The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Curios and Relics

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old July 26, 2012, 02:48 PM   #1
FloridaVeteran
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2012
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 399
Extra value for ultra-low serial number Stevens slide action?

Was at a friend's house and noticed that he has a Stevens "Visible Loading" pump .22, in excellent condition. Assuming the serial number is the only number visible, on the metal rear of the trigger guard, it is under 10 (ten) and has the suffix "A". So unless there was production without a suffix, I'm wondering if this was one of the first ten of these rifles ever built and if it is, how much that might add to the value. Blue book, without reference to age, shows $550 for 100% and $400 for 95%, but there is no mention of serial numbers. The few that are for sale on Gunbroker today are in not nearly as good condition and the only one for which I saw a serial number had a much higher one.
FloridaVeteran is offline  
Old July 26, 2012, 02:58 PM   #2
Scorch
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 13, 2006
Location: Washington state
Posts: 15,247
I have never seen a Visible Loader with a serial number. Serial numbers were not required before 1968, and most manufacturers of .22 rifles did not serialize them. That number might not be a serial number, might be an assembly number or a date coce.
__________________
Never try to educate someone who resists knowledge at all costs.
But what do I know?
Summit Arms Services
Scorch is offline  
Old July 26, 2012, 03:05 PM   #3
FloridaVeteran
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2012
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 399
Thanks

OK - that almost certainly clears it up. I believe he said he's owned it since the early '60s - and it looks much older than a 1960s build. Easy come, easy go. Thank you very much, particularly for the quick reply..
FloridaVeteran is offline  
Old July 27, 2012, 12:52 AM   #4
gyvel
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 30, 2009
Location: Northern AZ
Posts: 7,172
Out of curisosity, does it work? Visible Loaders have a miserable reputaion for reliability and smooth workings.
gyvel is offline  
Old July 27, 2012, 07:26 PM   #5
PetahW
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 19, 2008
Posts: 4,678
Back in the day, they weren't referred to as "Miserable Loaders" for nothing...................


.
PetahW is offline  
Old July 28, 2012, 02:48 AM   #6
FloridaVeteran
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2012
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 399
LOL - I didn't ask if it works. It looked like it would work very well, even though the receiver is odd relative to Brownings and others of the era. He bought it from a gunsmith in the 1960s. Good question, though, for a non-serial-numbered gun.

I was embarrassed but educated by Scorch's reply, in that I had never seen a shootable non-serial-numbered gun except the WWII pot-metal jobs that were dropped to resistance fighters. I hadn't known that, pre-1968, serial numbers weren't required, nor did my gun buddies, including a Camp Perry #2 in Nationals (long ago). Guess I just had good taste, since all guns I've ever handled prior to this week had a serial number, all the way back to the 1850s.

I now fondly remember advertisements in (pre-'68) magazines where you could order any gun you wanted, to be sent to your house without any conditions whatsoever - in the time in America that my favorite columnist Charley Reese might have termed Freedom Days.
FloridaVeteran is offline  
Old July 29, 2012, 01:41 PM   #7
Hawg
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 8, 2007
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 16,175
It's an assembly number. Stevens guns were cheap, reliable workhorses for the most part. Unfortunately somebody forgot to tell the visible loaders about the reliable part.
Hawg is offline  
Reply

Tags
stevens , visible loading

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:17 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.03421 seconds with 8 queries