Quote:
Originally Posted by charlie cleveland
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
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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.