doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stevens Ranger questions

Has anyone ever seen a Stevens Ranger, side by side with a single trigger? How rare are they, and what would one be worth in good to very good condition? Thanks in advance for information.

I'm sure they are quite scarce, but value would depend on whether a shooter would trust a single trigger in a $17.00 shotgun. I would prefer the double triggers on my Ranger.

Stevens offered a single trigger as an option, I've seen two guns with it on them. I don't think it would really make it super valuable as it's still a Stevens Ranger. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't take a million bucks for my Dad's Stevens 311, but they really don't have much value.

Would depend on gauge (more for anything smaller than 12, a lot more for a .410), condition of course, and which model Stevens. The Model 530, for example, I think was a step or so up from a 311. My 1940 Shooters Bible even lists it with a Jostam recoil pad as standard. Single trigger cost an extra $3.35 back then. Not sure which Stevens doubles were sold as Rangers by Sears, and for how long.

I believe the Ranger was a Montgomery Ward marketed Stevens Model 5000 or 5100.

RANGER was a Sears, Roebuck & Co. brand. This RANGER built by the J. Stevens Arms Co. on their G.S. Lewis Patent No. 1,136,247, granted April 20, 1915, action with a single trigger has been on Gunsinternational.com for a long time --



J. Stevens Arms Co. began offering a non-selective single trigger on their G.S. Lewis action guns (Stevens No. 330, Springfield No. 315 and No. 311) about 1932. J. Sevens Arms Co. began phasing in the new 5000/5100 action in 1936, when the Stevens No. 530 replaced the No. 330, and the Springfield No. 515 replaced the No. 315, and they introduced their short-lived No. 500 Skeet Gun --

When you mentioned a Single trigger on a Ranger, I first thought, well they put single triggers in the Fox Model B and that was essentially the same as a Stevens 311/5100. So I thought it must be the same mechanism.

However, the photo shown above and the advertisement shows not the Stevens 311/5100, but the Stevens 315 which is a completely different frame and mechanism all together. The 315 uses Coil spring loaded firing pins with hook type sears.

I can't say that I have ever seen one of the 315 mechanisms with a single trigger. A rare find indeed. And it is nice to see the ad to back it up. I would be curious to see the mechanism that makes it all work.

From a 1933 J. Stevens Arms Co. illustrated wholesale price list --



Right in that same Great Depression time frame that J. Stevens Arms Co. began offering a non-selective single trigger on their Stevens and Springfield doubles, Ithaca Gun Co. began offering a low priced non-selective single trigger on all their doubles, Ithaca, Lefever, and Western Arms. Also, Savage Arms Corp. that owned J. Stevens Arms Co., briefly offered a non-selective single trigger on their A.H. Fox doubles in their 1933 and 1934 catalogues and price lists. The Fox Model B was introduced in 1940 as a double trigger plain extractor gun, which did share many internal parts with the Stevens No. 530. However, the Model B wasn't offered with a non-selective single trigger until the 1955 Savage/Stevens/Fox catalogue.