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Somehow or other I ended up buying 5 nice singles in the past 2-3 weeks. One is a small sidelever Rook Rifle by Marquis which I mentioned in a post above about a double shotgun by the same maker. It has very nice wood and lines. Originally it was a 380 Rook rifle, but had been lined to 32 Long Colt (I believe) at some point. I bought a BSA Model 12 in really nice condition which had been rebarreled by AG Parker. The oddity is that it looks like a complete rebarrel, not the normal liner for which they were famous. The third was a really nicely made 380 Rook Martini by Cowles of Sydney Australia. I had never heard of him and the dealer knew nothing of it but some reseach showed that he was the largest gunsmith and gun shop in Australia for a lot of the 19th and early 20th century. It has very nice wood. The action is marked by a maker of a lot of Martini rook rifle actions from Birmingham. It is a very well put together rifle with excellent wood and good metal and barrel. It has the typical safety and cocking indicator of the small frame Martinis (not Cadets) but it is smaller in every dimension than others I have seen. The only legend on the action is " Martini's Patent". It has a side profile similar to the European Martini's. I bought one gun that I haven't recieved yet. It appears to be a BSA Model 12 action, but is marked AG Parker and Bisley Works (predating Parker-Hale). It is covered in extensive what looks to be factory engraving. The stock is high grade wood and there is a German scope or sighting device mounted low on the barrel in a Scout position that is fitted with matching engraved rings. Unfortunately the fore end is missing. The barrel has two fore end mounting lugs and some kind of band encircling the muzzle aread. Bought a pig in a poke but the action would seem to be worth the price, factory or not.

The last one I recieved today, and it is really intrigueing. It is a small frame Martini action. It is a commercial action with stippling, edge engraving, cocking indicator and safety on the side etc. The wood is very high quality walnut. Buttplate is steel and curved with a top inset Vee. All screws are engraved. Extensive checkering. The oddity comes in that it appears to be a Stevens. The barrel is a classic half octagon/half round as found on a 44, carries the proper Stevens roll stamped address and has the familiar 25-20 stamp that the target rifles had. The barrel, blueing, case colors and stock are in really good condition and look original. The thing is that it doesn't look like a rebarreled rifle. It all looks "together" and I don't believe the Stevens barrel could have been cut and setback and still look like it does. The alignment marks inside the action on the breech face all look original and of the same age. The barrel under the fore end is stamped with a numeral "1" near the tip of the forend The inside of the fore end is stamped with a large "J. A." The stock work is excellent as to fitting to the front of the action and the fitting of the buttplate onto the butt. The butt is sculpted to fit perfectly to the concave back of the curved steel plate. Altogether a very well built rifle. Sights look extremely American (tang and front hooded).

The action has no markings exept the serial number and a very tiny Birmingham date stamp on th upper rear corner of the breech block. That's it. No British or other proofs. No action makers logo. Nothing. No importer's mark from a later time.

While waiting for it to arrive, I have been doing some research, and I found several discussions over the last 10 years or so concerning a handful of Stevens Martini 22 target rifles that were put together and marketed in the British version of the Stevens catalog of the period. These, as far as I could read, were all 22's. I also believe they were built on full size actions for military matches in England. I suspect these were built on trade actions imported for the purpose. There appears to be absolutely no documentation for this in America and is limited to the early British catalog and one of the rifles at the British NRA museum. A few Stevens collectors report owning a few (literally) and having seen a few others. The gun I purchased was built on a nicer action for sporting use and built to a very high quality level. After reviewing the concealed markings (and lack thereof) along with the quality and build condition, this could well be a prototype (remeber the No. 1 stamp) of a high grade sporter that was never marketed.

I believe after I look it over a little more, I will give it a good cleanup and oil soak, and then unscrew the barrel to check the tenon and action for size and threading to see if one or the other is non-standard for a Stevens or Martini. One of them has to be. After I see that, I will decide if I can convince myself that it is a unique factory piece. It would be even more strange for someone to take a British sporting rifle of this quality and rebarrel it with a Stevens 44 takeoff barrel. Also, if that were the case, there would be proof marks in abundance.

I will try to post a few pictures tomorrow and get some opinions.

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Sorry for no pictures. Took a little jaunt to the locl Medical Establishment.

Here are the pictures of the Stevens Martini. Her is maybe a clearer post concerning it I posted on another site.

" Bought a strange Martini on GB recently. You may have seen this. It is a small frame commercial Martini (not Cadet) fitted with what looks to be a stevens barrel in 25.20 SS. Barrel is exactly 26", marked "1" under the fore end. Fore end is stamped "J.A." inside. The action carries only Birmingham View proof marks (pre-1904). Only makers marks are an "H" on the front of the frame and a "G. H" as well as two other marks (unreadable) on the tang under the lever. Front of frame carries a 5 digit serial number.
From all this, I can come up with no other likely scenario than that this was a trade action barreled by Stevens, either in the US or by someone representing Stevens in England who then shipped it to the US. If it had been barreled and sold in England, it would carry proof marks. Even most English export guns were proofed. The same if someone in England or the US rebarreled an existing rifle with an existing barrel. Really doubtful that someone in the US could obtain a trade action, and if so that they then used a used barrel.

I would like to hear any comments. Not being a .22 and not a military frame, it doesn't seem to fit the mysterious Bisley models."

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[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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A more likely scenario is the gun was brought to the US, and maybe the original barrel was shot out, or an oddball caliber. So someone had a J. Stevens barrel that was good and fitted it to this action. If it was fitted or rebarreled at Stevens, they usually marked that info under the forearrm on the barrel. I've got a couple rifles with barrels by Stevens. One is a new Stevens barrel, and one rebored and rifled by Stevens. Both marked accordingly as re-rifled, and rebarreled at J Stevens Arms co.

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I did some more research and disassembled a similar quality Australian rook rifle on a smaller sized small Martini framed action. Marked by a large Australian gunsmither and seller, but I believe the action was a trade action my Tranter. It appears to have been marked the same way with the barrel proofed in Birmingham.

I also did some research on Stevens barrel sizes.My best guess now is that you are correct and it was a nice grade of english rifle that found it's way to the US and was rebarreled with a Stevens factory barrel.

The barrel is marked as "1" and the dimensions of it's profile match numbers I found for a Steven's number 1 barrel. It is exactly 26" in length and the octagon section is 9" long. This would agree with cutting 2" off a 28" No. 1 profile barrel, rethreading and rechambering back to the original cartridge of the barrel. The Stevens tenon is way too long and complicated (and small) to fit in the action. The id of the tenon at the chamber exactly matches the max circlular dimension that could be obtained from the octagon barrel section.

Also, it would be rare to find an English gun of much quality to have an octagon barrel during this period. I suspect the fore end was fitted to the octagon section as part of rebarreling. The J.A. stamped inside the barrel channel may be the mark of the gunsmith.

The whole rebarreling would not have been a quick job, what with cutting the barrel, with only the barest minimum of metal available, then indexing the barrel to exactly the desired length and redoing the fore end.

It's a nice rifle and since probably no real collector's value, I will likely clean it up, refresh the stock and hopefully have some fun shooting it. As an aside, it is the smallest small frame martini I have ever seen (hope that's not confusing). I suspect it was originally a Rook caliber similar to the Australian one I have. At the price I paid for it, the action and stock work are a bargain at the price I paid.

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I'd second Vail's suggestion that this was a Martini brought to the US and rebarreled at some point after importation. I've owned quite a number of small frame Martinis, only one of which was in the original centerfire caliber (.310 Cadet) and a couple in the original .22 long rifle. Several of them had take-off barrels from American manufacturers, reworked to allow them to be fitted to the Martini action.

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AGS, your remarks on the efforts of the talented gunsmith who did the rebarrel reminded me of a rifle I have that did a reverse on the Martini connection. Many years ago my very talented gunsmith rebarreled one of my Belgian Comblains with a Martini-Henry carbine barrel that I found in perfect condition. The trick was to remove enough of the 577-450 chamber to allow rechambering for 45-70 while keeping the barrel length above (just!) 16 inches, having a shoulder on the barrel for mounting and timing to the original sights.

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Originally Posted by Remington40x
I'd second Vail's suggestion that this was a Martini brought to the US and rebarreled at some point after importation. I've owned quite a number of small frame Martinis, only one of which was in the original centerfire caliber (.310 Cadet) and a couple in the original .22 long rifle. Several of them had take-off barrels from American manufacturers, reworked to allow them to be fitted to the Martini action.

There was never any doubt that this was an English reciever with a US barrel installed. I was wondering if it was possible Stevens did it. After the comments and some further research, I am convinced they didn't.

The thing to note about this rifle is that it is not a Cadet. It is a small frame Martini which is a distinctly different animal and were sold as commercial rifles built to a different standard than the military actions. They predate the Cadet by a couple of decades. They were scaled down from full size Martini actions and were fitted with safeties. They had a normally assembled action, and did not have a drop out trigger group. They were made by several makers, and some manufacturers (such as Tranter) made them for the trade. Dependng on their size they were used for rook rifles up through medium bore sporting rifles. They are much less common than the Cadet by an order of magnitude, and not many were available in this country during the period. The US had more single shot rifles and manufacturers than anyone at that time, which caused me to be really surprised at seeing the gun with a US barrel.

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Many Stevens rifles and Stevens barrels have passed through my elderly hands. I concur that this is a Stevens barrel (never a doubt), but I doubt that it is a take-off. The Steven-installed barrels I have seen have multi-digit numbers stamped (aligned with the bore) just forward of the forearm. None present here. I think that Stevens did sell new unnumbered barrels. I'd advise the OP to slug the barrel, measure the twist, and then make a chamber cast.

I have a Stevens 44-actioned Model 47, marked 25-20 just like this. The chamber is 25-20 SS, but the groove diameter is .251" and the twist is 17. The subject rifle may or may not be chambered for a "25-20" cartridge.

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I've owned a several non Stevens rifles that were rebarreled at Stevens, and all of mine were marked to indicate Stevens did the rebarrel. Both were marked under the forearm, and one was also marked on the top flat as being a Stevens-Pope built barrel.
I have another that is a Ballard #3 originally in .22RF that was rebored, and rifled to .25 Stevens RF, and the markings are under the forearm indicating Stevens did the rebore, and the caliber marking also.
I would suppose it's possible a customer could ask to have no markings, but this rifle barrel being marked doesn't really answer the question who did it, unless it would be also marked as being rebarreled by J Stevens as some were.


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