Hi All. I recently picked up a Stevens 325A, 30-30, as a project rifle and I was surprised by the differences in the action between it and my Savage 340C. On the 340, the bolt is kept from rotating by the gas shield key. The Stevens 325A has no key.The locking lug is slotted on the left side and rides in a matching groove in the reciever. Also, the ejector groove in the bolt runs 1/2 the lenght of the bolt rather than the short cut in the 340.The gas key collars are also cut to clear the ejector. I haven't seen this before and I wonder if this particular rifle is an early specimen. I do have to say its a much better system than the 340's! The stock design is ...Well, it is what it is.The quality of machining( action) is very good and much better than later models. the barrel is 21 inches and the bore is perfect.The rifling is lands are much narrower than those in the 340 and the chamber is TIGHT as is the headspace. I hope to fire her later today and I hope she's as accurate as my 340 which is a solid 1 1/2 inch rifle at 100 yards. the open sights are pretty good as is the trigger pull. Once I cleaned years of God knows what out of it and oiled it , the pull is a long smooth 3 lbs. Recoil ought to be interesting as soaking wet I dont think this little one makes 6 lbs! I'm planning to make a nice little stalking rifle out of her, but before I do anything drastic I thought I better check to see if I stumbled into some less common variant. Do I have the usual 325A or something else? Thanks for the imput.
