No Heart to Cut.

[markallen]

I have been wanting a SxS 12 gauge coach gun for quite awhile now.
But I don't want to spend, nor can afford what it costs for the Steoger.
So I thought I would buy an older, less costly shotgun, and chop the barrels.
Well today I purchased a Worthington Special at a local gun show. I probably paid more then it is worth, but it feels real good, and looked OK in the lighting there.
The Worthington is a Stevens Model 315 boxlock made for the Worthington Hardware Store in Cleveland Ohio.
I got it home, in better lighting, and it looks even better.
It's clean. No pitting, inside or out. No rust.It has a one ding in the center rib between the two beads on the barrels, and it has some case hardening still visible.
Just a few light scratches in the wood. One tiny crack in the stock on the left side about an inch long.
Locks like a vault.

I just don't have the heart to cut the barrels down.

Now what ?

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[BillM]

Worthington is a brand used by Crescent. Crescent made a bajillion
shotguns under nearly as many different names. It's not like you are
taking the chop saw to a Purdey or a Lefever. That said--the old girl is
a survivor, and I too have a soft spot for old iron that still does the job,
warts scrapes dings and all. Not sure I could chop that one up either!

http://www.briley.com/articles/grampas_shotgun.html

 

[markallen]

Crescent did make the earlier Worthingtons. But the Lewis hammerless patent was awarded to Stevens in Oct 1915. The Worthingtons that are stamped with the Lewis patent date were manufactured by Stevens. And is identical to the Stevens 315 with the exception of an exposed pin in the Stevens reciever, or the other way around.
Now this is just internet research on my own, for what it's worth.
Thats the fun of buying old guns. Doing the research.
Ideally I should have done it before I bought it. But I have never heard of Worthington until this morning.

Anyway I decided to cut it down to twenty inches, since that was the reason in the first place. I still have to plug the ribs, and reblue the end.

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[44 AMP]

Its your gun, and not a valuable collector's item (at the present), so do what you want.

However, be aware of a couple of things. First, be ABSOLUTELY certain it does not have "twist" barrels. (aka Damascus). "Fluid steel, Nitro steel, nickel steel" barrels (all trade terms for solid barrels) were an option in the early 1900s, and didn't become the general standard until some years later.

Your gun doesn't look like it has twist barrels, and likely does not, but be sure, or don't shoot smokeless powder!

Also, guns of the era were not stressed for heavy loads. Express loads (3-3/4dr eq. or more) are not suitable for all guns from those days. One (pre-WW I) Ithaca I know of suffered a cracked receiver in the 1940s, due to "express" shells. Others are still going strong to this day. It all depends on what you have.

Since you are looking at this as a coach gun (defense gun) you probably will be wanting to shoot heavy buckshot loads, or slugs. Be aware that your old gun MIGHT not be up to that task on an extended basis.

It might be fine, it might not, I just don't know, so I say, "be prepared" in case of the worst.