Ok, this is not British Best. It's machine-made American.

Stevens produced their finest design falling block single shot rifle - the Model 44-1/2 - from 1902 until 1916. About 13,000 were produced. They competed with the Winchester 1885 High Wall and Low Wall.

One advantage of the 44-1/2 is the manner in which the breech block tilts to the rear. This feature allows it to "gobble up" a cartridge that has not been fully seated in the chamber. The action is quite strong, though it is not as large as the Winchester 1885.

Known for their accuracy, many left the factory in full-blown schutzen configuration.

These rifles are relatively hard to find in good condition. Many years ago I had the good fortune to own a 44-1/2. That one started its life as a .22LR, but the bore was badly corroded. The friend from whom I bought it had the original barrel bored out to .357 Magnum and the breech block converted to center fire. It was topped with a Burris compact 4x scope. I used that rifle for almost everything. In a weak moment back about 1992 I sold it and regretted selling it ever since.

Last May I ran upon a nice original 44-1/2 rifle chambered for the .25-20 Single Shot cartridge. It was equipped with a tang mounted rear aperture sight and remained in excellent condition. I snapped it up.

There is a company now making a new version of the 44-1/2 and doing service work on vintage rifles also. CPA Rifles in Pennsylvania. https://www.cparifles.com/ They offer new barrels that are shaped exactly to the original contours. It occurred to me that a new barrel in .38-55 Winchester would do everything my old .357 Mag. would do, and then some! Without wasting any time I sent my rifle to CPA for a new .38-55 barrel.

Another great feature of the .44-1/2 is that barrels are interchangeable by hand. You remove the breech block and extractor, back out the lock screw on the bottom of the action, and the barrel unscrews like a take-down rifle.

Well, CPA didn't waste any time getting my new barrel fit. It's part octagon and part round with the exact same outside dimensions as the original barrel. The original forend fits perfectly. It's made from a Douglas XX .375 blank so that the full range of .375 bullets can be used.

I researched the .38-55 for a good “try” load. I had a box of Hornady 220 grain .375 bullets on hand, so decided to use them. I decided to load 35.0 grains of IMR 4895 and a WLR primer.

Getting it sighted in required fiddling with the elevation adjustment of the rear sight and drifting the front sight into proper position. The first range session got it roughed in. One thing I noticed was that the tang rear sight was fairly loose in its adjustment. I knew I would need to make a little rod to insert into the assembly for the staff to bottom against firmly. One thing I noticed in this first session was that the rifle really wanted to shoot accurately.

When I got back home I took some careful measurements and made the stop rod mentioned above. I left it slightly long knowing the next session would be a bit high on target. From the second session I would be able to calculate how much to shorten the stop rod, thus lowering the rear sight.

The second session was shot at 100 yards last Saturday. As I anticipated, the group was a bit high. It was also a bit to the right. While at the range I drifted the front sight and shot another group. Windage was good now. Wow! What fine groups this rifle wanted to shoot!

At home I filed down the stop rod to almost where I thought it should be, still leaving it slightly high in anticipation of a final adjustment.

To the range I went again on Monday. I fired two 5-shot groups. The first was under poor light, but the group was fantastic – three shots in one hole with two shots slightly outside. I put up another target. Now the light improved. The next five shots went into one ragged hole.

Here's a close-up of the same target. A penny covers the group!

Yes, I think I am going to like this rifle and cartridge quite a lot.

My next effort will be to see how it shoots with its .25-20 barrel. Stay tuned!

Curl