Stevens Model 15-A???

[Jason_G]

I just put a similar thread up over at TFL. Maybe someone here knows something about old bolt actions...
I recently acquired (was given) an old Stevens .22 bolt action. Stamp on the barrel says (ignore the underscores, I had to use them to get the text to line up correctly):
________________SAVAGE ARMS CORPORATION
_____STEVENS___CHICOPEE FALLS, MASS. U.S.A.____MODEL 15-A
________________22 SHORT, LONG, OR LONG RIFLE

Couldn't find a serial number, but there's three patent numbers on the barrel:
PATENT 2173XXX
PATENT 2223XXX
PATENT 2230XXX

Can anyone tell me anything about these rifles? Are they safe to shoot high velocity .22lr out of? I'd assume so, but being as it looks like an old rifle, I thought I'd ask to be sure.

Jason

 

[Jason_G]

Nobody else has one of these?

Jason

 

[Regolith]

I have a Stevens Model 66-B, but I have no experience with the 15-A. However, the 66-B is marked similar to yours in terms of what calibers can be used. I've never had a problem with any .22LR bullets I've run through it, but I've never put any really hot loads into it either.

I don't think high velocity loads should be a problem, though. If you're really worried about it, you could take it to a competent gunsmith and have it checked out.

 

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Here is link to pictures: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=76240578

I just bought a similar rifle, a Springfield single shot bolt .22 and took it to the range and fired CB, short and long rifle out of it no problem. I doubt if you could hurt it with any factory loaded .22.

 

[JohnBT]

The picture helps. It's one of the utility rifles made from 1940 to '70 give or take a few years. The utility rifles typically don't get listed individually in books with details, just in a list of numbers. The lack of a serial number means yours was made before the Gun Law of '68. You can shoot anything, but I'd probably avoid the stingers, yellow jackets and other hypervelocity oddball rounds.

John

 

[Regolith]

Hey, apparently I do have a Stevens Model 15A...its just branded under a different company (Ward Western Field; I just learned that Stevens used to make guns for them, and that gun in the pictures is an exact copy of what I got).

Sorry, still can't tell you any more than my original post, though, as I almost never shot it.

 

[Jason_G]

Thanks for the replies. The rifle does look alot like the one on the gunbroker picture. I think mine is a 60's model. It has a black plastic buttplate that was absent on the earlier models (just found this out last night). I might pick up some .22 ammo and try it out today.

Jason