Stevens Favorite Crackshot update post 32

Bought this Favorite a while back and finally got it fixed up

I think they are neat little guns.

Barrel was in bad shape and brass stuck in chamber. So, I relined it. Drilled it out and epoxied in a new liner from Brownells. Took a chance and ordered a 22lr reamer from the Ukraine and it finally arrived. Did that this morning. I had cleaned up the outside ot the barrel with 400 then 600 grit sand paper. Stuck it in the oven at 350f for a while then used Plum Brown on it to get it to match the patina of the action. Stock has some small cracks near action, so wedged them open a bit and injected them with super glue and clamped. Then drilled out striped hole in stock and glued in a piece of hardwood dowel. Off to the range!



Have a Crackshot left to line

SWEeeeeet my first rifle was a Stevens Favorite...... still have it hanging on my home office/den wall!!!!

I’ve always wanted one of these. I think they’re beautiful little guns.

Had one in the pawnshop not to long ago. Hated to see it go, neat little rifle

Chuck24 said:

Had one in the pawnshop not to long ago. Hated to see it go, neat little rifle

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I have one like that also. It to has barrel problems and now that I did the first one am ordering a liner for it

You are an Gun Artist. I am impressed !

I’d like to find one to go with my Sharps in .45-70.
Gunpartscorp used to list replacement barrels for these.

this is my favorite
.I.It took about 4 hrs to clean the old lead out of the barrel ,I refinished the wood ,and had the receiver ,lever color case hardened . It a sweet little rifle

I have a couple Stevens Favorites. The 25 was my grand dads on my dads side, and the 22 was my great grand dads on my moms side.

walter o said:

this is my favorite
.I.It took about 4 hrs to clean the old lead out of the barrel ,I refinished the wood ,and had the receiver ,lever color case hardened . It a sweet little rifle

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That is really really nice, the rang sight is an extra bonus

I has a 25 barrel that has the wedge adj sights and a brass rear drop front that I put on mine as it just fixed drift able front and back.

I think they are neat little guns too.

This is one that getting rehabbed now.
It happens to be nickel and looks like it always was too.

I had one a few years ago. Cost me $50 and was in fair shape, it had non-original screws and the right side of the action looked like someone beat on it with a ball peen hammer. The barrel was fair after I cleaned it up and the trigger pull was heavy and rough. I mounted a scope on the barrel with a Crosman mount that clamped on the barrel.

At the range, after sighting in, it shot a 5/16” group at 50 yd! I never shot it that well, but 3/4” groups were common.

I get the Stevens single shot rimfire rifles often. The trouble is this is rural area and most of them have been rode hard and put away wet. Wasn’t that long ago the 22s were the only desirable ones. Today they are all in demand. The 25s and 32s are usually in better shape because ammo problem for last 50-60yrs kept them in closet. Here’s couple I just dealt off recently.

I have two of these rifles both need action springs. I'm not up to making springs. Not sure if GPC has the springs as they are not listed in the catalog.

Got mine in 1962 when my parents bought a house as an estate with everything in it. The Favorite was hanging in the garage rafters with a box of corrosive 22 shorts. Dad gave it to me as my first gun, happy 12 year old! Chamber is eroded, won’t eject 22lr, have to be pryed out with a pocket knife. I never had it relined, just shoot 22 shorts, works great. Grandsons started using it a few years ago, both have taken squirrels with it. My daughter tells me they argue about who will get it when I’m gone…geez, I’m planning to stick around for a while yet! ��

Llance said:

I have two of these rifles both need action springs. I'm not up to making springs. Not sure if GPC has the springs as they are not listed in the catalog.

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I wouldn't be surprised to find that J frame coil springs could be made to work. Maybe a coil or 2 off or a spacer needed to them work if they fit over the strut. You can find lots of coil springs fro not much.

Do a search fro small compression coil springs
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/Compression-NEWST-Assortment-Different-Stainless/dp/B08YMZNLGC/ref=sr_1_8?c=ts&keywords=Mechanical+Compression+Springs&qid=1654348966&s=industrial&sr=1-8&ts_id=16413831[/ame]

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/Wokape-Compression-Assortment-Stainless-Extension/dp/B09C8LCCRC/ref=pd_di_sccai_cn_sccl_2_6/131-5332051-9600068?pd_rd_w=iA2ue&content-id=amzn1.sym.1ed8df3a-0df8-4988-98b9-252e4c99c568&pf_rd_p=1ed8df3a-0df8-4988-98b9-252e4c99c568&pf_rd_r=K4DAXH59C5WKDG8GAW23&pd_rd_wg=I4MDP&pd_rd_r=77154ee8-e77d-480d-801d-d4aece628f3f&pd_rd_i=B09C8LCCRC&psc=1[/ame]

Great bunch of Stevens rifles. I always enjoy seeing these.

A recent find of mine,,$19.95 off the bargain rack at a local gunshop.
Needs some work,,
.25RF
On the To-Do list of Projects to Get-to.
I have a decent AmWal blank that I can get a nice buttstock and forend out of for it. I think a conversion to PGrip would be nice.







I've redone a bunch of these Boys Rifles over the years. Great projects.
I learned an awful lot of gunsmithing early on from doing them and still enjoy bringing them back to life.

Another save,,
This is a Hopkins & Allen Model 3922.
A fairly rare Model rifle built on the H&A Model 922 boys rifle action. Same period mfg as the Stevens Favorite and rest of the small Boys Rifles that were around at the time.

Another basket case project gun bought as a box of parts needing a lot of love and a lot of work.
I restored and then upgraded with some engraving.
An enjoyable rifle to work on and save from the rust pile.

That's spectacular, 2152hq! I love the workmanship. On top of that, you brought one back from the dead. Very nice.

Of course the .22 LR would be the one to find ammo for, but how difficult to find .25 or .32 rim fire?...

WuzzFuzz

Buy the way, it was actually not that hard to reline. I believe you could do it without a lathe, Either a floor drill press or a hand drill even.
You have to drill from both ends pulling bit to clean and oil as it cuts.
Once drilled out and cleaned via brake cleaner. Run some epoxy down the
barrel and use an patch to move it around, then slide in the liner
keeping a bead of epoxy around where it is going in. have liner sticking
out both end. Lay level and let harden. after its cured, cut liner off
close. I used a lath, but you could use a hack saw, then a file until
the file just touched the breach and muzzle. Mine had a flat muzzle.
After I was done I rolled about a 3/4 ball bearing, first wrapped with
220 emery cloth then 40o then coated with valve grinding compound for
long just enough the make the lands mee the groove right at the very
muzzle

I recut the chamber using a rifle reamer by hand usingg a tap handle
Rapid tap cutting oil and brake cleaned. Maybe 10 shots. Turn a few times with very light pressure, it don't take much, let the cutter to the work.
Slowly keep twisting as you remove it. Spay it off with brake cleaner,
give a blast in chamber, a few drops of oil in barrel and enough on reamer so it coats working area of cutter.

Repeat until rim cutter starts to work.

Clean, oil and then go what you believe is a bit over 1/2 a rim. Pull, clean.
You can get a go gauge, but what I did was use a couple recently fired cases. Put in check. How much did it take to get rim in this far? Take out brass. (dental pick) work reamer a bit less than you figured it would take. Clean,check with brass. Run a flat edge over the breach face and see how much the brass sticks out. You want to just slide past with the if anything
the barest of hitches for the rim. I tried a couple brands of ammo.
Then there is the extractor cut. I have a lath and a mill. But, I put barrel
in padded vise, cot comfortable ans positioned and used a small dremel
grinding wheel to carefully remove MOST of the piece of liner remaining
in the cut. Then I used a small square file to get the corners and
everything just flush with barrel. When I assembled it, the gun closed up on a piece of brass, and extracted it. Then it did the same thing with a
primer only case.

Started drizzling yesterday. No range. Today though