Early J. Stevens double
 

I picked this old shotgun up yesterday. It is what some call a model 1877 three trigger. The front trigger is like the the lifter on a Parker it opens the gun. It is a 12ga and I plan to shoot it with brass hulls and black powder. Hammers work at half and full cock. The triggers work. It was off face and a little loose but it wasn't anything a brass shim wouldn't fix. One firing pin seems to have a spring and the other is just loose. The barrels have good pattern and the bores are clean which they could have been honed. I like the looks of its patina but can't help but wonder what it would look like with case colors and freshed up.
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Wyatt Earp was known to own one and Kurt Russell used one in Tombstone. it seems to be all original. I can find very little info on this model.
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i am always amazed at the inventiveness of the gunsmiths back in the early breach loader days.

nice piece of history

Please... do NOT alter the patina of this gun. It is just way too wonderful in its present condition. Have it safety checked by a professional double gunsmith and enjoy.

J. Stevens & Co. was the business from 1864 to 1886 when it became J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. In 1916 the company was acquired by New England Westinghouse for war production for The Great War and was renamed J. Stevens Arms Co. After WW-I NEW sold it to Savage Arms Corp. which continued to operate it as a separate entity until after WW-II when Savage consolidated all their arms making at Chicopee Falls and their factory at Utica, NY, went to making products for the post war housing boom.

Joe Vorisek states production of this hammer double gun began in 1876 and that it was offered in one grade with Twist barrels and four grades with Laminated barrels.

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By 1881, double guns are no longer mentioned in J. Stevens & Co. ads.

Now there's a gun with a story. If only these jewels could talk!!

I've never seen anything like that before. Very nice find indeed.

Kind of reminds one of the N.R. Davis introduced about five years earlier --

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Lot of change and innovation in the new breechloading shotguns in that first 10 to 15 years after the American Civil War. Much of it covered in Ed's book Parker Guns, Shooting Flying and the American Experience. Of course with Ed's Parker-centric point of view.

thats a neat old gun she must have 3 1/2 inches of drop in the stock....i too like old stevens guns i have a few....charlie

I loaded up a couple 12ga blanks and test fired it. Both hammers and triggers work nicely and both blanks fired. The left primer hit was a little deeper than the right.