Springfield Picture

[Kyle Kowalski]

This one belongs to my father. Not sure when he got it but he said it was old at that time. I find it hard to believe that a lot of these old guns are NOT very valuable. What gives?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Kyle,

I've got one that looks real similar to yours that belonged to my father. He's still living but passed the gun along to me several years ago.

They were made in the thousands, didn't cost much even when brand new, and today they're just old guns. It's knowing it belonged to your Dad , that he hunted with it, shot game with it, that makes them worth something to the sons like us.


Destry

[Jay Gardner]

I have a similar gun, a 20 ga single-shot. My father purchased it from the hardware store in Owensville, Indiana in the late 1920's. With it he killed hundreds of rabbits and squirrels many of which helped feed family and neighbors during the depression. It went back in it's cardboard box when he enlisted in 1938 and stayed there until he returned home in 1945. I doubt it saw much use until he started taking me hunting in the late 60's. To my knowledge it was the only gun he owned.

The gun still has about 20% of the original case color and I have the original box it came in. Springfield probably made tens of thousands of them between the wars and like Destry said, they are worth something "to sons like us." No doubt, Parkers will come and go from my safe but my dad's gun will be the last gun I part with. It was good enough for him and it ought to be good enough for me, but no I have to keep buying these damned Parkers.


JDG

[Dave Suponski]

You guy's hit the nail on the head.I have an old Union Arms 12 gauge double hanging on the wall in the living room and I bet the stories that gun could tell would be every bit as good as the one's my Parker's could tell!

[Russ Jackson]

Kyle; These guys are right on target, I now own the old Model 37 Winchester single barrel 12 Gauge that belonged to my Grandfather ,who passed away when I was eleven years old ,I never got to hunt a day with him ,but I remember vividly walking to his farm pond holding his big old farmer hand , on our blue gill fishing trips when I was very young ,and I shot my first Grouse with that old Model 37 Winchester, the old gun couldn't be worth more than a hundred bucks ,but I wouldn't trade it for my , D Grade 28 Gauge ,on a bet !

[Kent Nickerson]

The first shotgun I ever shot was my grandfathers Ranger 410 side by side...twin ivory (?) ahem (white) bead double...it was and is plain and has the commonest stock wood any man ever saw...

I shoot quail with that little 410 today and I never killed a bird that I liked more than the first one and every other one that I have shot with my grandad's gun...

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I took Dad's old Stevens 311 to Arizona for quail this past winter. I think he got as much of a kick out of knowing that as I did about actually making the trip. Sometimes it just ain't the money a guns worth, cause you couldn't buy that one for a million.

DLH

[Dave Noreen]

Apr. 20, 1915, refers to the patent date of Patent No. 1,136,247 granted to G.S. Lewis and assigned to the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. of Chicopee Falls, Mass. This patent covers a hammerless double with coil-spring driven strikers, rather than internal hammers rotating about an axle. From the time of the patent until WW-II this action was used on a number of different Stevens, Riverside and Springfield doubles as well as many marked with a variety of "trade names." The gun of this design was introduced in 12- and 16-gauge as the Riverside No. 315 in the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. Catalogue No. 54, with a list price of $16.50. The plants of the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. were taken over by, as I recall, New England Westinghouse for wartime production during WW-I. After The Great War they were sold off to Savage Arms Corp. and became J. Stevens Arms Co. J. Stevens Arms Co. continued to make this gun during the 1920s as the Riverside No. 315. By 1925 the 20-gauge and .410-bore were added to the No. 315. The same action was also introduced as the Stevens No. 330 with a capped pistol grip walnut stock, while the Riverside had a half-pistol grip walnut stock. My Mother's double marked "Ranger" was one of these. By 1930 they dropped the Riverside name and the gun was the Springfield No. 315. For 1931 they introduced the Springfield No. 311 which was a similar gun but with an uncheckered "walnut finish" stock. These guns remained in the line up to WW-II.

[Dean Romig]

And that's why they call him "Researcher".

[Francis Morin]

If you look closely at the receiver you will see the grain structure on the surface. That indicates cast steel, not drop forged steel. Cast steel receivers may hold up to black powder and lower pressure smokeless loads, but as years went by other processes came about, both in forging and in ammunition.

Our Parkers had forged steel receivers, then case hardened for resistance against surface wear. I have a stripped 12 ga. No. 2 frame size VH receiver from about 1900, still usable today for a "rebuilt"--

The late gun designer/genuis Bill Ruger developed the "lost wax" or investment casting method for ordnance steels (4130-4140 series mainly) about 20 years ago I believe. That was another big step forward.

You might want to open the gun up and check the receiver where the flat (water table) forms to the standing breech- there should be a visible radius at that point- if there isn't one, I might suggest a "wall hanger" and not a shooter.:cool:

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Ooops, the last word has come down from Morin, I'd better retire Dad's old Stevens as it's just a wall hanger. They just won't hold up to these new fangled shells!


DLH

[Francis Morin]

Destry- if you CAREFULLY' read my post, the radius is the key- not the make, model, vintage or shells. A friend has a Flues Ithaca 12- gunsmith advice was "older guns were made for lower pressure and BP loads" back then. I am glad you are still shooting the older family guns!!::corn:

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I hate to tell you, but these type guns were made in the 30's 40's and 50's, long after the black powder era.

DLH