Stevens Shot question

[Coyote Hunter]

I saw an older (maybe 30's, 40's or 50's) Stevens SxS 12 guage in very good shape in a pawn shop today for $229.00. Is this a good price?

This is the same pawn shop I bought an old paragon hammerless SxS for $169.00 because the stock had a crack in it and would only sell it as a wall hanger. I fixed the stock and have been shooting it in my reenacting as well as live fire (has an 18 1/2" barrel).

Rhanks for any advice. 

CH

[Sgt. Jake]

  A couple of years ago I paid 200.00 for a Stevens 235 ,that was very good condition,if in good condition,sounds like its in the ball park.              Adios  Sgt.Jake

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Over the years, Stevens made many different model SXS shotguns. The most common today is the Model 311, and its variants. I have two of them. The 311 was a simple, tough design. They have two drawbacks. The hammer cocking springs tend to make them want to close partway when you open it up to load or reload. There are solutions available to this, but they do have that tendancy. One thing to bear in mind with a 311 is the longer the barrels, the less tendancy it has to close, so don't cut the barrels down.

The other thing is the locking mechanism has a large lug between the barrels. This can sometimes get in the way if one is trying to reload very quickly. Here is a photo of the locking lug:



Other than that, the Stevens 311 is fine, my 16 guage was the first gun I ever used in CAS.

Stevens made many other models before the 311. My current CAS shotgun is a lovely little Model 250 hammer gun. Before I had the hammer gun I was shooting an old Model 355. They both also have the lug between the barrels, but I don't shoot fast enough that it bothers me. Here is a photo of the two of them:



I am a big fan of Stevens SXS shotguns.

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[Capt. Augustus]

Here's my misadventures with an old Stevens 311.  I had gotten rid of all my shotguns after my shoulder relacement, believing that I would never fire a shotgun again.  Well, a pard showed me a 12 gauge load without recoil.  So I went shopping for a cheap used shotgun.  I found a 311 and it looked good.  It locked up solid and seemed ok.  I must have been deafened, because the seller mentioned something about having a gunsmith work on the left lock to get it to cock.  I paid the money and began to use it.  I even developed a BP load without recoil.

But it was slow reloading.  It wanted to close up while I was jamming shells in it.  Every now and then the left side didn't cock, but I would take the stock off and it would work fine, even after being put together.  So I went to Mauradure's page and looked at the cures for the shutting action.  Even Driftwood had a fix there, I tried it, but it didn't quite work, so I decided to change the hammer springs.  It took 15 minutes to disassemble the action, and about 11 hours to get it back together.  They definitely had some kind of jig at the factory.  Everything seemed good to go, then in the next two day match, it doubled on me.  Not good with the steel shoulder, light load or not.  I took the stock off and decided the left sear should be replaced.  Well, there are thousands of right sears available, but not one left sear.  I finally gave up in disgust and parted out the 311 for $150 towards a new Stoeger.  Promising myself that I would never buy a used gun again.

I remained true to my promise untik December, now I'm trying to get an old Rossi 92 functioning.  Who knows, there might be a parts sale soon.

[Coyote Hunter]

thanks for the replies ya'll 

I think I'll get it. I don't CAS, used to SASS but now mostly use my "cowboy" guns for living history and shoot out reenactemnts with our group. It looks like it would be good to use there and to hunt with. I gave my 12 guage auto to my nephew so he could take a hunting and shooting class. It was his grandfather's at one time also. I've been using a .410 and .16 guage lately. I have a paragon SxS that has an 18 1/2" barrel (cut down) that is use for reenacting only. And yes, it is hard to open with the barrels cut off!

Once again, thanks.

CH