My '53 Stevens 5100 20 Gauge...

hogdogs

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Well it turns out the 20 gauge 20" barrels are lightly troubled with some light rust patches in the bores...

The outer finish looks pretty dern good in the ol' patina aspect.

Frame seems to be the colorful process.

Overall it looks like the last shooting owner didn't own a tooth brush to set aside for de-grunging the poor ol' thing...

One repair is to "tweak" the trigger guard square... the front of the guard is pushed to the side as if a feller had his booger hook in the boom hole when he fell on his hand... I will be delicate in hopes it don't snap in 2...

As for estimate of vintage... here goes...
No Ser# was found but `I do have a TS E and the "E" is inside a circle on both the frame and mating lug.
On the little block that has a spring loaded pin on the barrel there is a larger circle with a large "S" filling the circle and a "P"in the top half of the "S" and what looks like an "I" in the bottom half...

One side of frame states "J. Stevens Arms Company Chicopee Falls, Mass. U.S.A. other says "Stevens" with a little stamp of pointed dog in grass.

Action locks up tight enuff for me.
Action lever settles a little left of center if this denotes wear.
Safety does auto reset and blocks both triggers... Releases smooth.
There is a free floating "extractor?" that just raises the shell out of the chamber a tad bit.
Couple real small chips at one firing pin hole.
I cut down a pair of shells to be only the brass with primer. Both were well deeply dimpled after test fire.

It has the tenite furniture... I will be trying to swap to wood if at all possible as soon as possible.

Tenite furniture looks free of cracks that would be noticeable and is up for dibs...

Pics someday...:o
Will shoot it after I spend a bit of time and $$$ on cleaning the bores.
 
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Action locks up tight enuff for me.
Action lever settles a little left of center if this denotes wear.

"tight enuf" may or may not be good enough, Brent - you don't want it opening when you fire it, and the lever to the left indicates some wear - so keep an eye on it - it isn't too hard for a smith to fix - if he can get the parts - but if it wants to pop open when you pull the trigger - DO NOT SHOOT IT UNTIL FIXED - my Savage started that - went to the smith, all's right in the world
 
By "tight enuff" I mean I ain't breakin' out the "nano-inch" feeler gauges...:D

It is solid tight side torqued and up and down... Flexing it does not open a noticeable gap in any location 'tween barrels and gun... Smooth latching but solid. There is some "play" where the action lever heads into the frame but it has no left right swing play...

And I did find a faint "5100" stamped into lower left corner of right side of frame.

Brent
 
Well it seems to be a 1953. 2 3/4 inch chambers.

Where To Find Cheap Priced Stocks... New Or Used????

Plastic stocks NEED to go! The stock has a very noticeable WARP to the right (right/left cast?). I found a couple cracks under close inspection scrutiny. Right bore super nice. Left has some deeper blems. I fired off 2 normal power #6 Super X aiming at a "+" of electrical tape...
I was quite close but it seems barrels were regulated at that close distance pretty well...
Over the next few days I will be firing off 2 slug groups using the same method to see where we are hitting at further distances. If it continues to impress me, I will be toting it instead of my ol' Mossberg 500 20ga for deer season. Will be a charmer in the dense woods or long walks.

As for some dimensional stuff...
LOP is 14"... same as my M-500
Barrels are 20" but the gun is still 2" shorter overall than my M-500 with 18" factory mossberg barrel.
Overall length is a crisp sporty 36"!!!

Brent
 
Put on a nice set of wood stocks , but don't get rid of the plastic ones. They make the gun very collectable for some people. Yes I know they don't good and warp, there is a following for the plastic stocked guns.
Just put them away for future if and when you sell the gun.
 
I will be tryin' to sell off the stocks for whatever I can get... I would love to get what a set of cheap wood in trade for the plastic... I know someone would put this junk on a gun to make it nicer???.

I do not even own a screw driver long enuff to get the rear off yet. Even without getting it off to clean thoroughly, this gun has triggers better than most any I have owned... Rifles, handguns... other shotguns... These are smooth... One trigger has ZERO creep and a nice crisp let off... The other is just as smooth with just a tiny bit of creep and identical crisp sear release.

Brent
 
Okie, How close to final fit do they come? Ready to get my hardware (front)? All ready to mount stock? Or is there woodwork required before final finish? Or are they fully finished?
Brent
 
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