Stevens favorite action for 22 mag?

D

duncansuds

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Weyburn, SK
Hello all,

Just looking for a little feed back/ information. I have an idea in my head to build a "mini-buffalo" gun for the gopher patch. I have an idea for a falling block styled rimfire with a longer barrel for aesthetic purposes with a nice tang sight or maybe verniers. Just wondering if the Stevens favorite would have any issues with this choice or if there are any complications.

The finished product would reflect the old buffalo guns in the style of a leather butt sock wrap complete with a ammo sleeve and I thought the 22 mag would look the most like a uber-dialed down version of a 45-70. Just a gun little project and wondering if anyone had done this to an action of this type or if there are better choices out there.
 
I would, based on playing about with perhaps a dozen different Favorite actions, suggest steering well clear of original old ones for such a project.
For that matter, steer clear of any ammo more lively than standard vel stuff, as that was about the max performance level they were made to handle.

I've posted this before, and will post it again. The whole of the force of the cartridge, is held on two screws, the lever pivot screw and the block pivot screw. Wear over the years makes the problem worse. There is no physical lock-up contact between the breech block and the action, and the screws even when in good shape, are unsupported on either side of the breech block, allowing a fair bit of flex on firing.

I have not had a chance to see the innards of one of the new production ones.

If you really want to go that way, see if you can find a Stevens 44 action. It is larger than the Favorite, but works on the same swinging block system. The pivots are larger and the action, if in decent shape, makes a pretty darn good rimfire. In some of the centerfire cals that it was originally offered in, it was prone to shooting loose, like the old Favorites will.

Some other options would be a Falling Block Works Model K, which works out to look like a sorta Win 1885 but smaller, and the Stevens 44 1/2, which is a true falling block action. They can be got new from the US at Singleshotrifles.com, IIRC. $$$, though. There were also some miniature (2/3 scale or so) Sharps actions out there. There are a few others too.

Not many rimfire rifles that were made well enough to really do a decent job of things if they were rebuilt into your project. The ones that were made in large numbers were mostly made to a very low price as "Boy's" rifles, and they didn't, for the most part, put a bunch more material into them than they needed to outlast one boy using them to death.

Best of luck on the project.

Cheers
Trev
 
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