Unusual Crackshot

[Kermit1945]

My son-in-law's mother just showed me what she thinks was her late husband's grandfather's rifle. Seems to be around the right timing. Son-in-law says he never saw it.

It's a Stevens Crackshot SIDE LEVER in .32 Rimfire SHORT. The thing is about as clean as I've ever seen a boy's rifle. Just a little bore scuz just ahead of the chamber, but the rest is bright and sharp. Blue and case colors are about 90% or more. A couple of scuffs on the barrel and a very few pressure dings to the wood.

I'm thinking this should be rechambered for .32 S&W (short), since I have all the necessaries to build ammo for that. Any reason to not do it? Don't talk to me about collectibility--guns are for shooting. I've read that these were not the strongest of actions, but it seems to me that that little case loaded with Holy Black or even Trail Boss ought to be a great little backyard popper.

Of course it could always be relined and chambered for .22 Short, to reduce the chances of future idiocy.

[Reg]

Unless you have deep pockets and nerves of steel, highly recommend you sell it to a collector and find a better action to convert to the .32 S&W. You might refer to my post in the gunsmithing section. It concerns the Favorite action but bet most would apply to this model as well. Am currently playing with black powder loads and several modifacations to the action but think I am going to wind up converting the action back to .22 rf and carry my experiments to a small martini action.

[texassako]

Another option is to reload for it. There is a whole article on it in the Oct '11 Handloader. I started to gather the components for a .32 Long RF Remington #2 RB, but it is on the back burner right now. Bob Hayley of Hayley's Custom Ammunition is mentioned as selling reloadable RF ammo and the components. NEI is listed as having cut his molds.