The gun in question is a 410. It does not have the appearance of the usual flat sided 311, plus the patent date interested me. I was hoping to get a better idea of exactly when Stevens started offering a 410 sxs. The reason has to with better understanding the history and development in this country. Gabriel in his book on the 410 states that Parker was definitely the 1st American company to offer a sxs in 410. I am not sure that is accurate, so am attempting to track down other possibilities. I believe that Stevens, Crescent, Johnson, Hopkins or Harrington could have had an offering in the market place before then.

Here is the gun:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=65367377

The serial number alone tells me this was a later manufactured gun, but I am still curious as to how early they offered them in 410.

I suppose I could buy reprints of every maker's catalog for a 10 year span, but I am also aware that sometimes a company will offer a gun that is not in their catalogs. So they are not a final avenue.

Pete