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.

What an odd and interesting gun! Thank you for sharing it. Stevens was a very inventive maker, and some of their best guns became Savage successes...the Savage 24 was one.

Pity that their greatest success is one for which they are rarely acknowledged...they created the most successful rifle caliber in the history of the world...the 22 long rifle.

NDG

This is a gun I would buy in a heartbeat! Its over-the-top funkiness combined with its ""Gyro Gearloose" approach to mechanical engineering is marvelous. Not to mention its Chicopee Falls connection - I wonder if you could get a Savage letter on it?

I have it posted on the 24hour savage forum and no one has mentioned the possibilities of a letter.

I'm thinking very seriously about calling Mr. Hamlin to see if he will check it over for me. He is only 3.5 hours away.

Thanks for all the replies!

Rob

Rob,

I have sent for a Savage letter before, and it wasn't much help. Perhaps others have had better luck. I don't think Callahan is the person doing it anymore...retired or perhaps passed. Even when there, he tended to offer scant details. And it may be that the limitations were more due to the fact that they simply don't have detailed records.

NDG

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I talked to Buck Hamlin on the phone this morning and I will be shipping it off Monday.

Thanks for all the replies

Rob,
Very nice find! I am a huge fan of this early era in firearm development. The photos you posted reminded me instantly of a similar design utilized by the Whitney Arms Co.. Eariest examples of their "three trigger" design had no guard on the front trigger (the action opening mechanism) and is quite rare, although I have seen a couple examples. I imagine there were many instances of unintended opening as it snagged on clothing or brambles etc in the field.. The "Second" or "New" model is also pretty rare but it did incorporate a guard. Dates to approximately 1873.

The shape and style of the back of the action and hammers as they relate to the breech balls do remind me a bit of the early Wesson Arms double but it appears the Steven's design is unique. I'll try dig my Wesson out later and share photos.

I was just looking at Ed's book and wondering how, or if, the J. Stevens and the Whitney were related. It appears the J. Stevens came along a couple of years after Whitney went belly up.

Some quick shots of a Wesson Arms. This was another early design that had an impact on many other makers to come, including Charles Parker. Estimates of total production are roughly 219 units. Wesson doubles were quite pricey for their day 1867-1870, "$175 for the standard grade and $275 for the deluxe grade" (Roy Jinks- S&W Historian) , said to have been made in two grades, but in reality each are quite unique, and those I've seen, of equal build quality.
Interesting Daniel Baird Wesson patents include US#79,434 Dec 9, 1867; US#78,847 June 9, 1868 & US#114,374 May 2, 1871. These innovations ran the gambit of removable locks, to improvements of breech loading locking mechanisms and shell extraction systems. During the three years of production they utilized the Stokes lock US#84,314 Nov 24, 1868. Wesson sold the remaining parts and equipment to Charles Parker in 1870 as the business folded. I still feel the shape of the Stevens action is somewhat reminiscent. I believe Dave is correct, throughout this era there was a lot of "borrowing" of ideas.

I got good news from Mr. Hamlin yesterday. He said the barrels were in great shape. He is going to living the pattern back up while they are there.

I really like the looks of both the Whitney and the Wessons. The J. Stevens looks like a mesh between those two models.

Rob,
That's excellent news! It does appear that the Stevens shares the locking mechanism with the Whitney. The original patent date on the Whitney top rib is October 23, 1866. I dont have the # offhand but it would be interesting to sit down and see if there are additional design feature shared between those two examples. As for the Wesson, vs the Stevens, I think they may be very different animals from a mechanical perspective.

Once you get it back from Buck please give us a range report!

Oct. 23, 1866, is Patent No. 59110, granted to Eli Whitney for "certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Muzzle-Loading Double-Barrel Guns;"

Eli Whitney's next patent for double barrel shotguns was Patent No. 71349, granted Nov. 26, 1867, for a lever-action that slid the barrels forward.

Eli Whitney, C. Gerner & F. Tiesing were granted Patent No. 93149, July 27, 1869, for the bolting mechanism as used on the Whitney three-trigger gun.

Dave,
You never cease to amaze me! I'm on the job and the only patent date I could remember with certainty was the top rib, Oct 23, 1866. I'll break the gun down tonight and have a closer look for the other.

My apologies to Rob for wandering off on a tangent in his Stevens thread....

I had a few minutes last evening to take down the Whitney and inspect. The only marking beyond the rib on the gun is a three digit SN#. I pulled the patent papers on #59110 and found that it directly applies to the 3 trigger Whitney. Specifically with regard to the mating of the forward action flats to the breech face. The patent Whitney developed during the late ML era was utilized in his breechloading guns. I didnt have time to get images, but it is clear when you compare the patent drawing and description to a physical example.

There is no marking present of the later patent #93159 although it obviously contains those bolting design improvements.

Interestingly, the Whitney and the Wesson do share a commonality. The forend metal on both guns are permanently attached via hinge. Barrels are lifted off by opening the action fully, drifting the forend key allowing removal. I'm not sure of any other maker that incorporated that design element but would like to know if there are others.

I will be happy to bring the gun to the Southern, or Ernies if anyone would like a closer look.

Buck Hamlin's work.
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Love the barrel pattern! Very cool gun. You can likely get a spring for the firing pin at ace hardware, or just get some of the appropriate spring wire and wind your own, which is not rocket science by any means. Those barrels are gorgeous. Look forward to more reports of firing it. It does have a lot of DAH and looks like what fits me just fine.

Thanks, I am very pleased with his work. Mr. Hamlin put two fresh firing pin springs in for me at no charge.

That is quite the spectacular pattern!

very nice finish. Buck does great work at reasonable prices.

good luck,
John

Reminds me of the gun used in the movie Tombstone.
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Tombstone#Shotguns