A sweet lil' Stevens 66-B Buckhorn 22

Hiya Guys ...



Lookie lookie what I finally laid my hands on yesterday, a sweet lil' Stevens 66-B Buckhorn 22 rifle chambered for the 22 short, 22 long & the 22LR that I've been after for the last week or so when it popped up on our local gun Grapevine.



To date this is now the oldest 22 rifle in my collection. This was made by Stevens Arms company of Chicopee Falls Mass. U.S.A from about 1931-1936. It's a traditional tube feed design with a bolt-action rather than a clickety clack semi-auto system like the early Stevens 6A had. It's in a purdy' walnut stock and it's in real nice condition. It has a talk on open Mauser style Bolt that slides out of the receiver just like a Mosin when you pull the trigger back. The bluing has faded and taken on a burnished bronze patina & it has the traditional rear leaf front post sites.



Chance was asking $150 for the 66-B, but I offered him a Ben Franklin for it and we called it a deal. Stevens made several variants of the Model 66 and I was really hoping this one had the Stevens #105 peep sites w/ 3 aperture sizes, but I might just have to try and locate a Stevens peep sight for it anyway. Until then it's bound to be an excellent shooter just like my 87a and model 31 from the 1940s . There's a really good write up on the model 66's here :



https://www.gunvaluesboard.com/stevens-model/no.-66-1955.html

If anyone knows where I can lay my hands on a Factory Stevens #105 peep sight or has any suggestions on a good peep sight for this and maybe one of my Clickety clacks, please let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated. On another note I'm also looking at a Mossberg S130 peep sight as a possibility ?. Here's a picture of the original Stevens peep sight some of these came with.

Cornhusker77 said:

NIce rifle
I've got a Springfield J. Stevens Arms Co. MODEL 87A that I think is one of the "click clack" guns but not sure.
It does have gills though.

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Thanks . You most certainly have a sweet old clickety clack "Gill gun" . The old clickety-clack 22s have the Delayed Action receiver meaning every time you squeeze the trigger and fire off a round, as long as you keep the trigger held back the bolt will not close until you reset the trigger. I had one of the original Stevens model 6A's but like an idiot I sold it during the bozo ammo drought. I wound up kicking myself in the proverbial but for it because it was an excellent shooter so I went on the search for another one which led me to my Stevens 87a like yoursyours, it's basically the exact same done with a slightly newer model number on it and it's also an excellent shooter . I have the 87A & high standard JC Higgins model 31, both are from the early to mid 1940s .

Alright, I decided I wanted to put the peep sight just in front of the bolt, and I had to Inlet the stock a little so it would set Square on the receiver . I made the initial notch in the stock and used a little 200 grit sandpaper to scuff up the face of the site and the receiver where it's going to setset, then I used a little Shoe Goo which works remarkably well and stuck it in place. I'll let it set up overnight and pull the receiver out of the stock tomorrow and clean up the inlet and smooth it all out ...

Wow , nice shooter . I had the Savage 6A, like an idiot I sold it during the ammo drought. I went on the hunt for another one and came up with a Stevens 87a instead . I picked up a JC Higgins model 31 to go with it and now my Model 66. I agree, my new safe might already be full but I'm always on the lookout for nice old vintage 22's. They're excellent Shooters and will out shoot any of the new off the rack production rifles hands down ...

Kingcreek said:

I've got a 66-b it was grandpas squirrel rifle (pre serial numbers) and my dad had it since the 1960s before I got it 25 years ago. Mine has a vintage weaver 4x scope and mount on it. Still very accurate and in good condition.

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That's awesome , I'm glad that it's been kept in the family and well taken care of . I have a vintage Weaver 4L-W 4x fixed power scope. Right now I think it's on my JC Higgins model 31 since I put my 6_24x50 on my 10/22. When you get a minute I'd like to see a few pictures of that thing and I'm curious as to which mount it has on it ? ..

Kingcreek said:

Here are 2 pics of the scope and mount, unchanged since I started shooting it in the mid 1960s.

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Thanks , that's really cool. Come to think about it I actually have a really old vintage 4x fixed power 3/8 or so tube scope like this that was the original scope that came with one of my other vintage 22's ..

AlrightAlright , I evened up the inlet, rounded the corners, sanded everything smooth and used some colonial maple stain to touch it up. It looks a little light now but if it darkens up overnight like it did on the stock for my 10/22 it'll look nice come morning ...