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Old August 23, 2012, 11:08 PM   #1
dstryr
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Stevens Springfield SxS 12ga

32 years ago after my grandfather passed, my grandmother gave me a shotgun that belonged to him and I could use some help dating it.


It is a hammerless 12gauge side by side.

Frame Left side:
SPRINGFIELD
MANUFACTURED BY
J.STEVENS ARMS COMPANY
CHICOPEE FALLS, MASS USA

Right side, nothing, no model # stamped anywhere that I can find.

There are set screws above the firing pins which I have not seen in pics or drawings.


On the top of the fore end, it is stamped in the wood and steel both with the number 1669. The same number is also on the top left flat of the frame hidden under the barrel when the breach is closed. The 1669 on the frame has an 'F' after it, but separated by 3/16"-1/4".

The barrel is 30" long with 2-3/4" chambers, is stamped 1669 and has a small, maybe 3/32 circle with *Y inside, cannot tell what the * character is. Last, a B on the bottom of the block that retains the fore end. The barrel has a center bead. It is stamped on top with SELECTED FORGED STEEL on the right side and PROOF TESTED 12 GAUGE on the left.

In front of the trigger guard is a small circle with the number 23 inside it. No mistaking it for numbers, but lots of what I have read says a date code would be a letter/number combination. Also, Springfield was dropped after 1948.

The stock has checkering and red recoil pad.

What can you guys tell me about this as far as age and model #?

Thanks!
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Last edited by dstryr; August 27, 2012 at 10:17 AM.
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Old August 26, 2012, 02:24 PM   #2
PetahW
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The circled Savage Letter datre Codes were used from 1949 (A) to 1970 (X); but the Springfield name is still being used today on some store-branded guns by Savage (My then-new wife bought me an also-new Springfield .22 for our 1st Christmas in 1965); and since your gun has a SN on the watertable, it was made after the Gun Control Act of 1968 required it be placed on ALL firearms - something inconsistant prior to then.

There are NO public production records available from Savage - but ther IS a Savage Historian who may be able to find the production record for your serial-nembered gun (for a fee).

J. Stevens Arms Company Historian
Mr. John Callahan
P.O. Box 82
Southampton, MA 01073



.
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Old August 26, 2012, 07:23 PM   #3
dstryr
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http://s545.photobucket.com/albums/h...stryr/Stevens/

Petah,
Thanks for the reply. I believe it is older than 1968; my grandfather emigrated from Austria in 1952 with my grandmother, mother and my mother's 2 sisters. He acquired this after their arrival when they worked for a sponsor farm family in around 1952 or 1953. This is what my grandmother told us in around 1980 when she gave me the gun. My mother remembers him pheasant hunting with it on the farm. Again, that would have been for only 2-3 years before they moved. After they left the farm I believe it was pretty much stored in an old blanket under the couch cushions. I remember it being moved whenever we pulled the hide-a-bed out at a fairly young age.

I took some pics and see that I didn't mention an '&' on the water table. The small circle with the 'Y' in it is on the underside of the barrel, on the opposite side of the 1669. Y was not used in date coding and from what I have read the date code is in front of the trigger guard. The circled '23' is in front of the guard. Do you feel the 1669 is a serial number?

The gun is in virtually identical condition to when I got it.

Anyway, maybe the pics will help ID this.

Thanks again,
Frank
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Old August 27, 2012, 05:02 AM   #4
Hawg
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Quote:
the Springfield name is still being used today on some store-branded guns by Savage
Not shotguns tho.
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Old August 27, 2012, 01:54 PM   #5
johnbt
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"I believe it is older than 1968"

The Stevens shotguns I've seen were serial numbered up until WWII. After WWII they didn't, until required to by the GCA of '68. One expert on shotgunworld says they were all serial numbered prior to WWII.

Starting in '48 iirc, they used the 'number & letter in a circle' code. Well, the code was the letter, but there has to be number in the circle too.

Savage/Stevens/Springfield made a variety of guns and models in the years around WWII and seemed to combine parts at random some years.

After looking at the pics, it looks like an old Stevens shotgun. I used to feel inadequate when trying to figure out which was which, but not anymore because they should have marked the model clearly. Everybody gets confused by them. For instance, the ones like yours but marked 5100 on the side of the receiver are supposedly a Model 515 - the 5100 refers to the model number of the receiver design, etc.

John

P.S. - My uncle has my grandfather's Stevens SxS hammer gun from the early '20s and I still don't know what model it is. It's worn smooth with use and one of the hammers was welded together after it broke in half and I don't mean it was welded by a talented gun smith. My grandfather grew apples commercially his whole life and probably did it himself along with the other repairs.
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Old August 27, 2012, 04:08 PM   #6
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Does 1669 look like a serial number?
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Old August 27, 2012, 08:31 PM   #7
PetahW
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1669, stamped into the watertable & sundry other parts, is the SN.

The curved rear face of the receiver/action would most likely make your gun a pre-WWII Model 530 or other 500-series from that time - AFAIK, later guns all had straight/squared receiver rear ends.

johnbt - The Stevens hammergun is most likely a No.235. (Numrich Arms might have a hammer)

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