Stevens Tip-Up Rifle

About the Stevens Tip-Up Rifle

The Stevens Tip-Up Rifle is an American single-shot rifle built on J. Stevens & Co.'s hinged tip-up action, in which the barrel pivots upward at the breech for loading. Chambered most commonly in .22 Long Rifle and other rimfire and small centerfire cartridges, it was a popular and affordable sporting and small-game arm in the late 19th century. The exposed-hammer design, octagonal barrel and two-piece walnut stock made it a defining product of the early Stevens line that grew out of the company's original tip-up pocket pistol.

J. Stevens & Co. was founded in 1864 by Joshua Stevens, whose very first product was a tip-up single-shot pistol. The tip-up rifle adapted that hinged action into a long arm and helped establish Stevens as one of America's leading makers of inexpensive sporting and boys' rifles before the company was eventually absorbed by Savage Arms in 1920.

Stevens Tip-Up Rifle specifications

Stevens offered the tip-up rifles with barrels of roughly 24 to 30 inches in a range of rimfire and light centerfire chamberings from .22 up to .44. The action descended directly from Joshua Stevens' first product, a tip-up single-shot pistol.