Stevens High Power in 35 Remington - Model 425

[oscarflytyer]

Saw one of these at the local show today. Very knowledgeable guy had it. Said he had never seen one before, or even knew it existed. Same here. His was a 425 in 35 Rem. Seems they made a FEW (ONLY) 1910-1917ish, in 25/30/32/35 Rem. His is 35 Rem VERY interesting bolt movement/track when you rack the lever. Any yous' guys got real knowledge on it?!?

 

[Pistolero]

Hell, I don't even know what a Stevens High Power is.

 

[fiver]

 

[Pistolero]

Gee - that sure looks like a Marlin 336.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

I believe they differ markedly on the inside. I forget the differences, but they were a unique animal if memory serves. I was actually just reading about one the other day in an old article from the 'teens. It was quite a well thought of rifle in it's day it seems. If you ever run across a copy of "Gun Writers of Yesterday" grab it, lots of good stuff in there.

 

[Brad]

Has to be different internally from the Marlin. One less screw head on the side of the receiver. Marlins have the pivot screw for the carrier above and just forward of the hammer bolt.
It also looks like a square bolt, not a round bolt like the Marlin.

Outward appearance is similar other than some different lines in the boss at front and rear of the action where the stock and fore stock attach.

 

[fiver]

kind of like what a henry with a loading gate would be huh?
anyway I did see a couple with holes drilled in the top of the receiver.

 

[popper]

Probably a split bolt with pivot on lever. The funny tang in the back appears to be the lifter. About as simple as the Marlin 336 but Marlin lever just runs in a slot.

 

[oscarflytyer]

Gee - that sure looks like a Marlin 336.

Bill

Bill - Yes, UNTIL - you cycle the bolt! it 'rolls' down and under the tang!

 

[oscarflytyer]

It looks like a Marlin on TOP! Innards def ain't a Marlin!

 

[fiver]

I kind of thought they looked like a win 94-86 with some 95 areas tossed in for good measure.

 

[Pistolero]

Down under the tang....that is wild. I watched the video and you can see the vertical locking
bolt, too, and the way the bolt tail rolls down, looks like there is a long circular arc in the upper
surface of the frame inside that the bolt rear follows, after the lever drops the locking bolt out
of (probably) a notch in the bottom of the bolt, and sliding in grooves in the sides of the frame.

Definitely different function than the Marlins.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

In their day, Stevens was a very innovative company. They had one of the very first successful auto loading 22 rifles, some very good pump shotguns and of course their single shot rifle/pistol line was very well thought of. The good old days...

 

[Arlon]

I have a Stevens 425 in 30 Remington. It was passed down from my grandfather to my father and finally to me. I have shot it a bit but it has always been one to the poorest shooting rifles I've ever owned. When my dad had it he took to Stith gun works in San antonio and had them go through it. The did some work and recut the chamber or throat on it. That helped a little but it still is the worst shooting rifle I own. I quit messing with it and it is in the back row of the safe now. I'm sure not all of them are like this one or they never would have sold any of them. I love the feel and look but it can't hit a watermelon at 50 yards off a bench rest. When my grandfather gave it to my dad, he replaced it with one of the first Marlin 336's he could get his hands on. That one is a 35 Remington and very accurate. I don't think he did my dad any favors, dad was using a then old Stevens 44 single shot in 38-55 as his deer rifle at the time.

 

[Pistolero]

I wonder if getting the barrel rebored to .32 or 35 cal would be a viable way to
get the old girl to shoot straight?
Of course, not cheap.

Bill

 

[fiver]

I think Bill is thinking the same thing I am.
I would look at the barrel diameters and check it's twist rate, it wouldn't be the first time a 32 was marked a 30 and got the wrong chamber cut.

 

[Pistolero]

Not thining of that, but good point, fiver. If that is a .32 barrel......

There is no .32 Rem though, no analog of the .32 Special Win. The other Rems were
rimless copies of the .25 and 30 WCF rimmed cartridges. Did Savage make any
.32 Special caliber rifles? Barrel mismark? I have read of folks shooting .30-30 in
.32 Special Win94s for a long time, not grasping why it shot so poorly.

Time to slug that barrel. Could be a .30 Rem but an oversized bbl, may be salvageable
with . 311 or .314 cast or something like that.

Bill

 

[L Ross]

My Dad had one for awhile that I remembered being a .32 Remington. My Uncle accidentally loaded one of the .32 Rem. rounds in his 8x57 and the case split and a bunch of smoke came out of the action. Scared him nearly spitless.

 

[Pistolero]

OK, I was wrong. There IS a .32 Remington, the rimless analog of the .32 Winchester Special. I wonder if
it is possible that the inaccurate Savage mentioned by Arion could be actually in .32 Remington caliber,
mismarked or possibly even overlooked. And as L Ross says, and Wikipedia also says, Savage 425s were
made in this caliber. Mismarking a barrel is an entirely believeable kind of error.

"Can't hit a watermelon at 50 yds off a benchrest" sounds like a .30 cal bullet rattling down a .32 caliber barrel.

Bill

 

[Arlon]

Not a 32 Remington. It slugs a tight .307, little hard to mic. the 6 groove rifling, crown looks good and bore looks perfect. This thing also has a very heavy barrel if compared to a Marlin or Winchester. This thread made me go dig it out of the back of the safe. (-:} It has an old Stith Bear Cub II scope on it (Kollmorgen Optics) and the best trigger of any lever rifle I've ever touched. I assume the trigger was reworked by Stith as my grandfather was a close friend of the Stiths. It just seems like it should be decent shooting rifle.

One thing I have NOT done is play with cast loads in it. I have not shot it in 20 years and then only with Remington factory ammunition. Now that it's out of the safe, cleaned up and the scope dusted off I might as well try some cast loads in it. I have a bunch of 311291's, have dies and plenty of brass... Maybe it just needs some cast bullets. Might just spend the evening getting the copper out of it and loading some plinking ammo.

Didn't intend to hijack the OP, but thanks for rekindling the interest in this rifle. I have a lot more time to tinker with it now.