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Savage Model 520, 1st version. I have one (2nd version/flat top) in 16ga.

The choke in mine is modified and I shoot steel in it/no damage so far..Geo

Hello George!

Actually, it's a J. Steven's Arms & Tool Company gun (who also made by them for both Sears and Montgomery Ward's). John M. Browning sold them the design (for the very first hammerless repeater) and the rights for production in 1903, with the first guns being made in early 1904. Savage bought Stevens out of bankruptcy in 1920, but continued to pay the (I believe) annual royalty to Browning's estate in order to continue production. The suspicious fire in Steven's plant in 1919 (arguably, in response to an Inspector's General audit of a WWI production contract) and the subsequent bankruptcy and then purchase by Savage (who also seems to have lost or destroyed any further records of production) has made any understanding of the history of these guns almost impossible to document. By doping out annual sales brochures and examining existing guns (for sale at gun shows or on-line) a few observations can be made about production. The double humpback 520s were made from 1904 thru about 1930, when official production ceased. Parts on-hand continued to be made into guns until about 1932. They had been arguably replaced in 1927 anyway, by the introduction of the more-modern looking Model 620 (w/a more streamlined receiver, much like the Remington Model 10 and the Winchester Model 12). Your gun is the single-hump version, which if anything, is even harder to figure out. Known as the Model 520-30 (or 520a), production appears to have begun in 1930 (thus the 520-30 moniker). Production seems to have continued alongside the 620s for only a few years (up to about 1936-38) when Stevens/Savage eliminated it to focus on the Model 620 only. At the lead-in to the Second World War (1940-41), the War Department (now DoD) approached Savage to have them supply firearms for the coming conflict . Since the tooling and a parts stockpile already existed at Chicopee Falls, production was resumed until just after the War (1946-47).

Here's another early Browning design not made in Belgium and it shot FMJ. JMB "hisself":

Thanks for the history Lloyd; I did not know all of that. After I bought my 520 pump-gun, I found another front end for it in 26" IC choke. The 26 incher has a patterned barrel top, but unfortunately does not fit very well and is difficult to pump. I'll get around to having a gun-smith free it up at some point.




The take-down procedure on these guns is unique in my experience...Geo
P.S.: Sorry for getting off topic

You are most welcome, Mr. Newbern! The safety location on these guns can be used to date them as well. In 1929, the safeties were moved behind the trigger guard from inside the trigger guard (i.e. the infamous "suicide" safety). This was for both the Model 520s and the newer 620s. Your gun, with it's top-strap safety, is unique to the Model 520-30 and it's store-branded clones.

Dangerously off-topic now. The Model 520s were made in two frame sizes (much like the Model 12 and the Remington Model 31s). The Model 620s appear to have only one frame size (12-gauge!). Sadly, unlike the Model 12s and 31s, only the 20s were built on the smaller frame (all 16s were built on 12-frames, even in the 520-30s?).



Weight differences between the gauges were accordingly, significant. The 20s weigh-in at under 6 1/2 pounds.

Early A-5's also had the "suicide safety", and the immediate post-WWII guns had it in front of the trigger guard.

The point I'm making with A-5's, however (as well as Double Autos) is that even some single barrel guns shouldn't be used with steel. True, there's far less risk with current steel than with the early stuff. But if you have a "collectible" gun on which you don't wish to ring bulge the barrel, it's best to avoid steel. The Miroku-made barrels will interchange, and that's a solution in the case of A-5's.

Oh man Lloyd, ole' Marlin with short barrel in 20ga is dreamy gun. These gems can be had for less than old Ithaca 37, sadly few seem to populate used gun racks.

If one wants humpback barrel recoiler with steel receiver Yamato or Yamamoto branded one is great choice (some were branded Herter's though those do not have magazine cutoff switch). One in very good shape can be had for <$400.

Jager: Are you talking about the Marlin Model 31s (31-20s and 31-16s)? I see them every once in a while. And....while they are fairly light, most don't look safe to me (they weren't very substantial to begin with). Pretty much anything Browning had a hand in is quite solid. Not sure who did the Marlin designs.

Also, 1929 seems to be a watershed year for elimination of the inside-the-trigger safeties. The 520/620s, the Auto-5s, even the Model 10 abandoned them for the behind-the-trigger-guard option (that's when the Model 10 became the Model 29). On first examination, they don't seem very safe, but as a southpaw I can tell you that they work quite well for me. They make a gun far-more ambidextrous. No-where near as positive as a British rocker-type safety (and of-course, no wonderful interceptors), but adequate for someone who is already safety-conscious.

Mr. Brown: I think ring-bulging with steel is by-in-far the greatest risk. I fear that far-more than swaging out a choke. I watch the tubes on this 10 very closely...