Stevens visible loading repeater pump .22

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  • Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    Little auction action from tonight. Cochran's in Boonsboro had a 175 gun estate sale. Hot, humid, loud (in spite of ear plugs) and way too many folks too close together for Covid comfort. This was #8 on the 175 firearm list and followed a 1890 Winchester pump that brought $500 with a linseed oiled wire wheeled surface. :sad20: Total of six .22 pumpers and a couple lever .22's too but mostly new pistolas. Ammo was bidding for above retail and I think most buyers forgot the 16% buyers premium and tax fee. My limit was $250 but threw an extra $25 at it to escape early. First payee, first through the FFL and color me gone. :thumbsup:

    This little Stevens was actually in much better shape versus the Winny even with the well repaired stock crack. Needed a ton of cleaning, but will cycle and fire. The loading needs some loving which I understand is common.

    Click on the pics for the full sized versions.








    Found this on the web to help identify / date it.
    https://www.cornellpubs.com/downloads/stevens-vl.pdf

    Seems to be late teens, early '20's from the barrel roll script. Pretty nice shape for @ 100 years old and I'm good with that. :party29:
     

    mawkie

    C&R Whisperer
    Sep 28, 2007
    4,338
    Catonsville
    Cool find! Think you did the right thing getting out of Dodge early. I've only attended a live auction once in the last 2 months and that was a tiny toy and advertising auction with a whole 10 live bidders. Everyone else was bidding online. Redding in Gettysburg has an upcoming military auction and there's tons of eye candy in that one. Just not sure if I want to make the trip just to find they're at capacity and turning folk away since that place is normally packed in non-pandemic times.
    I've been researching and watching .22 pump action rifles for months now after someone posted a great thread about them. Would love a Colt Lightning but for some reason I'm equally drawn to the Remington model 12. Found a nice one coming up next Saturday. Will watch and see if it's possible to grab for a reasonable price.
     

    BuildnBurn

    Professional Pyro
    Oct 25, 2012
    731
    Frederick County
    Very nice. That was one of very few things I was interested in at that auction when I saw it online.
    I don't live very far from there, but felt it wasn't worth the trip. I'm glad you got it at a decent price even with the 16% added on.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    Cool find! Think you did the right thing getting out of Dodge early. I've only attended a live auction once in the last 2 months and that was a tiny toy and advertising auction with a whole 10 live bidders. Everyone else was bidding online. Redding in Gettysburg has an upcoming military auction and there's tons of eye candy in that one. Just not sure if I want to make the trip just to find they're at capacity and turning folk away since that place is normally packed in non-pandemic times.
    I've been researching and watching .22 pump action rifles for months now after someone posted a great thread about them. Would love a Colt Lightning but for some reason I'm equally drawn to the Remington model 12. Found a nice one coming up next Saturday. Will watch and see if it's possible to grab for a reasonable price.


    I love my Remy model 12. It needed something in the firing pin, spring and guide if I remember right. Lyman peep sights and it is ridiculously fun to shoot but I need to be careful not to tilt it while cycling or it'll shave the edge of the bullet going into the chamber.

    Top one is a circa '39 Winny 62 that got me addicted to these things. It was painted peeling gloss black and went for under $200 OTD a while back.



    Per the live auction, man I was not expecting them to be so tightly packed and expect that there will be blowback through the .gov about it. They had Savage and Henry pumps plus the ugly winny on the tables. Dead guy wasn't a shooter so the old stuff was untested and the new stuff had tags. A NWT Henry lever .22 bidded to $350 or so. There was a Winny 9422 that went later but I have no idea on it. An ugly Norinco went for $150 ish before mine came up.

    Definitely no cheap dates once you pay the premium and FFL but I'll still go back for interesting stuff.

    Jamie
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    IIRC, it's "Miserable Loader" as a play on "Visible Loader" due to the fact that if you don't keep them incredibly clean they tend to have issues with the load/feed system.

    Yep. Mine has something wrong with one of the extractor springs. I'll take it apart eventually and sort it out. It also feels like the breech block is twisting causing the bullet to not center in the chamber going in. I'm trying to find more info on Rimfire central.
     

    Jerry M

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 13, 2007
    1,688
    Glen Burnie MD
    That was my first firearm. Grandmother gave it to me. Firing pin was broken. The gunsmith at the Baltimore Gun shop on Broadway manufactured a new pin for me. Shot thousands of rounds through the thing. Remember you have to manually remove the last case from the extractor. The next cartridge pushes out the empty case, when there are none, you have to.

    Good Luck

    Jerry
     

    mawkie

    C&R Whisperer
    Sep 28, 2007
    4,338
    Catonsville
    Between a bunch of FFLs and me there's living proof you can indeed purchase and profit at auctions. But you need to know what you're bidding on and what it's worth. Take that knowledge and add the discipline to stop bidding at a predetermined line in the sand that factors in the vig, taxes, fees or shipping costs and you'll be OK. It's rare that I chase the bid or go all in for something, has to be an item that I really need for the collection to throw open the wallet for. Plus for me there's the "thrill of the hunt" aspect to it all. Yeah it sucks to lose to someone with deeper pockets but that's part of the auction world. I've been backup bidder, aka "knocking at the back door", more times than I can count. But you learn to shake it off and move on to the next find and opportunity.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    Between a bunch of FFLs and me there's living proof you can indeed purchase and profit at auctions. But you need to know what you're bidding on and what it's worth. Take that knowledge and add the discipline to stop bidding at a predetermined line in the sand that factors in the vig, taxes, fees or shipping costs and you'll be OK. It's rare that I chase the bid or go all in for something, has to be an item that I really need for the collection to throw open the wallet for. Plus for me there's the "thrill of the hunt" aspect to it all. Yeah it sucks to lose to someone with deeper pockets but that's part of the auction world. I've been backup bidder, aka "knocking at the back door", more times than I can count. But you learn to shake it off and move on to the next find and opportunity.

    Looking back on it I think there was a ton of newer buyers there and a couple dealers looking to stock new pistols. While getting the 4473 done there were three people who interrupted asking about the HQL or out of state purchases. These people didn't understand how the laws worked and were there bidding on stuff.

    Last night I cleaned the girl again, dug out a bunch of grunge from around the breach and noticed that there's just a little bit of firing pin dimple in the chamber face. Pretty good compared to many that I've seen online. Waiting for cooler weather to really tinker with it.
     

    Doctor_M

    Certified Mad Scientist
    MDS Supporter
    I've got one that if you don't pump it crisply and sharply, it will lock up. Can't slow pump it at all. I don't play with it much because I never really bothered to figure out the problem... but now you've got me thinking about it... may pull it out as my next project and see if I can tune it a bit.

    Great find. Congrats.
     

    Mark75H

    MD Wear&Carry Instructor
    Industry Partner
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 25, 2011
    17,174
    Outside the Gates
    I've got one that if you don't pump it crisply and sharply, it will lock up. Can't slow pump it at all. I don't play with it much because I never really bothered to figure out the problem... but now you've got me thinking about it... may pull it out as my next project and see if I can tune it a bit.

    Great find. Congrats.

    This is why they have the nickname "miserable loader" :lol2:
     

    mawkie

    C&R Whisperer
    Sep 28, 2007
    4,338
    Catonsville
    Looking back on it I think there was a ton of newer buyers there and a couple dealers looking to stock new pistols. While getting the 4473 done there were three people who interrupted asking about the HQL or out of state purchases. These people didn't understand how the laws worked and were there bidding on stuff.

    Last night I cleaned the girl again, dug out a bunch of grunge from around the breach and noticed that there's just a little bit of firing pin dimple in the chamber face. Pretty good compared to many that I've seen online. Waiting for cooler weather to really tinker with it.

    A good auctioneer will give everyone "the speech" about background checks, out-of-state purchases etc before the auction starts. You cannot assume that everyone knows the ins and outs of 2A law. But you'll always get at least a couple out of the crowd who come late or are clueless. It's an imperfect world.
     

    Alphabrew

    Binary male Lesbian
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 27, 2013
    40,749
    Woodbine
    I had one but I ended up selling it at the Howard County gun buy back in 2013. It wouldn’t lock up when cocked and I didn’t feels safe shooting it. Had it “fixed” by a gun smith but it broke again a short time later. To the buy back it went. Put the proceeds toward my PSL
     

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