I have practically a fettish for guns that are pleasant to operate and feel like they were built with quality and craftsmanship -- smooth bolts, smooth slides and D/A actions in handguns, smooth actions on pump guns, nice triggers, properly weighted safeties, mag releases, or other controls, etc., etc. No offense to anyone who loves them, but the Stevens and H&R single shots have that stamped steel action release beside the hammer that has always turned me off and drove me toward the single shots that use the conventional tang-mounted action release lever.
Here's the point of this post: If I had a machine shop or a CNC machine, I think I'd start making replacement action release levers for these HR/Stevens guns. Ideally in my mind, it'd be something machined or forged in the style of the gun, but with a flat, knurled surface instead of the crude stamped-and-bent piece of sharp-cornered metal. I'd offer them on e-bay, then wait to see if I turned out to be the only person with this peeve.
Below are a couple of examples (these are AR extended mag releases). The looks of these isn't right aesthetically for the HR/301, but you can see what I'm getting at.