Of course, my Stevens is a project gun. It's been burnished and it needs some kind of finish on the receiver, magazine and barrel. Do any of you gun mechanics out there have a suggestion how I should color the metal? I'd like to brown it. Can I do that? Is there a cold browning solution?

If I have it reblued by a gunsmith it'll cost way more than the gun is worth and it'll come out glossy and very black. This gun doesn't want to be glossy. I've never tried to cold blue an entire gun. If you try don't they come out mottled and dull?

A thin skyblue, re-blue would look nice, kind of like the original Colt SAA cylinder/barrel blue, but can that be done by the average gunsmith....or me? That light blue kind of lets the steel color show through and I think that would look nice on this gun.

If some of the burnishing flaws and a bit of pitting here and there, show through the finish that's okay with me. I don't want to take it down anymore. It looks to me that the old finish was taken off with some kind of acid and then buffed. Lettering still looks pretty sharp though.

Fifty years ago an old gun dealor, Dave Cunningham; an icon on the West Coast in the gun biz, told me that to brown a gun all you have to do is to paint it with vinegar and leave it outside. Seems a little Redneck to me....but my neck is a little pink.

Thank you for the picture.

I like the way the safety works on this shotgun. It is a lever right in front of your finger when it is on the trigger. It moves forward and aft. It is not automatic. So you have to put it ON. If it is ON and you want to switch it off you push it forward with your trigger finger, so there is no searching for the safety, which some of us have to do when we shoot lots of different shotguns, like I do.

Yeah, I know; if you want to really get good you should always shoot the same gun...and that is correct, but I just like shooting guns of all kinds and I've got a slew of them, so I shoot one gun this week and another the next.

My Dad had a Mod.11 with a safety like that and, when I was young, he would come home from bird hunting with the back of his trigger finger all scratched and bloody from releasing it.

I was wondering if my finger will be hit by that safety lever, but since I have yet to shoot the gun I don't know yet. I can see how it might happen.

steve i have shot mine at doves and it is a very good swinging and shooting gun...it is smooth in cycling the shells..not as smooth as a model 12 but close...your rite on the price and this is a bargain really...i like the old stevens guns i have several.... charlie

I'd love to shoot dove again. Last time I shot them was five years ago in Mexico and I had a ball. I'm not going to Mexico again soon and probably not in my lifetime.

I can see how this old Stevens would swing well. It is heavy. What I can tell about the action is that it jerks back, stops with a bump and then you jam it forward in two distinct actions instead of one smooth movement. Seems okay, though.

The gun has about 3/8 inch cast off, so my eye lines right up with the solid rib/bead. I can see where the comb has been raised as there is a gap at the bottom of the wrist where it meets the receiver. LOP is 14" which is perfect for me. So the guns fits. I'll shoot it at trap next week. A cheap gun at that club is a $10,000 piece. Some much more expensive than that. Engraving with a lot of gold, etc...nice guns for sure, beautiful wood, etc. I'll break out my $150 Silver Special, which is the name I've hung on the old Monkey Wards gun! LOL. I'll break 22 or 23, which seems to be my average.

There are lots of pins and screws that have to be removed to take the gun down. Some guns fall apart with a magic flip of a bit. Not this beast, but it goes back together easier, IMO than a model 12.The bits kind of drop right in. The parts are complex looking pieces which holes and nubs and nothing is square. They fit easily together like a puzzle. Then you screw them down from the outside. This gun must have cost a mint to make. It seems overly complex. Browning was intrigued by parts that fit and did complex things. Many of his guns are overly complicated, the Superposed is famous for it. While never a famous gun, this Stevens (Mossberg?) has a myriad of parts too, but apparently they aren't prone to breakage. The gun is known for being reliable.

Anyway, guys if you happen to wander across one of these in the junk barrel at a gun show, it will be cheap and they are interesting guns, of you like weird pumps. Parts are available from Numrich.

Of course, the Crack Shot was a classic. About 20 years ago some guy went into the biz of making new ones. They were very fancy guns. Little .22's and as I recall they cost $600. He sent me a brochure. I thought them very expensive for a little falling block Crack Shot, even if it did look like Michelanglo engraved it.

Steve,

We've got the same taste in pumps apparently. I've got an early one of these marked J. Stevens Arms & Tool that's straight grip with a 32 inch solid rib barrel. I keep threatening to take it duck hunting but it's been so many years since I shot a pump out hunting I'm sure I'd forget to shuck it. I've shot it quite a bit at trap though, it's a clay buster for certain.

I've shot quite a few Model 11 and A5 autos with that kind of safety and never had any trouble with it banging my finger.

I've been on the hunt for a 20 gauge for a long time, had a couple chances at Sears ones but I want one marked Stevens for some reason. The 20 gauges were the first 3 inch chamber gun in that gauge produced as a model all it's own. I've seen a catalog listing for them and they even came in 32 inch!


Destry

Guy Ward was a Stevens rep and did pretty well at the traps with a 525
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL6004019.pdf
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL5925025.pdf
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL6006019.pdf

From the 1912 J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. shotgun catalogue --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../No5201912.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...rGrade1912.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../No5351912.jpg

In the 1927 J. Stevens Arms Co. catalogue they introduced the streamlined No. 620, and moved the old hump-backed no. 520 to their lower priced Riverside Arms Co. line --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...alogueNo57.jpg