think 25-20 is 1890-1910?.......good luck finding rounds.

 

[Mike Webb]

If the gun is not in pristine condition, I don't think collector value is that great. Maybe you could get the barrel relined to .22 and have a shooter.

 

[Willy Tincup]

Yep, sounds like the Stevens 44. I happen to have a handfull of 25-20 SS ammo. Also have similar rifles in both .32 and .25 rimfire and still debating wether to change barrels and calibres on them.

 

[BULLY HAYES]

25-20 SS Stevens

It could be a 44 mdl or it could be a 441/2, model, the 441/2 mdl being as strong as a Winchester Hi-Wall action, the 44 action being a very weak action. You can tell the difference easily, when you open the action if the breech block drop straight down, it's the 441/2, if the breech block cants backwards, you have a 44! Also if you remove the fore-end piece, stamped on the front of the receiver it will tell you which model it is?
You can get 25-20 SS brass from The Gun Store, in Kitchener, they can be a very accurate rifle, having been designed originally to shoot, 200 yd offhand targets, regards Bully

 

[powderman]

Bully Hayes

I guess you are never too old to learn something new. I had no idea the Stevens 44 1/2 action is as strong as the Winchester High Wall action. Where did you find this information?

Regards,
Powderman

 

[trevj]

That info can be found mostly in the writings of the various 'gun cranks' that were building Varmint guns when that was the thing to do.

The 44 1/2 model is pretty close to the strength of an 1885 Winchester but it has a smaller barrel shank, so it is limited in top end size cartridges. There is a company making new repro's and that have made the barrel shank (and, IIRC, the whole action) slightly larger to take a wider range of cartridges.

If the breech block drops straight down, it's a 44 1/2. If it pivots as it drops, it'd be a 44, and not so strong.

If you want a book reference, look for Frank DeHaas' book Single Shot Rifles and Actions. It covers some of the history, a lot about caliber conversion options, and a fair bit of what would be considered butchery, today, of old guns that nobody really wanted at that time. Worth digging out a copy for a read.

If it is a 25-20 Winchester caliber, brass is quite easy to get. If 25-20 Single shot, not as easy, but available, and not so expensive that you couldn't afford enough to set yourself up.

If it is one of Stevens' proprietary cartridges, then you are looking at even more money for cases, but there are ways around the problem, between buying custom turned cases made one at a time, or learning to make good use of the few that you dig up at shows and the like.

I read one gent's post that he had shot an entire season on just two 25-25 Stevens cases (They look like a long section of a pencil, nothing else like them to form brass from) by using one case with a dowel in it, to breech seat the bullets, and loading the other case as required. He had planned to keep shooting the one case until it was too far gone to be reused, then swap them around, using the used case to seat the bullets.

Cheers
Trev

 

[ben hunchak]

Stevens .25 cal.

Some of the old Stevens were chambered in .25/21 Stevens, a longer straight case then the 25/20SS with it's very small shoulder. The 44 1/2 was/is a strong action, I wouldn't push things with originals too much but, CPA Corp. makes a copy of the action into some very nice rifles, some in high pressure cals.