STEVENS FAVORITE 1915: FIXING A COMMON PROBLEM-DROOPING LEVER!

Got me a new old rifle. Again in 22. It has a dropping or tilting block bridge action.

Overall in decent condition, but with a typical ware problem related to the design flaw: drooping finger lever.
The reason- weak pivots, pins, perhaps the locking parts themselves combined with years of use and i speculate more powerful ammo that the rifle is designed for.

Discussed the issue with the knowledgeable people at RIMFIRECENTRAL.COM( special thanks to a Stevens guru, a member TFRANK) . General idea is to eliminate the sloppiness.
Here are my repairs.
1) changed the definitely loose pin between the L shaped link and the bridge block. Used for it a piece of 4 mm drill bit which is a few thousands thicker than the original. Used dremel sparingly.
2) replaced the lever pivot bolt- the original 10 x 30, weird thread. The thread is too long , was rubbing against the lever, wearing out both. I used a regular hardware hardened 10x 24 bolt [ NOT 10x28 AS I ERRONEOUSLY STATED IN RHE FIDEO], 2” long which had a good unthreaded portion.

The 10x 24 easily screws in sufficiently deep into the 10x 30 thread of the receiver before they conflict. Ideally I was told it would be better to step up the bolt size to the American 12x32 or 12x 36

3) I was planning to also replace the bridge block pivot 12x 36 stepping it to 1/4. But it requires more machining of the parts +the first 2 measures worked just fine. I shelved it for now.



Thanks for watching.