Unless someone has removed it in the last 45 years or so, there is an old J Stevens 12ga model 325 floating around out there with a penny in the butt stock. In the summer of 1954 at age 16 I had bought this gun, my very first double. Just about time for school to start I was diagnosed with hepatitus. I was placed upon very strict instructions to avoid anything strenous. We were still raising Burly on the farm then & cutting time was coming up. Nothing was mechanized about this operation then, the stalks were cut, speared onto a stick stuck in the ground & after a few days curing were then hauled to the tobacco barn & hung on racks. Dad hired a neighobor boy who was a few years older than me to take my place, & one day he borrowed my Stevens to go shoot a mess of squirrel. Apparently he thoughrt it "Kicked" (I didn't) because when he came back he told me you could take the buttplate off & drop a penny down the hole & it wouldn't kick as hard. I thought this over & in my own mind thought, that is nothing but pure "HogWash". However when I again became able to roam these TN hills with the old Stevens I used it as was for a while then one day pulled the plate & dropped that penny in. I of course could detect absolutely no difference as I was sure would be the case. I didn't deem it worth a penny though to pull the butt plate a second time so somewhere out there it probably still remains. "IF" I could find this gun, after purchasing it for a reasonable price, if that penny was still there I would add one of those Obama $1.00 folding promisary notes for it.
