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Stevens was an early advocate of telescopic sights, especially when they were mounted on Stevens single-shots.

“Sighting ‘Small Deer’ Rifles,” following in the August issue, was a plea for small-game riflemen to recognize the futility of obtaining a clear aiming-point with metallic sights on targets so small as to be obscured by the blade or bead of a front sight. “Nothing less than a good telescopic sight is fit to put on a really good ‘small deer’ rifle.... You can’t afford not to have one.” This argument correlated perfectly with two other favorite themes: the fine value represented by Stevens scopes relative to others selling at twice the price, and the ethical hunter’s moral imperative to strive to avoid crippling, “the agonies of gunshot fever.”

The latter consideration became his principal thesis in the final part of his 1931 The American Rifleman trilogy, “Rim Fires and Game,” in the November issue. The object of that theme was the .22 RF cartridge, which Tedmon passionately insisted was the single greatest contributor to unnecessary suffering among small game of all varieties. “I know that many squirrels are killed with the .22 LR; on the other hand, many...crawl away wounded to die a lingering death not due these game little beasts.” That he was speaking from bitter personal experience he did not conceal: “During those thoughtless and heartless days of a man’s life, I shot dozens of prairie dogs with the .22 LR. Today I get little pleasure and plenty of regret when I recall how many were hit, only to crawl gamely into the burrow to die, victims of my thoughtlessness.”