Stevens "Favorite" 1915 type model 17 project.

[Chev. William]

Estimated case water capacities:
.22 short = 3.1 grains H2O.
.22 Long = 4.3 Grains H2O.
.22 L.R. = 4.4 grains H2O.
.221 Atkins = 5.5 grains H2O.
.25 ACP = 6.7 grains H2O.

A .25ACP case, of .276" O.D. and .604" length will hld from 5.00 to 5.31 grains Weight of Black Powder depending on the granulation size.
Normal load length with a 50 grain FMJ RN bullet is .910" maximum.
if a load of ffg Black Powder weighing 5.00 grains is compressed under such a 50 grain bullet to an Overall length of .850", the Black Powder will be compressed to nearly a solid column, at .840" overall length, it distorts the case, locking it inn the shell holder to the extent i had to use a hammer and punch to remove the cartridge form the shell holder.
I have NOT fired any of these experimental Black Powder loads across a chronograph.
I have fired Factory PPU and Fiocci .25 ACP through my Custom Ruger Single Eight across a chronograph.
PPU states their ammo is loaded to 775fps per CIP Testing and Fiocci says theirs is loaded to 800fps from a 4 inch barrel in their CIP testing.
From my Ruger Single Eight revolver i get average 771fps and average 745fps, probably due to the cylinder to forcing cone gap venting. I figure about 2.1 percent velocity loss due to venting and not recovered by my longer, 10-5/8" barrel.
Based upon B.B.T.I. tests on three types of Factory .25ACP ammo, I should see about 1000fps out of a 16 inch barrel if fired from a NONE Venting firearm. Above 16 inch length they saw a decrease in velocity of the Factory ammo, dropping to around 900fps at 18" length.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

I now have physical possession of my Stevens type 1915 "Favorite" Rifle/
I guess this weekend will be initial tear-down and cleaning, then inspection of its components befoire reassembly.

Chev. William

[FLINTNFIRE]

Best wishes and have fun .

[John Boy]

Safe haven for Favorites is 22RF’s reloaded with black powder. Then again not many of us reloaders make black powder 22 RF ammo
4.5gr Swiss Null-B in a 22 Long rifle is 1130 FPS over a chronograph

[uscra112]

Thanks John Boy. That confirms my own calculation.

I think Chev's .22 RF case capacities are a bit low. But it's awfully hard to do the water test on such a tiny case.

Working backward from those .25 ACP velocities gives me about 12,000 psi in Quickload. Bolt thrust calculates to about 620 pounds-force, which IMHO is too high for even the 1915 Favorite. I guess Chev should watch and report how fast the headspace opens up from link compression. Proof is in the pudding!

[Chev. William]

July 5th bump to the thread.
The last couple of weeks have been noisy in my neighborhood with fireworks being set off both nearby and over a mile away (based upon visual sighting vs sound report). It seems my neighbors are no longer following the Democrat Governor nor Democrat Mayor edicts about outside gatherings and celebrations.
Many Arial star/bomb/shell fired both for 'Juneteenth' and July 4th evenings with the July 4th activity continuing until about 0430 July 5th! some of the stars appeared to be of the 'professional display' sizes but were set off in local streets, going up several seconds before bursting in great splendor. Red, yellow, white, blue, silver, green, purple, and gold colors involved so the chemistry was far ranging. intermixed were 'bottle rockets' of many sizes, roman candles, fountains of Sparkling Fire and multiple bursts of crackling pops.
All in All a grand impromptu display that was fun to watch from a chair in my driveway.
Chev. William

[Scrounge]

July 5th bump to the thread.
The last couple of weeks have been noisy in my neighborhood with fireworks being set off both nearby and over a mile away (based upon visual sighting vs sound report). It seems my neighbors are no longer following the Democrat Governor nor Democrat Mayor edicts about outside gatherings and celebrations.
Many Arial star/bomb/shell fired both for 'Juneteenth' and July 4th evenings with the July 4th activity continuing until about 0430 July 5th! some of the stars appeared to be of the 'professional display' sizes but were set off in local streets, going up several seconds before bursting in great splendor. Red, yellow, white, blue, silver, green, purple, and gold colors involved so the chemistry was far ranging. intermixed were 'bottle rockets' of many sizes, roman candles, fountains of Sparkling Fire and multiple bursts of crackling pops.
All in All a grand impromptu display that was fun to watch from a chair in my driveway.
Chev. William

Saw some video from KTLA, one of the TV stations I watched as a kid, showing the Los Angeles basin pretty well full of fireworks. Made me homesick for a moment. https://twitter.com/i/status/1279636803037925377
Newsie is freaking about it, too.

[1hole]

I love to see HONEST grass roots contempt for over-bearing libbrul "You must do good as I say it's good" petty tyrants. I got to see far more fireworks from my lawn than I've seen in staged displays for years!

[Chev. William]

This Morning I took the butt-stock off this Stevens rifle and did some measuring.
Butt-stock wrist tape does not appear to extend into the in-letting for the action. there is an old broken off section of the butt heel wood.
The provided replacement stock appear to be cut from 'Red Oak' as it has wide spaced porous areas between bands of solid 'red' wood that is hard to the feel and does not 'dent' with finger nail pressure. In-letting is incomplete and will need to be finished to make it usable.
The two tang slots are about 1/4 inch too deep lengthwise and the spring relief is not deep enough to clea5r the main spring when in fired position, but does mostly clear it when in cocked position. Also, the butt contour is more curved than the old stock's butt and plate.

This is NOT a '1915' type action.
It appears to be a late production '1894' type as it has a .510" wide breech block with a .490' wide lever, there is no factory stamped 'Favorite' nor model designation on the receiver nor top tang. A two digit number (58) is visible on the lower tang with no letters either preceding or following, there are no markings visible on the front of the receiver.

The shape of the top of the breech block is 'cut away' like the typical 1894 types; rather than the 'straight top' of the later 1915 types.
The hammer spring is a leaf type secured in place with a screw.

Also it appears the 'half cock' shelf has been broken as pulling the trigger in ;half cock; causes the hammer to fall, I do have spare hammers so I can replace this broken one with one that does have a good 'half cock' shelf/notch.

This action also is fitted with a late Extractor/Ejector in that it is held forward by a spring loaded plunger until the lever is forced to full open, when it 'snaps' the extractor to the rear smartly, with the spring pressure of the plunger's angle cut top end against the breech block pivot screw.

Barrel markings include "J. STEVENS A. & T. CO." (all in Caps.) with "CHCOPKEE FALLS __ Pat App __ 04" in smaller caps on a second line. Some letters in the second line are not visible/readable at this time, due to rust coating.
The barrel is also stamped "22 LONG RIFLE" as its caliber designation.
Removing the fore-end wood reveals no added markings on the barrel.

The barrel retention socket is oval with the rear edge 'peened back' even with the tenon surface.

The fore-end appears to be of fine grain dark wood without visible chips or cracks.

The front sight is a steel base only, with the possible 'rocky mountain' tapered 'Nickel Silver' blade missing. I do have reproduction copies of this type sight, so replacement is possible.

The rear sight has the wide stepped elevator typical of Stevens sights and has a "wide V" notch including a shallow 'U' in its lower extremity. Visually, the sight picture appears to be that the rear 'U' is slightly wider than the apparent width of the front sight base 'slot ears'

Chev, William

[Chev. William]

Additional measurement observations:
The link is about 1/4 inch wide.
The body of the 'ejector/extractor is about 1/4 inch wide.
The top end of the ejector.extractor is reduced to slightly more than 3/16 inch wide, possibly .20 inch,
These are rough measurements; not done with a micrometer nor caliper this morning.
The Hammer 'half cock' is indeed 'broken' and partly 'filed or dressed' smooth.
The Trigger sear is rough on about half of it's front to rear 'width' with the rear part smoothed off. I currently do not have another sample trigger out to compare its 'sear length' to.

This hammer has a notch for the spring end that reaches within about 1/32 inch of the Hammer pivot hole.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

I bought what appeared to be a very similar 1894 Stevens hammer on "Ebay" and it arrived yesterday in the USPS mail delivery.
-it has slightly more 'meat' between spring seat and pivot screw hole, an unbroken 'half cock' notch, and a different front face contour than the original hammer.
It looks like some fitting will be necessary to get this hammer to function in this action.

BAH!!! The "Ebay" Hammer is thicker than the original one! Enough that it would require a surface grinder or Blanchard grinder to bring it down to width, neither of which I have available.

But first will be to smooth the rusted surfaces of the action parts before refinishing them. Perhaps rubbing with steel wool is a good way to start.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Bought another hammer on "Ebay" to try that is due here about August 7th.
I hope this one fits my receiver.
Chev. William

[uscra112]

That's weird, because all my Favorites, from 1889s thru the 1915s, have hammers that are.270 - .275 thick.

A Model 44 hammer is .300 thick. Did you somehow wind up with one of those? They look much the same.

Thinning the hammer on a grinder would necessitate re-heat-treating it. They were case hardened, and not so very thickly at that.

[Chev. William]

That's weird, because all my Favorites, from 1889s thru the 1915s, have hammers that are.270 - .275 thick.

A Model 44 hammer is .300 thick. Did you somehow wind up with one of those? They look much the same.

Thinning the hammer on a grinder would necessitate re-heat-treating it. They were case hardened, and not so very thickly at that.

My Received broken hammer, using a Dial Caliper, measures .268" thick and has .023" margin between pivot hole and spring seat notch. The Pivot hole measures .187" diameter.

The First Ebay replacement hammer measures .334" thick and .098" margin between pivot hole and spring seat notch. The pivot hole measures .198" diameter.

One I believe is a model 44 hammer measures .307" thick and .159" margin between pivot hole and spring seat notch. The pivot hole measures .236" diameter.

I have yet to receive the second Ebay purchase hammer.

I have not found any 'favorite' 1894 hammers in my 'stock of used parts' that has such a small spring seat to pivot margin, all seem to be much greater in margin measurements with a larger radius to the seat notch.

My few 1915 hammers have the spring seat notch located differently and of larger notch radius to fit the coil spring 'stirrup' of the 1915 model.

I am getting confused by these different hammer measurements and contours.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Bought another hammer on "Ebay" to try that is due here about August 7th.
I hope this one fits my receiver.
Chev. William

The second Ebay purchased hammer arrived, it fits the receiver: BUT it also has a broken half cock notch!

The spring seat notch is about the same along with the two sear seat points on the hammer (Quick checked by using a pivot screw through both hammers and closely looking at them under strong lighting.

Time to try some other processes I think.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Wow! An Ebay auction for a Stevens Favorite 1894 'housing' is going for over $497.00 today.

Admittedly it is both engraved and plated, but at now over $500 with shipping it is getting really 'pricey'.

I found it while searching 'Stevens Favorite Rifle'.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

In mid September, I took the action parts and both replacement hammers to my gunsmith and commissioned him to 'rebuild both hammer's Half Cock notches back to original dimensions and contours.

At the same time I asked him to make and fit "bushings" for the Breech Block Pivot screw holes in the Receiver, with the inside surfaces fitted so the Breech Block is closely supported, side to side. This intended to strengthen the pivot screw by removing the wide spaces between the Breech Block and the inside surfaces of the Receiver, which will change the 'Bending' loads into 'Shear' loads on the pivot screw.

After this work is done, I will need to test the action (firing test) before refinishing it.

Now to wait for the work to be done

[uscra112]

Are the shoulders in the frame in intimate contact with the breechblock when the action is closed? Tightening and reinforcing the breechblock pivot is of zero value if they are not. The pivot and screw bear almost none of the load in a properly fitted-up Favorite or Model 44, and as a side benefit the force on the link is reduced.

Your 'smith would be well advised to make those bushings a bit eccentric so that the breechblock can be shifted rearward if necessary.

John Taylor posted this photo of what happens to the breechblock if the pivot is asked to carry the thrust load.

[Chev. William]

Are the shoulders in the frame in intimate contact with the breechblock when the action is closed? Tightening and reinforcing the breechblock pivot is of zero value if they are not. The pivot and screw bear almost none of the load in a properly fitted-up Favorite or Model 44, and as a side benefit the force on the link is reduced.

Your 'smith would be well advised to make those bushings a bit eccentric so that the breechblock can be shifted rearward if necessary.

John Taylor posted this photo of what happens to the breechblock if the pivot is asked to carry the thrust load.

Uscra112,
I currently do not have the action in hand so cannot answer your question accurately.
However, from memory, I believe the Breech Block did not close tightly against the rear receiver shoulders as received.

Somewhere in my home I believe I have a modified Favorite Breech Block, set up for CF and with the rear edges built up to be fitted to the receiver rear shoulders tightly when in battery.

I believe this item was cut from tool steel by the original seller so it may be a bit stronger than the originals.

Now I will need to search for it.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[uscra112]

It's infinitely easier to simply elongate the pivot hole in the breechblock to let it move back against the shoulders. Followed up by fitting the barrel breech face so that you have an interference fit as the action closes. The block essentially becomes a wedge driven between the two. The only load on the pivot is then a small vertical component as the block tries to rotate about the uppermost link pin.

Here are force resolution diagrams generated by Chuck Deats about five years ago, illustrating both cases.