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J Stevens sxs .410 question
OlderFossil
Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
One of the firearms I have inherited is a .410 side-by-side shotgun made by J Stevens. On one side of the receiver is STEVENS and a retriever logo. On the other side of the receiver is J. Stevens Arms Company, Chicopee Falls Mass. U.S.A. and a faint 5100. On the top of the barrels is SELECTED FORGED STEEL and PROOF TESTED .410 BORE, 3 INCH CHAMBER. When the breech is open, on one side on both the receiver and barrels is stamped G O (E) (E inside a circle). On the other side is stamped the letter P only on the receiver.
When the model name was changed to 311, were the markings changed, or did they still stamp them with 5100?
Was this a 311 mfg. in 1953?
When the model name was changed to 311, were the markings changed, or did they still stamp them with 5100?
Was this a 311 mfg. in 1953?
Comments
"3. From 1940 to 1948 no serial numbers were used on doubles, only capital letters, usually in groups of three or four, the letter(s) sometimes enclosed in a circle, along with an inspector's symbol ( a heart , a diamond, a spade or some such `shape', on the bottom of the frame behind the hinge pin.
4. From 1948 to 1968 the letter symbols under the frame were changed to a `Capital letter with a one or two digit number' in a 1/4#8243; circle. This was a date code which you will find illustrated in the Savage-Stevens-Fox pages of your Standard Catalog of Firearms."
Case 3 seems to fit my gun best.
Quick and dirty rule of thumb for (approximately)dating Stevens shotguns:
J Stevens Arms &Tool Co Before 1915
J Stevens Arms Co Roughly 1916 to 1947, but few produced before 1919
Stevens-Savage Arms, Chicopee Falls, Mass Roughly 1947-48 to 1960-61
Stevens-Savage Arms, Westfield, Mass 1960-61 and later
I'm starting to believe that the stamped markings on this gun are just production identification marks used to keep the correct parts together and that this gun is pre-1949. It seems that when a production year was added, it was always both a letter and number in an oval.