doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com A Unique Low-Wall

This has certainly been one of the more edifying threads I've seen on the internet in a while.

Wonder WHEN Lowaller's Stevens (or copy?) was made. Got to be the most gussied-up Favorite I've ever seen!

Doesn't actually ascend to the "gilding a lily" level; more like gilding a dandelion, IMO. (Frank de Haas would have had a couple of choice things to say about it, for sure. But he WOULD have put it in his books as an example of what you COULD do with an ole Favorite if you had the desire and the $$$).

I also wonder why a Favorite? Was this perhaps done for some Ami who had a boyhood crush on that rifle? Certainly there were German actions that could be easily sourced that were easier to get than a Stevens, weren't there?

In general, I wonder why these American actions (lowalls and now a Stevens) were being used for German custom jobs? Were they done for Americans specifically, or for resale by an American firm that contracted for them? Were the American actions cheaper than equivalent German or Belgian actions that the German smiths could source? (Find that kinda hard to believe, as much as I admire JB's first design).

Were they made in some period when the sources of European actions to German smiths were disrupted by war or treaty? Puzzles me.

Kurt Jaeger opened a gunshop in Mainz around 1949. He also managed the gun shop of the Wiesbaden Rod & Gun Club at the (USAF) Wiesbaden Air Base Wiesbaden, Germany. It was not until 1952 that Germans could own a firearm.

Kurt Jaeger was not an engraver.

While I'm not much of an oakleaf fan, I do enjoy seeing these European-American single shots. And I very much enjoy the engraved raven, a populous bird around these part especially in winter, and a favorite of mine.

Steve,
How do you suppose that Raven is colored? It looks different - as if it was fire blued while the action was rust blued or something like that. Seems like an odd color anyway.

Brent

Only the animals and the stippled background are blued, the rest of the action appears grey/cased, I haven't a clue?
(That's a nitre blued scope base on top of the action)

Those Stevens actions are cast and usually turn purple after a while when hot blued.

If they'd take an eraser to the critters on the sides, they'd probably find them to be silver inlays.

A broken top tang is a frequent problem on those and they don't weld easily even with whats available now. I think they might have spliced a new top tang piece on for a repair somehow after squareing up the break. Looks like it has separated again.

They do silver solder quite well but it shows when it's blued, and it won't take the heat of C/C.
Braze will make it through C/C but will still show a line.

Alot of work in that Stevens.

Kutter, I was thinking about silver, or possibly steel that was inlayed after a different type of treatment than the receiver. Sure it different. I like the contrast of the raven with the action. Not much, but enough to really make it stand out.

After that, I don't seen anything to like about the rifle from the rest of the engraving to the stock layout - and that hammer is just wildly out of proportion and place. But that's just my opinion and wasn't the customer.

The sterling or coin silver just turns black after a while. Even 'Fine' Silver will oxidize a bit.

Alot of the guns from Kurt Jeagers shop after the war seem to have had silver inlays. Perhaps there was a problem getting gold suitable for the inlay work,,jewelry alloys are generally in the 10,12,14k range and the lower karats can be difficult to work. Coin silver or sterling works pretty easily and was fairly plentiful. Just a guess.
At any rate, it does oxidize rather quickly to a fairly tough matt black surface.

They could be steel inlays, but I'd expect them to have the same bright blue as the other blued parts. At least the same blue color as the spliced in part on the top tang. Using something like 12L14 (ledloy)steel today, steel inlays are not much of a problem,,certainly not much more than working with 10K or 12k gold. That can give you a fight as it work hardens so fast trying to get it set.

Some Ithaca higher grade SxS's had the inlays done in silver and are often mistaken as a steel cut figure instead of the silver they are for the same reason.

Whatever it is I just don't think it that complicated.
Doubt silver because the background is the same and wouldn't look right to have the subject and background the same pre-oxidized. Not steel because it would be too difficult to blue then inlay.
All we can do is guess...

I surely do enjoy the raven!