J Stevens Arms Company Serial Numbers
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- Download a PDF with pricing, value and reference information for Stevens Arms, courtesy of the Standard Catalog of Firearms. Download a PDF with pricing, value and reference information for Stevens Arms, courtesy of the Standard Catalog of Firearms. Stevens Arms Second Issue Stevens-Colin No. 38 Stevens Arms No. 37 Stevens Arms No.
- Stevens Arms was an American firearms manufacturer founded by Joshua Stevens in 1864 in Chicopee Falls, MA. The company introduced the.22 Long Rifle round and made a number of rifle, shotgun, and target pistol designs. By 1902 they were advertising themselves as 'the largest producers of sporting arms in the.
- For the Fun of It
The Stevens Model 520 was a pump-action shotgun developed by John Browning and originally manufactured by the J Stevens Arms & Tool Company between 1909 and 1916. Stevens was sold to New England Westinghouse on 28 May 1915 and production of civilian firearms was greatly reduced.
J Stevens Arms Company Serial Numbers Lookup By Name
SN S 60
Stevens Arms Company, well known for its Tip-up Pistols, Boy'sRifles, and Ideal Target and Sporting Rifles, got its start atChicopee Falls, Massachusetts in 1864. Founder Joshua Stevens was aNew England toolmaker who had gained experience in firearmsmanufacture while employed at various times by C. B. Allen, EliWhitney, Samuel Colt, and Edwin Wesson. While employed asproduction superintendent for the Chicopee Falls-basedMassachusetts Arms Co., he filed a successful patent claim forimprovements to percussion pistols produced by this firm.
Stevens received a patent for a tip-up pistol design during thesame year in which he, along with financial backers W. B. Fay andJames Taylor, founded the company that bore his name. Although aproducer of firearms, J. Stevens and Company's primary source ofincome was derived through the manufacture and sale of machinetools. The company's early years were lean ones, with productioncarried out in a former Chicopee Falls grist mill by fewer than 60employees. J. Stevens and Co. underwent an expansion in 1880, andin 1886, the firm changed its name to J. Stevens Arms & ToolCo.
The original partners continued to hold principle ownership inthe company, even though they had dissolved their partnershipagreement. Ten years later, J. Stevens bookkeeper I. M. Page boughtout the shares of both Joshua Stevens and James Taylor, thusbecoming the firm's president and majority owner. Under Page'sleadership, the Stevens Arms and Tool Company underwent a period ofrapid expansion. Manufacturing facilities and payroll grewsignificantly, with factory space doubling between 1895 and 1898,and the number of employees increased to 150 during the sameperiod.
Shortly after the dawn of the new century, the firm, which nowemployed over 900 workers in a 270,000 square-feet manufacturingplant, claimed to be the largest producer of sporting arms in theworld. In 1901, Stevens Arms & Tool Co. purchased the CataractTool & Optical Company of Buffalo, New York. After relocatingthis new acquisition to Chicopee Falls, Stevens began to produceits own line of telescopic rifle and pistol sights. Stevens scopesincluded integral eyepieces and crosshairs that were sealed insolid dust- and moisture-proof brass tubes. This concept marked amajor advance in optical sights, as previous designs employed aseparate eyepiece that was fastened to the scope tube with severalscrews. Stevens scopes also required no focus adjustment, as didthe products of competing firms. Optical sights continued to be apart of the Stevens line until the First World War, when thecompany sold its interests to Lyman Gun Sight Company ofMiddlefield, Connecticut.
As Stevens Arms and Tool Co. continued its phenomenal growth,firearms replaced machine tools as a revenue source. By 1915,Stevens Arms was a leading manufacturer of smallbore target andhunting arms. The firm established offices in both New York andLondon, as well as on the European continent, in Australia, theCaribbean, and Latin America. The original Stevens line of spurtrigger tip-up single-shot pistols, tip-up rifles, and 'pocketrifles' gave way to offhand target pistols and the highly-regardedIdeal rifle.
These lever-action single-shot falling block rifles wereavailable in a variety of chamberings ranging from .22 rimfire to.44-40 caliber. Options included both round and half-round/halfoctagonal blued barrels; casehardened actions; checkered deluxe-and select-grade walnut butt stocks and fore ends; shotgun,crescent, and Schuetzen-style butts available with or without acheek piece and/or pistol grip; double-set triggers; palm rest;Globe interchangeable front sight; and Vernier tang rear peepsight. The single-shot Ideal 'Walnut Hill' No. 49 rifle representedthe pinnacle of Stevens Arms products.
In addition to its deluxe features, Walnut Hill rifles alsoestablished a reputation for accuracy, and this combination ensuredthe success of this design for over fifty years. Original modelssometimes sell for several thousand dollars in the currentcollectibles market. Between 1901 and 1903, Stevens rifles wereavailable with special eight-groove barrels produced under thesupervision of master barrelmaker Harry M. Pope.
Some Stevens-Pope barrels were also made for the U.S. Army'sKrag rifle. The Stevens-Pope agreement covered a period of fiveyears, but a series of disagreements between the parties causedPope to sever his relationship with Stevens Arms in 1903. Riflesfeaturing Pope barrels and bearing the 'Stevens-Pope' stamp on thebarrel top bring a premium among shooters and collectors. Stevensis perhaps best known for their popular line of smallbore caliberrifles. The 4 -pound Stevens Favorite featured interchangeablebreech blocks and blued barrels, as well as a casehardened receiverand walnut stocks. Options included tang rear sights and deluxecheckered wood.
The Favorite was sold in both Boys' and Ladies' Models. The SureShot, Crack Shot, Little Scout, Marksman, and Junior riflesrepresented less-expensive entries in the Stevens product line, andthe company also produced both pump and lever-action repeatingrifles, and even shotguns. During the First World War, the firm'smanufacturing facilities were turned over to New EnglandWestinghouse Company for production of Moisin Nagant bolt-actionrifles for the Imperial Russian government.
Although the firm once again underwent reorganization duringthis period, the Stevens factory remained under the control of NewEngland Westinghouse for the remainder of the war, and thatcompany's Moisin Nagant contract represented the only period in J.Stevens corporate history that military arms were produced in theChicopee Falls plant. In 1920, J. Stevens Arms Co. became awholly-owned subsidiary of Savage Arms Corporation when it wasacquired by the Utica arms maker.
Under Savage ownership, the Stevens line grew to includebolt-action long arms. Parent company Savage relocated itsoperations from Utica, New York to Westfield, Massachusetts in1960, at which time the Stevens Arms factory in Chicopee Fallsclosed. Even though Stevens Arms has seen many changes over itshistory, the company's name has survived, continuing in use up tothe present day.
For a long period, the Stevens name was all that remained of theNew England firm, however, this situation changed in 1999, whenSavage Arms once again began to produce the Stevens Favorite Rifleunder the designation Model 30G.