doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stevens Model 235 Hammer Gun?

I just bought a J Stevens Arms Co 12ga hammer gun for a Wallhanger.
After looking it over it is on face, bores are nice with very minimal pitting, functions fine. Maybe I can shoot the darn thing. Chambers measure 2 3/4. What was it designed to shoot?
Blackpowder or Smokeless?
Thank you.

All the "J Stevens Arms & Tool" guns are pre WWI. During the war the company was taken over by Westinghouse for war production, then after the war it was bought by Savage. The guns were designed for black powder, and the early smokeless powders. (before the changes in smokeless powder during the 1920s) If in shootable mechanical condition, they fall into the category of "Vintage Shooters", with low pressure rounds similar to what they were originally designed for being appropriate. They basically fall into the same category as pattern-welded barrels, even if your barrels are fluid or decarbonized steel. Winchester AA Low-Noise, Low-Recoil shells, or the Polywad and RST low-pressure types would be appropriate..

Inspect the top of the stock head very carefully, as many of those types seem to develop cracks in the top, eventually leading to pieces of the stock, from the top of the action to along the tang to break off..(mine has that issue)..

1902 Logan-Gregg Hdw. catalog with J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. 350 with "Special Steel" and 360 with Twist. Note the Stevens Demi-bloc breech. 250 Hammer gun listings had the same "Choke Bored For Nitro Powder"



Courtesy of Researcher; a catalog page for the 250 with "High Pressure Steel" barrels with same "for nitro powder".

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=348248

Of course (sorry) no one on the internet can determine if THIS gun is safe, with ANY load.

The J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. No. 225, 250, 260, and 270 were the hammer doubles with the mono-bloc barrels --



In the 1910 or so time frame the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. changed their method of barrel construction to what they called Demi-Bloc, otherwise known as chopper lump --



The No. 235 was the box-frame entry-level gun of the Demi-Bloc guns --



While the higher grades were sidelocks --





All of these J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. top-lever doubles, from the No. 250 as shown in the circa 1900 catalog No. 50 onward for made for nitro powders --

Thanks all for the info.
So I should be able to shoot my 1155 fps 5600 psi 1 oz shot smokeless reloads in this gun?
The stock head is cracked and I am repairing that.
It is stamped
J Stevens Arms Company
Chicopee Falls, Mass. U.S.A.

I have one of the 235's and take it duck hunting occasionally. Heavy and a lot of drop in the stock but I shoot it pretty well . I got a great double on drake pintails one day, great memory. It is the one gun that I keep in the house for trouble as it is simple and reliable and easy for my wife to operate, no safety or gimmicky way to load everything else is in the safe.

You might consider glass bedding the action. That load may be fine, but the real experts here will probably want to know the shot charge weight, as the more shot, the more felt recoil. (easier on the wood) I shoot 6500psi, 1oz., 1000fps loads through all my Vintage guns.. DocDrew on the LC site (FAQs) also lists the AA Xtra-Lite target loads as appropriate for Vintage LC's, they're 8,000 psi, 1oz. loads. You can often find them in 7 1/2s.....

Regards
Ken

The No. 235 was the only Stevens hammer double to continue in production through the New England Westinghouse years of The Great War and on into the Savage Arms Corp. ownership. The No. 235 last appears in J. Stevens Arms Co. Catalogue No. 57, 1929 --



The No. 235 is still listed on the January 2, 1931, Retail Price List, but isn't shown in the January 2, 1930 and January 15, 1931 Wholesale Price Lists?!?

Researcher,

Do you happen to know the serial number range for the post J. Stevens guns? That's a nice little tidbit of info. Do you happen to know how they were marked? There must have been a decent demand for the gun.

Regards
Ken

I have no idea on serial numbers and neither does the Savage Historian. All lost to the sands of time.

While it wasn't a "Stevens", J. Stevens Arms Co. also continued to produce their lower priced Riverside Arms Co. No. 215 hammer double designed by G.S. Lewis, and continued to build them for a bit after the change over to Springfield Arms Co. as the name on the lower priced line which occurred circa 1928.