Stevens Favorite Questions

[Casting Timmy]

I bought a Stevens Favorite and it will need a bit of work to get it shooting again, which is one of the reasons I bought it besides always wanting an old single shoot 22. I'm looking forward to restoring it over time, but do have some questions about the rifle itself.

Lock up of linkages, currently with the hammer cocked the breech block will only stay up if you hold up in the cocking lever. I know this isn't right. I assume the breech block will have some clearance to the back of the barrel, does anyone know what this clearance should be? My gut feeling is that the leverage system should cam and lock up with the cocking lever returned to the closed position.

Also when ejecting after firing, part of the rifle's action will push the trigger back so the breeech block can open. Should it put the trigger into the half cock position during this or just move it enough for the block to drop? It comes really close to getting the trigger to half cocked.

Obviously you;ve probably figured out that it also needs the barrel lined at this point in time, besides other parts being replaced. I do look forward to resurecting this piece from the dead and taking it out shooting someday.

Look forward to any information you have about this rifle.

[Big Rack]

I'm probably wrong but see if your ejector is wore out, if it's thin it's just like wearing out the breech which may be also. Combine that with some wear on the pins and pivots and it doesn't have enough tension to hold. You may want to take it apart use the frame to locate holes on an aluminum plate, then assemble the innards to the plate. That way you can see how it works, close the action on the plate put a little pressure on the face of the breechblock and the lever will stay up.
I belive Wisner's gun parts have parts drawings and parts online.

[Casting Timmy]

It's all wore out, but I can use the receiver itself to see how the parts interact. That's why I really think that the linkage is suppose to lock itself up. The screws also act like the pins thru the receiver that the parts pivot on. These screws have wear and the parts that they go thru have wear too, so it's hard to figure out exactly how it's suppose to work.

[Molly]

The older Favorite and other boys rifle 22's of that era were not solidly constructed, because they didn't need to be. All they had to hold was a black powder 22, and pressures weren't exactly gut busting. So the mildest steel still had plenty of strength, and since it was cheapest, it was the metal of choice. But it was also the most subject to wear, and it didn't take too long to wear them to the point that the lever wouldn't stay up. At that point, the owner had several choices: A complete rebuild like new like you're doing (which would still wear badly with a bit of shooting), or he could rebuild it and case harden all the linkages and pins for MUCH better wear. (You can get Casenit from Brownell's for this. It's easy to use and works great.)

Or he could drill up into the frame where the lever touches when it's closed, and insert a decent magnet, which would hold the lever up quite satisfactorily for quite a bit more shooting usability. The final choice was to just keep shooting it (and live with the loose lever) until it began to give split case rims, at which point it was relegated to the back of the barn to use when it was time to slaughter the hogs. You could put the barrel up against the pig's head, avert your eyes from any spurting gas, and pull the trigger. Accuracy was of no concern, and power was not much more important, so they weren't cleaned much after they got to that point. Sounds like you found one whose owner went the last route.

They can all be restored. It just depends on how much restoration is needed, and how much trouble you're willing to go to. I've rebuilt a few that should have started their rebuilding process in a Bessemer furnace.

[shotman]

if you want it for a shooter you can get new barrel and wood from Gun Parts Corp. if you need inside parts Wisner has a few newly made parts like sear ejector and some other small parts . the "cam" lock up is a wear problem and can be done as a weld or braze depends on if you want it to blue ,or just function.If its a 32 rim fire you can make a good 25 acp out of it

[gandydancer]

great old rifles. I just brought one myself.. looking forward to shooting it soon. GD

[twotoescharlie]

got a new one on order, will be here next week.

TTC

[KCSO]

Your linkage is all worn and will need to be fixed. The fastest fix is to ream and re thread and put in bigger link pins. If you have tig you can weld up the link holes and re cut and ream to proper size. I've done a lot of these, usually I turn larger pins.

[john hayslip]

Casting Timmy, Did some work on 44'swhich are a larger favorite and think I have a few parts for a favorite though they went through so many changes they might not work. One way to increase or shorten the distance on the link is to split part of the solid part and fill the resulting 'v' with weld. That way you don't need to work on the holes if they aren't worn. You can have anything I have for postage. Hit me with a pm if interested and let me know what you need and I'll see what I have. I think I've got a breach block and link but wouldn't swear to it. Several years ago they made a run of new ones that probably be cheaper than resurecting the old one.

[john hayslip]

Casting Timmy, I just did what I should have done before I wrote my response - I went and checked. I got rid of them sometime - all I have left is a bunch of parts for a Stevens 44. My sincere apologies. John

[Casting Timmy]

That's fine about not having the parts still, but I do appreciate the offer.

KCSO, when you make bigger pins do you go ahead and case harden all the components and the pins to keep it wearing down so fast again? I really don't see myself shooting this all the time, but would like to be able to shoot it here and there. I don't know if I really need to harden everything for my use, but I want to know that it will last as long as possible with what I do to it.

I'm also wondering if the lever that pushes the hammer back needs built up. Is this lever suppose to put the hammer in a half cock position when you move the lever and eject? Or does it just move the hammer back so the block can drop and then let the hammer sit on the firing pin? It seems like it would be better to have the hammer get put into half cock than sit on the firing pin that's resting on the cartridge.

Thanks everyone for the all the help!
Tim

[John Taylor]

I get favorites in quite often with the problems you told about. The hammer needs to go to the half cock position when opening the action. If not the hammer will follow the block and some will drop the hammer spring out of the notch. The favorite went through several changes and as far as I know there were four different breach blocks along the way and as many different levers. First thing I do is make new screws for the block and lever out of some hard metal. most of the time this will tighten up the action. The link can have the holes warn also and just drilling them out for larger pins will not work as the drill will not put the hole back to where it should be. I have made new links as needed out of heat treated 4140 and pins out of piano wire which seems to be plenty hard enough to take the abuse. Sometimes on the old link if it won't move the hammer far enough to half cock it can have a spot of weld added.. With the pins and screws the right size the breach block pushes against the back of the barrel with enough pressure to hold the lever up. There is a slight over center to the link holds and you should feel a little pop as it goes over center. The last one I worked on went so far over center that the breach started to open again and made for a head space problem and ruptured cases. Ended up bending the lever so it would not go so far over center. I believe this one had a lever form a different gun.

[Casting Timmy]

I was hoping it should go into half cock when actuated, you definitely gave me a lot of great information on getting this old gun going again.

Thanks
Tim

[6.5 mike]

IIRC their are 4 models of favorite, the ones marked 1915 are the last. The recievers on this one are a little wider, use longer screws, they are also coil springs for the hammers.

Wisdners has a good write-up that will tell you what to look for. Best to use STANDARD velocity ammo, they where never designed for highspeed stuff. I picked one up last year & it really is a fun shooter.

[Chev. William]

I have two 1894 series Stevens Favorite actions I am rebuilding. They both came with levers that have spring loaded plungers in the levers that will hold the levers and linkages in the "locked" position in spite of pin, screw, and hole wear. I will be replacing the pins and screws with more modern alloy Heat Treated steels to add some extra strength and wear resistance to the finished actions.

From my reading I believe there are at least four main 'versions' of the Stevens Favorite and several sub-versions due to running changes during production over the life of the rifle.
1886 with a narrow side mount extractor.
1894 with a 'narrow' center extractor, with a narrow tip.
1894a with a 'narrow' center extractor, with a wide tip.
1894b with a roughly .200" wide straight extractor, and the spring plunger fitted lever.
1894c with the .200" wide extractor but without the plunger in the lever.
1915 with larger Breech Block and a roughly .250' wide extractor, link, and hammer.
"Wisner's" has much more detailed writeup of the various versions.
"Jack first" has Part catalog drawings and diagrams that would aid in identifying your parts (Catalog is necessary to order parts from "Jack First" per their web site).
In my case I ordered a hammer adn trigger and two take down screws from 'Jack First" and two extractors from "Wisner's" so far.
I have found and purchased spare Breech Blocks, links, and levers via auctions on Ebay or Gun Broker.
I am still trying to search "Numerich's" ("gunparts") web site for Stevens items. I have had past luck finding and buying parts for Marlin 'levermatic' and even 1873 Winchester items so it is an ongoing search project.
Best Regards,
Chev. William