doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com .410 question please

IMHO by 1926 the Godshalks were making their black ink on autoparts, golf equipment and fishing reels and were on the hunt to unload the gun business. After the time and effort they put into the Super-Fox in the early 1920s to actually sell only a couple hundred guns methinks they were ready to get out.

I really doubt that the cost to tool up to make .410-bore doubles was ever recovered by Ithaca with only about 924 made or Parker Bros. with only about 570 made. Hunter may have gotten well with their 2665 L.C. Smith .410-bores.

'tho neither fine nor a double, I have a near new "Springfield" (Stevens) single .410 marked "1929 Model" on the barrel. It has an apparently original 2 1/2" chamber. I've seen identical Stevens/Springfield/Eastern Arms/You Name It miniature frame singles that had .410 3" chambers and also some that were marked 12mm/.410 and more than one that was ".44XL Shot". But never saw one that was model-dated before (what a year to commemorate). Anybody else seen a "1929 Model" Stevens-type single or did they drop the designation after the Crash? (At least there's no blood pitting on the muzzle area of mine....)

revdoc
You must be living right, a .410 thread without a single .410 basher adding his bile to the mix. This has to be first!
Steve

When I was a child, from 5 years old till I was 10, I had access and use of a Mo-Skeet-O trap and a Winchester Model 61 smooth bore .22. I became very affective with it and I believe that experience helped me become an good shot when I started hunting and shooting skeet as a teenager.
I wish I had that setup today for nostalgia and for my Grandson.

As for the .410, I love it and I love my Winchester Model 42. It is a very effective dove and quail gun and a hell of a lot of fun to use.

Deadraibead, that buckle has a familiar look to it. What exactly is it? I think I have a bird belt with such a buckle attached.

Mike,

I don't have enough Stevens paper to make any kind of definitive statement, but it seems from what I have that in the early to mid-1920s their cheaper then Stevens line was called "Riverside Arms Co." and from at least 1930 on it was Springfield. I don't see anything Springfield in my 1928 Stevens paper, I don't have anything dated 1929, but in their 1930 Wholesale Price list they have all kinds of Springfield models but no Riverside, and that continues thru the 1930s and into the early 1940s.

I do have a 1929 Stoeger catalogue and page 19 is Riverside and Springfield Shotguns. The two Springfields are the No. 94 single barrel and the No. 311 double barrel hammerless. By the 1932 Stoeger there is a page of Springfield and Davis Shotguns.

Dave

Researcher, thanks. This particular .410 is different from the later Model 94; a much trimmer action with no half-cock. Not sure if the "No.94" in your Stoeger catalog is like mine or the later gun (which was made for many decades in many guages). The later model 94 Stevens (Springfield, whatever) is more comparable to the Win 37 than mine, which is more like a Win 20, if you get the comparison.

I used to ranch sit for a friend of mine in Shasta County, northern CA, who was plagued with jackrabbits at night eating his garden, alfalfa, bark on fruit trees, ect. He had an "Eastern Arms" .410 identical to my "1929 Springfield" except that it had the "magnum" chamber (and no finish, front sight, or buttplate). I made lots of coyotes happy with that gun....before a Mexican hand taught me how to cook jackrabbit. Sometimes I used my Win 37 .410, also an "awesome" magnum. (There, I said it--Awesome .410).

Mike;
I have a small stash of old parts guns. Among them is a Stevens .410 single, sans wood & don't recall what else. It is not marked Model 94 & vaguely I seem to recall that 1929 marking, but could be wrong. When I get a chance will try & dig it out & see, but I do seem to think it said "Stevens".

In my 1930 Stevens Springfield illustrated wholesale price list they have the No. 94 which has a Walnut finish stock, is available in 12-, 16-, 20- and .410-gauges, and is said to weigh about 6 pounds. Then there is a small frame lightweight 4 1/2 pound version just in .410-gauge called the No. 948.

The No. 95 has a Walnut stock, is available in 12-, 16-, 20-, 24-, 28-, and .410-gauges, and has a weight of about 6 pounds. There is also a small frame light weight 4 1/2 pound version in 32- and .410-gauges called the No. 958.

The final Springfield single for 1930 is the No. 96 which is essentially a No. 95 in 12-, 16- or 20-gauge with a Jostam Anti-Flinch recoil pad.

For 1931 the offerings were the same with the addition of a No. 94R in 12-, 16-, or 20-gauges with the Jostam Anti-Flinch recoil pad. By 1933 the No. 95, 958 and 96 are gone and the No. 948 is renumbered No. 944. I don't have anything for 1934, 5 or 6, but by 1937 the .410-gauges are chambered 3-inch and Springfield single barrels are just the No. 94 and No. 944, and the same for 1938. In 1940 you could also get a No. 94P in 12-, 16- or 20-gauge with an Aero-Dyne Poly-Choke. Only the No. 94 and 94P in 1941, the No. 944 is gone.

After WW-II there was a Stevens Model 94 (with Tentite stock in 1948) that had an action that looked totally different then these pre-War guns.

Researcher, my "Springfield 1929" definitely has the "walnut finished" (birch? gum?) stock. I suspect that it may be the Springfield-branded 948-- I'll weigh it when I weigh in tonight (at least THAT part of the process won't be depressing).

I bet the post-war Model 94 is the one that was made until fairly recently--different reciever shape altogether. And declining finish until it died of a skin disease.....or something (311 had the same symptoms).

Discussions of single shot shotguns aren't what this site is for, but I must confess a great fascination with the guns that once provided such security and so much fun to the poorest of us, not to mention so much protein.