Weirdest Levergun

[Scrounger]

This has to be the weirdest levergun I've ever seen.

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=7801669&aa=%20Staggs-Bilt%20%20Model%2020%20.30-30%2020GA/.30-30%20Lever%20Action%20Combo

[357maximum]

It looks alot like the lever actuated falling block or break action with two barrels...I find it to be kinda neat myself....

[RugerFan]

It looks alot like the lever actuated falling block or break action with two barrels...I find it to be kinda neat myself....

Kinda reminds me of an Ithaca single shot 12 ga I had as a youngster. The lever was just used to break it open. My older brother also had a single shot .22 lr that utilized a lever with sort of a falling block mechanism.

[longhorn]

My father has one of the Ithaca .22's-it's a Martini action. I've seen a Staggs before, but didn't handle it, so I don't know what the action's really like. You know, I may bid on that weird thing-nice combo gun. Not that I need it for anything, of course.

[RugerFan]

Found this posted on another forum concerning Staggs-bilt:

"very short lived commercial enterprise...

they were sued by 3 different companies over patent infringements...

SAVAGE and ITHACA were named as complaintents, and i cannot recall who the 3rd party was...

made from 1968-1972???

some sold through Montgomery wards and 2-guys...

fairly well built, mechanically safe, ugly as sin, low end fit and finish, probably not worth $100.00 even NIB...

the assets were liquidated and i think BILL RUGER bought up some of the machine tools (he did that routinely in the late 60`s and early 70`s)...

wish i could offer more help...

(KASSNAR ARMS was the 3rd party named in the patent infringement lawsuit, and BILL RUGER bought there machine tools when they went under as well)"

[floodgate]

longhorn:

I think the .22 was the Mossberg Model L single-shot; the Ithaca was the "Super-Single", a single-shot shotgun in various gauges. I thought at the time it could have been made as a very handsome single-shot rifle, though the factory finish was stone plain. Think: a lever-actuated NEF Buffalo Classic!

floodgate

[carpetman]

Ithaca I think model 49 is a single shot lever .22. Operating the lever ejects case only you have to manually cock it. It was intended to look like a Win 94. I found a steal on one and bought it to teach my daughters to shoot. I made a short butt and kept the original so it is easy to convert back and forth.

[Nueces]

Howdy, folks, noo guy here. I've really enjoyed listenin' in for a few days. Y'all have a great thing here, I'm looking forward to being one of ya.

I remember magazine writeups on the Staggs, when it came out, complimentary, as usual.

My entry would be a conversion I saw at Collectors Firearms in Houston, in the 80's, I think. Someone had converted a Mauser bolt gun to lever action, with an aluminum lever that opened the bolt and cycled it. Smooth, it worked, showed real genius. Wish I'd grabbed it. Wouldn't it be fun to show up at a CAS match with it?

Mark

[9.3X62AL]

Welcome aboard, Nueces. Your described example and Scrounger's post are just the sort of things to make me awaken and sit bolt upright in bed at 3 A.M.

[Nueces]

Thanks, Al. I've been mining the old posts and would like to announce myself as the latest addition to the '32' bunch. Have been into the S&W Long since the early '70s, still remember how COOL I thought the new H&R was going to be. Well, it was, but just to some of us, it seems. Worked out well for me, actually. Allowed me to grab a good handful of rare prizes when folks were looking the other way. Colt PPS target, pre-war Officer's Model, Smith HE target, Smith 631 Kit Gun, Ruger 4" SP-101, Ruger Bisley SSM (fluted cylinder!), Dan Wesson 732, plus some early Colt PPs and PPSs and Smith J-frames.

I'm hangin' up the pilot hat in April and getting back into all those projects that have been following me around for (aargh!) 35 years. Been gathering parts for a 32 H&R Diamondback and a Smith 1950-style 32 combat Masterpiece. Mouth waters just thinkin' about 'em.

Happy New Year, Y'all
Mark

[Four Fingers of Death]

My entry would be a conversion I saw at Collectors Firearms in Houston, in the 80's, I think. Someone had converted a Mauser bolt gun to lever action, with an aluminum lever that opened the bolt and cycled it. Smooth, it worked, showed real genius. Wish I'd grabbed it. Wouldn't it be fun to show up at a CAS match with it?

Mark


You are gonna drive a lot of guys here trying to work that one out.

[ARKANSAS PACKRAT]

Carpetman, I had one of those little Ithica 49's, let it get away, it was one of those guns that just hit what you pointed it at. Now I miss it!!!!!!!!!
Nick

[wills]

More pictures.
http://www.cylindersmith.com/savage24/gallery/StaggALL.jpg

[woody1]

Ithaca I think model 49 is a single shot lever .22. Operating the lever ejects case only you have to manually cock it. It was intended to look like a Win 94. I found a steal on one and bought it to teach my daughters to shoot. I made a short butt and kept the original so it is easy to convert back and forth.

Stevens also made a similar rifle to the martini type Ithaca 49, the model 89. Regards, Woody

[Nueces]

You are gonna drive a lot of guys here trying to work that one out.

Yeah, sorry! I can no longer picture it clearly myself. I do recall a large aluminum slotted cam that engaged the bolt handle. The builder even had the lever rotate on a roller bearing.

Bloomin' thing should be in a museum. Prolly need a roll of paper towels nearby so we could sop up the drool as we gawked at it with pie-holes open. Maybe someone will spot it and let us know.

Mark

[floodgate]

Catpetman, Woody1:

I had forgotten about the little .22 Ithaca levergun; and had never run across the Stevens at all. Interesting!

I recall seeing somewhere photos of a Springfield or Enfield bolt rifle modified somewhat similarly, but to work as a pump. A sliding sleeve over the forend and an extension back to the receiver with a zig-zag slot to work the bolt. Hmmmm....

floodgate

[longhorn]

Floodgate- yep, I'd call that Super Single finish stone plain--I believe it was black paint, as is (was-now mostly worn off-) my first shotgun-Monkey Wards 20ga single. Still works, though-sits next to the back door, empty, with a half-dozen 3" #4 shot loads in the butt cuff......damned raccoons harass the dog.

[9.3X62AL]

Nueces--

A Diamondback ir 32 H&R Magnum would be heaven on earth......and I really like your taste in mid-caliber handguns. I'm "muddling through" with the S&W K-frame 32 Mag, and I have long delayed on fitting a new advancing hand to a Colt Pocket Positive x 6"/original nickel in 32 SWL. One of those "I'llgetaroundtoits" we all accumulate.

I sure wouldn't mind a PP in 32 SWL, either. Or 38 S&W, for that matter. It's irrational, I know.

[Dale53]

Nueces;
You'll find that there are quite a few here who are fans of .32 S&W L's and .32 H&R Mags. I have a .32 Snubby S&W (blued), a Ruger SP 101 4" in .32 mag, a S&W 631 4" and my Model 16-4 6" in .32 H&R Mag.

I got in on the recent .32 100gr Keith Six Cavity Group Buy mould and have been having a ball with it. My pistols and my TC Carbine in .32 H&R also like the .314 120gr RF Group Buy Six Cavity mould, also.

I'll probably settle on the .32 Keith 100 gr for general use. It seems to shoot in the .32 mags equally well whether I use an appropriate charge in either the S&W L case as well as the .32 H&R Case.

Dale53

[Bret4207]

Welcomes Nueces. I'm one of the 32 Nutz too. Wonder how the disease spreads? Looking for a M16 Smiff, a 631, most any 32S+W/32 Long/32 Mag/32 WCF I can find to add to the collection.

Ithaca 49. My Christmas present in 1972. I was 12. Dad eventually mounted a Weaver D-4 scope on it. I was squirrel killing machine. Wish I'd not let it get away. Moved up to a Winchester 320. Now THAT one I'd pay good money to get back. What a shooter!!!

[Nueces]

Nueces--

A Diamondback ir 32 H&R Magnum would be heaven on earth......and I really like your taste in mid-caliber handguns. I'm "muddling through" with the S&W K-frame 32 Mag, and I have long delayed on fitting a new advancing hand to a Colt Pocket Positive x 6"/original nickel in 32 SWL. One of those "I'llgetaroundtoits" we all accumulate.

I sure wouldn't mind a PP in 32 SWL, either. Or 38 S&W, for that matter. It's irrational, I know.

Deputy Al -

Well, it's very pleasant irrationality, then. I like the 38 S&W, too. Got a couple of old Webleys, no Smiths or Colts. Sorta lookin' for a WWII Smith to shoot the pile of Remington 195 gr slugs I got in trade. Someday.

Boy, I'm glad to be among folks with such good taste! You can't explain 32 fever, so I don't try anymore. Now, I like 4n's, too, but most often carry the Ruger SSM.

[Nueces]

Nueces;
You'll find that there are quite a few here who are fans of .32 S&W L's and .32 H&R Mags. I have a .32 Snubby S&W (blued), a Ruger SP 101 4" in .32 mag, a S&W 631 4" and my Model 16-4 6" in .32 H&R Mag.

I got in on the recent .32 100gr Keith Six Cavity Group Buy mould and have been having a ball with it. My pistols and my TC Carbine in .32 H&R also like the .314 120gr RF Group Buy Six Cavity mould, also.

I'll probably settle on the .32 Keith 100 gr for general use. It seems to shoot in the .32 mags equally well whether I use an appropriate charge in either the S&W L case as well as the .32 H&R Case.

Dale53

Dale53 -

Nice collection. I had a pair of late model 16-4s, but the throats were a bit large at 0.315+, and not too even, so I traded 'em. OK, I'm picky. I have seen from some of y’alls posts here, though, that a lot of other 16’s came in much tighter. My Dan Wesson 732 is 0.3143 all around.

I've sent an MO for the .314/120 myself. Got all hot and bothered and did that before even saying hello here! I used to shoot a bunch of the Bullseye 100 gr SWCs because they were sized .314 and most other commercial ones I've seen are .312 or so. With the airline flying and kids still at home, I couldn't fit in enough casting with my old one-banger moulds. These GB straight sixes seem just the thing. I retire in April and will begin regular blood testing for Pb in May.

[Nueces]

Welcomes Nueces. I'm one of the 32 Nutz too. Wonder how the disease spreads? Looking for a M16 Smiff, a 631, most any 32S+W/32 Long/32 Mag/32 WCF I can find to add to the collection.

Ithaca 49. My Christmas present in 1972. I was 12. Dad eventually mounted a Weaver D-4 scope on it. I was squirrel killing machine. Wish I'd not let it get away. Moved up to a Winchester 320. Now THAT one I'd pay good money to get back. What a shooter!!!

Tr. Bret -

Dunno how it spreads, but no cure is in sight. We're in good company, too. All the following folks started early on 32-20s, usually a Colt SAA: Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, Jeff Cooper and John Taffin. Even Paco Kelly tells of an old Smith 32-20. I like sharing the fever with a crowd like that.

I've screwed up by trading a few 'family guns', too. Needed a wise uncle along to whack me until sense returned. In a roundabout, self-serving sort of way, that's how I came by the Diamondback that'll become the 32 H&R. Years ago, when prices were still manageable, I found a NIB Smith M-63, noting that the last two digits of the serial number matched one daughter’s birthday. Months later, same gunstore, found another one, not NIB, but nearly so and in the original box. Yup, same serial as the first one, except the last two digits matched the other girl’s BD. I say to you, who among us could close our eyes to a sign like that. Well, neither could I. Figured to give each kid one and explain about the SNs.

I sorta liked how that turned out, so I started looking for a pair of nice centerfires, too. Colt DBs had not yet turned into platinum, so I eventually scored a nice pair of those. For the girls, see. However, neither of them has ever really gotten into shooting. Dad has never really told anybody about this part of the bequest. By the time I decided on the 32 DB project, the guns had undergone the same mysterious, what-the-bloomin’-heck-is-this transition that happened to the $28 1917s. I still can’t see how a guy can ask $875 for a stoopid 1917, and with a straight face.

Anyway, the kids are getting their 22s and Dad’s getting his 32. So there. Whichever one of these two lights of my life gets into casting boolits and finds out about their Dad’s treachery, can have the other DB. Unless. :mrgreen:

[fiberoptik]

I cut my teath on firearms with the Ithica m49. It's what started my long, slow, costly discease of firearms obsession. And next to .22's and milsurps and muzzleloaders, I've also always wanted a nice .32 sixshooter!:Fire: :Fire: :Fire: