doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com help date a Stevens .410?

I wondered if anyone here familiar with the "more modest" brands might know the aprox date of manufacture of a little Stevens-made .410 I came across.

It's a SxS double marked "Eastern Arms Company 107.7" on the left side of the receiver, no serial number, with three bold stamped symbols capitals K and Y with serifs, and a circled capital letter A, sans serif.

They are on the left side of the water table, the forend locking lug on the barrel bottom, the forend iron and wood, and the right barrel tube.

There is also a capital J sans serif less boldly stamped on the right barrel bottom.

I know this is a Stevens product. Any idea of date or era of manufacture?

107.7 seems a typical Sears catalog number.
You can probably look at the Stevens catalogs for model changes to get exact date of mfg.

https://www.savageshooters.com/content.php?263-Savage-110-Firearm-Dating

Does it have "5100" stamped on the right side of the receiver?

https://www.gunauction.com/buy/16951455

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/savstevspgfld/shotguns-sav/5100

https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=422784

Mike,
If there is no serial no., it has to predate 1968.
Mike

A couple of pictures would make this a lot easier for us to answer.

Is the rear pin through the receiver higher --



or lower --



than the front pin?

The J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. introduced the upper, G.S. Lewis designed gun about 1914 in their lower priced line as the Riverside Arms Co. No. 315, in 12-and 16-gauges. This gn has coil-spring driven strikers. After The Great War, J. Stevens Arms Co. continued to make the Riverside No. 315. About 1923, they introduced a slightly fancier version and called it the Stevens No. 330 and added 20-gauge to the offerings. They added a .410 bore No. 315 and No. 330 in 1925. By 1928/9 J. Stevens Arms Co. transitioned their lower priced line from being Riverside Arms Co. to being Springfield Arms Co. and introduced a lower priced version with a plain "walnut finished" stock and forearm called the No. 311.

In 1936, J. Stevens Arms Co. introduced a new action, lower picture, with internal hammers rotating about an axle. Early on it was marked 5000 when it had the two-piece top-lever and spindle of the G.S. Lewis action. When they went to a one-piece top-lever and spindle it was marked 5100. With the new action the Stevens No. 330 became the No. 530, while the Springfield No. 315 became the No. 515. They continued the No. 311 on the G.S. Lewis action to WW-II. They also made both of these actions under numerous "trade brands."

Beginning in 1949, they began putting a date code on the guns. A small oval on the bottom of the receiver with a number and a letter.



The letters began with A in 1949, so this F is 1954.

Very likely no one left alive knows what all those marks on the barrel flats and watertables mean.

This gun has the lower pin and no date code; it is marked "Eastern Arms Company" and 5100. Not mine but a "family gun" for sale on www.calguns.com. In the C&R section.