Rem Hepburn and Steven's 44 1/2

[FatJackDurham]

I saw two of my dream guns at the Manchester Ctr Gunshow in Manchester, VT. A Remington No.3 Hepburn and a Stevens 44 1/2 Shuetzen rifle, both in 32-40. Two uncommon guns in a shootable caliber, beautiful guns.

Does anyone here own one of either?

[cas]

I have a Hepburn in .45-90 The back end is original, the front end is not. More a carbine now than the target rifle it was, but it makes a great hunting gun.

[FatJackDurham]

Cool!

[marlinman93]

Hepburn Match rifles are pretty rare! They made them in the schuetzen configuration as a Match A, and Match B, with the Match B being more deluxe. The B had cheekpiece stocks, higher grade wood, and checkered buttstock and forearm. The checkering was also higher grade on the Match B. They came standard with midrange vernier rear tang sights, and globe front sights. Also double set triggers.
I have several Hepburns, but picked up my first Match rifle in May this year. It is a Match B with 34" half octagon barrel in .32-40 Ballard/Marlin caliber. Remington marked these .32-40 barrels "32 B&M".
I read somewhere that Remington only sold about 1,000 Match rifles in the two variations. That's about 10% of all Hepburn sales.

[FatJackDurham]

The one I saw didn't have the rear sight. It had a broken beech front sight. Otherwise it was in great condition. The guy was asking $2700.

[Bill in Oregon]

MM, you are a one-man single-shot museum!
The one thing I have against Hepburns is the low cheek position from prone or bench for a guy like me with high cheekbones. Otherwise, they are the bomb.

[cas]

The only thing I have against them is the evil butt plate.

Mine was a .45-70. Concerned I might someday stick one of my angry Marlin loads in it, and wanting to stick with BP anyway, I punched it out to .45-90 and throated it a wee bit long for the 500r paper patched bullets I used to shoot in my roller. But that light gun, with that bullet and the original round in the wrong places butt plate made it less than fun. I finally gave in and switched to a 400r grease groove bullet. Much easier on the shooter.

[rbertalotto]

Yes...I have both...

Hepburn in 32-20


And a Steven's 44 1/2 with two barrels...38-55 and 219 Zipper


Do you remember the prices on the ones you saw?

[marlinman93]

The only thing I have against them is the evil butt plate.

.

Amen! The factory buttplates are too skinny when shooting stiff loads! My Hepburn in .40-70SS is no fun with heavy loads, and factory buttplate.



When I built my Hepburn in .45-70, I purchased a Sharps checkered steel buttplate, and had Dave Crossno do a silhouette style 90% inletted stock for it. It gives a much larger area to spread load on my shoulder, and even heavy loads are very comfortable!

[marlinman93]

MM, you are a one-man single-shot museum!
The one thing I have against Hepburns is the low cheek position from prone or bench for a guy like me with high cheekbones. Otherwise, they are the bomb.

Thanks Bill! A Hepburn with a cheekpiece feels a lot better for cheek plant.