Looks like a Savage/Stevens 311 to me as well. Does it have the date code just behind the knuckle on the bottom? These were made from 1949 to 1989 so it might have the date code..Geo
Maybe made by Stevens and sold unbranded by one of the hardware chains?
It's not like my Stevens 311 .410. The receiver is shaped differently around the opening lever, the forearm looks different and I don't see the screw through the forearm and the flat sections of the barrels are a different shape. It also looks different where the pins go through the action.
Def looks like a Stevens of some variety. The cocking lug in the bottom of the receiver looks like a Stevens. Maybe a Springfield Stevens or like already said, maybe an unbranded hardware variety.
Looks like an earlier than later gun though
BTW you will probably want to take the first $100 that come along for it. Mine is on the way
Since it has a serial number I'd guess it was made after 1968 Gun Control Act. It might be an earlier version than the H series, but it looks like an H to me. If earlier I'm surprised it has a serial number..Geo
An early Stevens similar if not identical to one I am working on. Mine has the screw through the top lever like yours and is similar in other ways. Mine has Springfield markings on the side of the receiver, Chicopee Falls and the 1915 patent dates. Your gun is my gun. Stevens for sure.
In my opinion, if this were a German gun, we would be incorrectly calling it a "Guild gun". It looks like a gun made by Stevens for "the trade", to be marketed by someone else and not marked by the marketer.
Mike
The cocking lug in the bottom of the receiver is different than mine in that the one in the photo looks like it has a line running down the center making it look like 2 pieces. It might be just the photo but in any event my cocking lug is 1 piece. I also notice that there is an exposed screw in the opening lever. Mine opening lever has no exposed screw. Mine just says model 311 in the side, no letter after the 311. So could be that the gun in these photos is an earlier gun because there are quite a few differences in mine. Yet the gun in the photos has a serial number. Mine does not.
Certainly looks like a Savage product. Not the 311 but the earlier Models that preceded like a 5100 or 5200.
A 315/330 Stevens. It is the Lewis patent design with inline strikers.
John
John, I'm going to have to get my book(s) out to check your ID. I suspect you know what you are talking about though. Strange how even a Stevens gun can give us trouble in the ID...Geo
I once had a gun built by Stevens on the 315 action. As John said they have inline strikers rather than swinging hammers Also notice the pin placement through the frame. The forward pin is the cocking lever pivot & also the hammer pivot on the 530/311 types. The rear pin is the sear pivot & is lower than the front pin on the 530/311 while higher on the 315 types. There is o0f course no Pivot for the inline striker on the 315 actions.
It is the G.S. Lewis patent action introduced in 12- and 16-gauge as the Riverside Arms Co. No. 315 in the last years of the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. After The Great War and Savage Arms Corp.'s acquisition of J. Stevens Arms Co., they introduced a slightly nicer version as the J. Stevens No. 330 and by the early 1920s both guns were offered in 20-gauge as well. Circa 1924-5 they added the .410-bore. In 1928, J. Stevens Arms Co. changed the name of their lower priced line from Riverside Arms Co. to Springfield Arms Co. The J. Stevens No. 330 had a walnut capped full pistol grip stock, while the Riverside/Springfield No. 315 had a walnut checkered half-pistol grip stock. In 1929, J. Stevens Arms Co. introduced a cheaper version of this G.S. Lewis patent double called the Springfield No. 311 with a plain "walnut finished" stock and forearm.
These guns were also made in numerous "Trade Branded" versions up to WW-II. Here is one marked NEWPORT MODEL CN --
I failed to mention the gun I had was marked Central Arms Co & was in 20 gauge with 28" barrels. At the same point in time, my Dad had a 16 gauge marked Eastern Arms Co, but his was the hammer type.
In the picture of the Newport model that Researcher posted you can readily see the high placement of the rear pin.
It is a bit confusing that the model 311 designation has been used for both types of actions.
Both Eastern and Central were names used by Stevens/Savage. I still have my dad's old Eastern Arms .410 single shot. And like you, Miller, I owned a Central Arms sxs--but mine was a 16.
The Stevens
Model 311 didn't appear until after WW-II, when Savage consolidated all their arms manufacturing at the old J. Stevens factories in Chicopee Falls and the Savage plant at Utica, NY, went to making products for the post war housing boom. These G.S. Lewis Patent No. 1,136,247, granted Apr. 20, 1915, action guns used coil-spring driven strikers.
In 1936, J. Stevens Arms Co. began phasing in a new action marked 5000 and later when they went to a one-piece top-lever and spindle 5100. The G.S. Lewis action J. Stevens No. 330 was replaced by the J. Stevens No. 530. The Springfield No. 315 was replaced by the Springfield No. 515. The 5000 and 5100 action has internal hammers which rotate about an axle. In 1939, Savage took the internal parts of the J. Stevens No. 530 and put them in a slightly nicer profiled and decorated black gun metal finished receiver and fitted it with a bit nicer stock and called it the Fox Model B. Insert found in some 1939 Fox catalogs --
From the 1940 Fox catalog --
In 1940, J. Stevens Arms Co. introduced a version of the No. 530 fitted with a stock and forearm made of Tenite and called it the No. 530-M --
After the consolidation at Chicopee Falls, the gun that had been the No. 530-M through 1946, became the Stevens
Model 311 in 1948. By 1951, the Tenite stock and forearm were gone and the Stevens
Model 311 got the walnut finished wood stock and forearm.
Thanks so much fellas. Never cease to be amazed at the knowledge on this board.
Researcher;
Am I following you correctly that the G S Lewis design with strikers was phased out around 1936 & thus all subsequent models were the hammer fired guns?
My striker fired Central Arms gun incidentally, had the "Walnut Finish" stock, not real walnut. I am not certain now but seem to recall my dad;s
Eastern Arms gun had real walnut. Very plain straight grain of course & as I said his was hammer fired,
The Springfield No. 311 as well as numerous "trade branded" guns and some of J. Stevens even cheaper guns marketed under the Crescent and Davis names continued to be made with the G.S. Lewis action to WW-II.
The hammer version was the Riverside/Springfield No. 215 based on G.S. Lewis Patent No. 1,086,378 granted Feb. 10, 1914. From the 1929 J. Stevens Arms Co. Catalogue No. 57 --
A very nice high condition, all original, 16-gauge, 30-inch, Riverside No. 215 appeared on the rack at my favorite local pawn shop recently. Fortunately someone else bought it before I succumbed.
The serial number has nothing to do with the GCA of 1968. These are late 20's guns like Researcher stated. The protruding breech balls are a clue to its provenance. By the way, the gun I am working on is a very well fitted, and smooth working gun, the best I have ever handled in the Stevens-Savage lineup. I'm hoping the owner will sell it to me.
You guys confuse me. So what is the OP's gun?
I got out my old reprinted Stevens catalogs and still don't have a conclusive answer. By the way, the catalogs show some really nice old Stevens guns. Where are they now?...Geo
["Geo., were you referring to guns like the Stevens 385?"]
Why yes, among others single shots as well. That 385 is a beauty!..Geo
Geo, the OPs gun is a Springfield No. 311 or "trade branded" version thereof.
Understand when I spoke of striker fired vs hammer fired I was speaking of internal hammers, not external ones.
My first double was a J Stevens Arms & Tool Co gun, I "Think" a model 335.
It would have been designed, & likely built, prior to either of the G S Lewis patents. It had internal hammers, a plain wedge cross lock, not the rotary bolt of the higher [priced models. Frame bar was rectangular, not contouring. I called it my "Poor Boy" 21, because it had about the same lines & for that price range gun a decent piece of Walnut. Wish I had kept it.
I mostly shot off the shelf 3-1 1/8 loads from it, but if I felt them needed I did not hesitate to fire the 3 3/4-1¼ loads & even put a box of the New 1½ oz Baby Magnums through it. I was a lot younger & more foolish back then & it did have Steel Barrels. When I sent it down the road it was still as "Tight as Dick's Hatband".
The No. 335, which was the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. Demi-Bloc (chopper lump) barreled follow on to their No. 325 which had mono-bloc barrels, continued to be offered by J. Stevens Arms Co. into 1931. From the 1929 catalogue No. 57
On the January 2nd, 1931, J. Stevens retail price list, the No. 335 listed at $27.50 while the G.S. Lewis action No. 330 which came with twin ivory sights and a Jostam Anti-Flinch recoil pad was $26.75. The Springfield G.S. Lewis action No. 315 was $19.50 and the No. 311 was $18.50.
Researcher;
That sure looks like the gun I had. I sort of wanted to think I had a 325, but there were no seams in the barrel which would have shown it to be a mono-block. At that point, I simply did not know enough about them to check if it was chopper lumped or not.
When did the name change take place from J Stevens Arms & Tool Company to the J Stevens Arms Co? I remember distinctly mine had the "& Tool" in the name.
I did a bit of digging around on the internet & everything I found was in agreement that a 335 marked J Stevens Arms & Tool Co would have been made between 1910 1915. The later ones were marked as J Stevens Arms Co.
These guns did have serial numbers. They had a quite efficient barrel check, coil mainsprings which operated via pushrods in the bar of the frame. They had cocking cams which protruded from the knuckle joint into the forend iron.
In my personal opinion, this line of guns was of a higher quality than the latter Savage/Stevens line, including the Fox B.
The Mar. 19, 1907, patent date shown on Daryl's gun is for Patent No. 847,650 granted to E.H. Elder, assignor to J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. Some of the text on the catalogue page for the No. 335 is quite similar to Winchester text for the Model 21.
