doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hardware store doubles

Bravo to Hardware store doubles! The lowly Stevens have brought many of us to finer guns. I am now seeking to add to the collection the good old cheapies that we once held dear. Let us hear more about your tales of first guns. Chopperlump

My local gunshop is a treasure trove of old hardware store doubles. He has a mint N.R.Davis I've had my eye on. Also Stevens, Iver Johnson, and American Arms. Some are still servicable while others I would classify as wall hangers. He also has one called a Utica Special. I curious about that one as well.

chopperlump......if you havn't seen the 20ga. Ranger thread, check it out. Nice little gun with condition.
Cheers,

My first ever shotgun, which I personally owned was an old J Stevens Arms & Tool co gun. Finish was some worn, but gun was tight, on face & had shiney bores, no pits. It had steel bbls & in my youth, thought that meant I could shoot any standard 12ga shells in it, which I did. Even tried a box of the 1½oz Baby Mags when they came on the market. The hunting I was doing did not need these, so only bought the one box, just to try. Eventually traded it off & have regretted it ever since. Many fond memories of that old J Stevens, was either a 325 or 335, cant recall for sure now. If I knew the differences for sure might could figure it out.

My first "on my own" shotgun was beautiful A-5 Light 12 with blond (and bland) walnut. I used it for everything for about 10 years. My latest gun is a Fulton 20g. 'guess I'm going backward on my quality a bit. I still love the cheapies, especially if they're in good shape and I get to hunt them.

I started hunting and shot my first Pheasants in 1959 with my Mother's 12-gauge Ranger, which I'm sure started life in Chicopee Falls, Mass. A shirttail relative, Art Gustavson, who was a gunsmith in north Seattle had restocked the Ranger for her with a straight grip stock, a quality trigger guard, and a Jostam No-Kick recoil pad. Over the following summer I saved my lawn mowing money and went for firepower with a shiney new vent ribbed Winchester Model 50!!

My Mother being too crippled to hunt anymore the Ranger was sold. Would love to stumble onto it again!

Battle --- the Ranger thread is what started me thinking about hardware store guns! At fifteen I had a really nice Stevens 5100 marked Ranger in 16 ga. 26" barrels, twin ivory bead sights, a single non-selective trigger (never have seen one on any Stevenns since), checkered walnut stock and beavertail forend. Like a fool I sold it for what I'd paid for it: 35 bucks! Now am on the hunt for Nitro Specials and 5100 oldie Stevens (or even older, nicer ones like YOURS) in 20 ga. Already have a neat little 5100 .410 that I can't hit a thing with but it's cute in its little corner of the closet. And Chuck, I love them oldie and no longer cheapies doubles. Chopperlump

Have a C.J. Henry hammergun with about three moving parts in the lock. Must have retailed for about three dollars. I think this was a St. Paul, MN firm.

In 1961 i bought a stevens 311 for the for the outragous price of 15.00. of the 200 or more gun i have owned since this one is still in the family. I gave it to my oldest son 15 yrs ago, he still has it and uses it to hunt with even though he has others. The gun has had 2 replacement stocks and 1 new cocking rod that comes out of the bbl. lugs. the old one wore down so bad it would jump over the cocking arms in the action. Its killed a pickup truck full of rabbits. Rich

It makes me sad to see you all have discovered the wonders of the hardware store gun. Now I will have to compete for the little gems and it will drive the prices up. The stories they could tell. I have been grabbing them up for years. Just finished collecting a brace of Stevens 311's by adding the 20 gauge. Got them all now. Crescents, by any name, the weirder the better, I'll take all you want to sell me. looking to round out my Nitro collection as well. Love em all, big and small. They make me envision many years of sons and Dads in the fields of autumn.