The history of the 311 is a long and winding road in the history of J. Stevens. Shortly before WW-I the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. introduced a hammerless double in 12- and 16-gauge in their lower priced Riverside Arms Co. line built on the G.S. Lewis Patent No. 1,136,247 style action using coil spring driven strikers rather than internal hammers rotating about an axle. They called it the Riverside No. 315. After The Great War, J. Stevens Arms Co. continued the Riverside No. 315 and by 1923 they added a slightly fancier version called the J. Stevens No. 330. Adding 20-gauge in 1923 and the .410-bore version by 1925. In 1928, J. Stevens Arms Co. changed the name of their low priced line to Springfield Arms Co. In 1929, just in time for the Great Depression, they added a lower priced version of the No. 315 and called it the Springfield No. 311. While the Stevens No. 330 had a capped full pistol grip checkered walnut stock, the Springfield No. 315 had a checkered half-pistol grip walnut stock, and the new No. 311 had a plain walnut finished hardwood stock. In 1936, J. Stevens began phasing in a new style action with hammers that rotated abut an axle. Early ones marked 5000 and later 5100. The J. Stevens No. 330 became the No. 530 with the new action and the Springfield No. 315 became the No. 515. The Springfield No. 311 continued being made on the G.S. Lewis action up to WW-II. Throughout the years numerous "trade branded" versions of the G.S. Lewis action gun were also made. In 1940, J. Stevens Arms Co. introduced a version of their No. 530 with stock and forearm made from a plastic material they called Tenite and called it the No. 530-M. After WW-II Savage Arms Corp. consolidated their arms making operations at their J. Stevens factories at Chicopee Falls, Mass. while the factory at Utica went to making items for the post-war housing boom.
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In the 1947 Savage/Stevens/Fox/Springfield catalog the hammerless double with the Tenite stock and forearm that was the J. Stevens No. 530-M up through 1946, was called the Springfield No. 311. By the 1948 catalog it was the Stevens Model 311. By the 1951 catalog the Tenite stock was gone and the Stevens Model 311 got the plain walnut finished hardwood stock and became the gun most folks know.