doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Information on Stevens 311

Hello, I am just back from our local gunshop with a Stevens 311 12 ga with a Tenite stock. Plastic stocked guns are really not my thing, but it was in beautiful 90%+ condition and the price was only $110. Can anyone give me some history on these? I run across quite a few Stevens doubles, but haven't seen too many with plastic stocks in my area.

See if he will take $100.00.

I'd have bought it if I'd run across it for that price and in that condition...Geo

For some reason the Stevens-Savage guns with Tenite stocks seem to have acollectors value that I never understood. I remeber that they sure had more recoil than a walnut stocked one.

I've got one in 16ga and like it a lot. Stock dimensions are high on these guns making them easy to shoot. They do recoil a bit and seem to put that big trigger guard into my middle finger rather hard. Seems like a deal for that price. JW

Tentite -- Tentite first appears in the 1940 Stevens/Springfield/Crescent-Davis illustrated price list on the Stevens No. 530M double. The No. 530 with a walnut stock had a dealer's price of $19.30 and a suggested retail price of $24.00. The No. 530M had a dealer's price of $18.20 and a suggested retail price of $22.75. For $3.25 extra either could be had with a non-selective single trigger. Offerings were the same for 1941 with prices up about $2 across the board.

Post WW-II the Tentite offerings expanded to include the Model 94 hammer single barrel, the now Stevens Model 311 double barrel and the Model 22-410 over & under. Also for 1948 the new Stevens Model 124 Cross Bolt Repeating 12-gauge Shotgun was introduced with the Tentite stock. Offerings were the same for Tentite stocked guns in 1949. By 1951 the only such stock still offered was on the Model 124 and the name Tentite wasn't mentioned, just "durable service-proven molded plastic." By the 1952 catalogue everything is walnut or walnut finished hardwood.

Of interest in these period catalogues they show a fabulous presentation Model 99. The 1948 catalogue says it was presented to "His Imperial Highness Shahpur Mohommedreza Pahlavi of IRAQ by the late President Franklin D. Rossevelt." The 1949 and later catalogues correct this to IRAN.

My first shotgun was a tenite 311 double 410. New in 1949.

A friend has a 311 that was purchased new by Grandpa, sometime in the late thirties. It is a 16 gauge, wood stocked gun. Grandpa, father, and now son have all used the gun, hard, and while it shows this use, it has never broken or failed to fire.
Gun actually has a walnut stock. Sometimes, old guns such as these call into question the term "best". One family got a ton of value out of their Grandfather's money, that much is certain.
Best,
Ted

Tenite is registered trademark of the Eastman Chemical company of Kingsport, Tenn. :



As has been stated, there is a growing collector interest in these stocks. I have seen some of the .22rf guns in 90%+ condition go for $500 or more.

Pete

I guess I was way off, If I understand correctly the 311 that I purchased was made prior to 1952? I put the gun in my safe and it looks interesting among the Ithaca's, Parkers, and LC Smiths, but it is still an interesting gun. I might shoot it, but I'm wondering about the durability of the plastic stock.