Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Stevens Lever guns, who know about them ?

Run across one in 35 Rem that looks good. Resembles a 93 Marlin. Any experience out there ?

They are popular on the Savage collectors sub forum.

I have no personal experience with them but they have become highly collectible - I think the .35s are even more sought after?! Cool guns!

PennDog

How much ?

I know they were only available in the rimless Remington cartridges. Stevens model 425

RIA 2 gun auction, it a 99EG, guessing pair will go fo a grand or more.

……30-30 was the most popular chambering supposedly (these were 30 Remingtons I think) the others were rarer with the .25 and .32 extremely rare. Also some Model 430, 435, and 440s were made with fancy wood and engraving.

PennDog

Produced from 1910 to 1917, the Stevens was never as popular as the Savage, Marlin or Winchester leverguns. It was made in calibers .25, 30, 32 .35 centerfire.

It was actually produced in 4 model designations: 425, 430, 435. 440. These designation were used to indicate increased ornamentation, higher quality materials and more workmanship.

All were made with 22" barrels, blued steel and walnut stocks.

There were about 26,000 produced



None of these were made in 30-30. The .30 was .30 Remington

This is one reason I like this site so much - you run into a rifle that’s not so common and there is a wealth of knowledge here that will provide all the information necessary! My friend picked one up last fall and I saw it and it was marked .30-30 Remington…….I assumed it was a .30-30 WCF and for some reason they had it marked Remington?! Between moosemike and a google search they confirmed that it was indeed a .30 Remington. They are nice guns and wonder why they didn’t also chamber for the WCF cartridges? Would love to see one of the higher grades!

PennDog

I have several of them in all the calibers,2 are marked 30-30 Remington which is the 30 rem. I have a 435 model sling eyes fancier wood with engraving around the sides of the receiver. The model 440 was fully engraved,i have only seen pictures of it. out of around 300 rifles no one has found a serial number under 1000,or over 6000 ,assume only aroung 5000 rifles made.Don

Had one myself years back. Neat guns . Not many around.

Don should have known you’d have some😁….if you have time would love to see pics of the 435!

PennDog

Im clever enough to buy guns,but to stupid to take pictures ! I'll have to bribe my wife for the picture thing !

Ahhh it’s just all in the “want to”😁…..and I’m right there with you! Have never seen a high grade 425 though😜.

PennDog

Within the past week there was a 425 in 25 REM on GB with a starting price just under $2k.

Certainly a cool old gun. I have 4 of them, one in each caliber produced.

If you search old posts on the Savage Collectors forum here, you will find a ton of information on these. It's da source!

Steven's were the better "Rifle Smiths" , the best 99's came out of Chicopee.

Too bad they couldn't have kept both.

Here's a 440 - stevens-engraved-model-440 If you look close at the left side of the receiver in the second picture you can see inspections stamps that are from the mid-1920's, a P in a circle on the barrel and an I in a circle on the receiver. This gun must have still been in the possession of Stevens after Savage bought them and was inspected and sold then. This gun was at Rock Island Auction some years ago but did not get a bid, I think the starting bid was set at $40,000 or $45,000. rockislandauction/detail/68/

There was an engraved one at the last Tulsa, it had extensive scroll engraving on the receiver but without animals - a pattern that was not in the catalogs, kind of between the 435 & 440. It was well used.


The original official name for 30 Remington was 30-30 Remington, the famous 'Winchester 30-30' was officially named 30 WCF and Winchester never stamped any guns 30-30 until after WWII, the number after a dash was traditionally for the grains of black powder in a load and this was supposed to be a smokeless only cartridge, so it was never intended to have a -30 added. It is thought Marlin started using the name 30-30 for it, Savage marked their first guns in 30 WCF '.30 SAV' which caused confusion with their 303 Savage. Earlier there was the 30-30 Wesson which was a black powder cartridge.

Early cartridges and boxes marked 30-30 Remington are hard to find. Most cartridge companies made them.







Unlike Marlins these had an enclosed rear on the action -

GeneB - thank you for posting the links and all the great historical information! I now have a lot more useful information on the Stevens 425 lever gun and the variations!

That 440 is spectacular!!

PennDog