doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stevens sidelock hammer double questions

In the journey to complete a $10 flea market Stevens 235 I keep finding more old Stevens hammer double guns. I bought an incomplete Stevens 225.




Then I picked up a 250 for parts gun that is missing buttstock and forend. Now I'm watching for parts to put this old dowg back into shooting condition.

My general question is, just how many hammer double models did Stevens make?

More specific, just in sidelock hammer doubles, how many models are there?

Real specific, are there any models that share the same parts - like buttstock and forends?

It seems each new catalog the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. issued during the first decade of the Twentieth Century the sidelock hammer doubles changed. In General Catalog No. 50, J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co.'s only double was the No. 250.



By General Catalog No. 51, they had gone to their mono-bloc style of barrel construction and the sidelock doubles were the No. 250 --



No. 260 --



and No. 270 --



By General Catalog No. 52 (circa 1906) they eliminated the underbolts and enlarged the rib extension for a rotary bolt. No. 250 --



No. 260 & 270 --



No. 280 --



Then they changed their method of barrel construction again, going to a chopper lump manner of construction they called Demi-Bloc. and the sidelock doubles became the No. 255 --



and the No. 265 --



The No. 255 and 265 remained the sidelock hammer offerings through the last J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. catalog. They were gone by the February 1917, J. Stevens Arms Co. revised price list.

Thanks for all the effort you went to to compile this information.

I seen some or all of it posted at different places. It made it hard to make a complete study.

My old relic 250 appears to be second model shown with the though latch bolt design. What I have of the gun looks bad from the outside but it locks up tight and has pretty good bores.

Is there any reason to hope that parts from this range of guns will interchange? My chances of finding wood and forend would be improved.

I'd guess your odds of finding original wood for a pre WW-I J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. sidelock hammer double are about the same as hitting the Powerball. The guns themselves seem to be pretty darn scarce.

I wish it had the forend iron. It would make it a lot more feasible to put back to working order. Seems like the forend is the first thing that go missing on these old guns.

I also have a Stevens 225 that is also missing the forend.

Bibbyman,
If you can arrange to come to East Alabama, with the parts you do have, there is at least a fair chance I may have some of the things you need in my "Junk Pile". I have several different "forearm irons", maybe even one you need. The only way to know, is to check through the pile.
Mike

I know what would happen, I'd end up with another project gun or two!

I have made friends with an old gunsmith that can fill a 5 gallon bucket with Savage/Stevens double barrel parts but he seems to be missing the parts I need. I've ended up with at least 6 project guns from visiting him.

I talked to an old curmudgeon at a gun show yesterday that thinks he may have parts for my project shotguns. I'm planning on visiting wiht him sometime soon.

I also know another old gunsmith that may have Stevens parts. I'm going to touch base with him next weekend.

The payoff at the end is not worth the trouble and expense. It's the jurney and challenge that's worth the effort.



Here is my 235 project gun that started out as a flea market find. The buttstock is borrowed from a 225 I found. It took at least a year to get this far along.

Project update.

I had reason to visit Macon Gunshop Company in Warsaw Missouri on Tuesday. I took along the Stevens 250 action to see if they had or could make a buttstock for it. Bryan Macon rolled the action around in his hands and said, "This looks strangely familiar.". He soon came to realize he was working on replacing the buttstock on the very same model gun. We went down to his stock making factory and sure enough, his Stevens was just like mine.

I ordered a buttstock and forend wood from him.

I've found a forend from a 225 in my collection that fits. I really need to find or make a forend iron for it. We're going to visit another parts scrounger here in a bit.

Bibbyman, there is a complete fore end assembly for a Stevens 235 on Ebay. I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but check it out.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Forend-assembly-for-Stevens-235-Double-Barrel-Shotgun-16Ga/312115211436?hash=item48ab842cac:g:elAAAOSwnbla2hod
Pete

I'm watching that one. It'll be interesting to see what it goes for. I don't know if the 12 and 16 gauge used the same frame width. I find forends that are narrower for 20 gauge.

I visited with an old scrounger today and bought 6 forends from him. None are exactly what I need but I think I can cut two up and make one that will work. I bought 4 others because you never know..