Stevens Ideal No. 54 Schuetzen Special

About the Stevens Ideal No. 54 Schuetzen Special

The Stevens Ideal No. 54 'Schuetzen Special' is an American single-shot falling-block target rifle built by the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts from 1897. The top-of-the-line model of the Ideal line, it was built on the heavy 44½ falling-block action and operated by an ornate underlever that drops the breechblock, chambered most commonly in the .32-40 but also offered from .22 rimfire up through .38-55 and .44-40. As the premier Schuetzen offhand target rifle of the American golden age of single-shot shooting, it came standard with a heavy part-octagonal barrel, false muzzle, double-set triggers, a Vernier tang peep sight and wind-gauge globe front sight, a heavy Swiss-style Schuetzen buttplate and extra-fancy checkered walnut, with near-full-coverage engraving and palm rests available on special order.

In 1903 a No. 54 Schuetzen Special cost about $68 - nearly seven times the price of a plain Stevens No. 44 - and the rarest examples wear barrels hand-rifled by Harry M. Pope, judged the finest American barrelmaker of his era, whose stormy partnership with Stevens lasted only a couple of years.

Stevens Ideal No. 54 Schuetzen Special specifications

The No. 54 was the flagship of the Stevens Ideal Schuetzen rifles (Nos. 52, 53 and 54); in 1903 it was catalogued at about $68 against roughly $10 for a plain No. 44. Scarce examples made c. 1901-1903 carry barrels rifled by master gunsmith Harry M. Pope during his short-lived partnership with Stevens and are known as Stevens-Pope rifles. Nearly every dimension - barrel length and weight, stock configuration, buttplate, sights, engraving and finish - was available to special order, so surviving rifles vary widely.