Stevens 311

R

Rusty_Old_F250

Inactive
Hi all, my name's Sam, I'm 19 and until now my main hobby has been old Ford trucks. That is until some friends took me trap shooting at the local range. And now the gun bug has bitten. And it's bitten hard, I'm thinking of cutting into my old truck budget! :eek:

I've fallen in love with the old side by side guns, particularly the Stevens 311. What do you guys think of it? Is it reliable and safe for an old gun?

Also, what's the best things to look out for when buying a used gun? I don't mind buying a beat up/ugly gun, as long as it is safe and shoots like it's suppose to.

Also, what are the benefits and drawbacks of the 12 and 20 gauge versions?

I'm sure I can come up with more questions, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Sam
 
the 311s' are not bad guns, but dont expect them to be great either, they were designed to be a good working class ,put meat on the table, dont cry if i drop it and scratch it type shot gun and they excell at that. Mine is a late 40s' early 50s' .410 handed down to me from my grandpaw and i will hand it down to one of my grandkids one of these days.
Cautions= keep it clean and pay attention to the safety its top mounted by your hand and easy to slide foward if you are careless in handling it, other than that ,shoot it and enjoy :D
 
I have a 311 in 16ga and I love it. It is a simple and reliable gun. That's what I like about it. Its one of those that you won't cry about if you scratch it. Personally if you are going for mostly trap/skeet, I might would go with the 20ga. I've shot my 16ga for sporting clays and I was a little sore at the end of the day. As long as ammo is still easy to find, 20ga. If you are considering hunting with the 311 for deer or what not, I would go with the 12ga. Just easier to find good hunting ammo in my area for a 12ga. These guns are real simple and you can shoot it for many years to come.
 
When you say "trap" shooting, do you mean at a gun club or in the back pasture? There is a serious difference. For the backyard having fun now and again, the 311 will do somewhat OK. For a little more serious shooting with the volume involved, there are much better choices.

It is an older discontinued gun with parts not always available in all areas. While some folks will use the term "robust" to describe it, others will use the term "pig on a shovel" I have its more refined cousin the Savage/Fox BSE and the insides are not as robust as the outside - some pieces are downright delicate - like a certain few springs
IF yours is one that hasn't been shot much, then it might last a while with occasional use. If, on the other hand, you intend to use it a lot and with hot loads for hunting/HD as well as clays, not so much.

You want the top opening lever to be as much to the right of center as possible. If it is centered, you have some life left in it. If it left of center, it is worn and will need some attention by a gunsmith - if not immediately, soon. If there is ANY play in the barrels when the action is closed, it is called "off face" and run - don't walk - away from it.

As to 12 versus 20. 12 has more options for ammo, from light to uber-magnum and can be handloaded down easily to 20 or even 28 gauge levels to reduce recoil and lower reloading costs (shot)

I lie SxS guns as well - there is just something nostalgic and sleek about most of them. However, they are also the most labor-intensive shotguns to build and there is a VAST difference between the cheap ones (<1K), the moderate-priced ($3-5K) and the high-end ($10K+). This manifests itself in wood-to metal finish, trigger quality, barrel manufacture and balance (ESPECIALLY balance), svelte handling qualities and longevity.

Go ahead and start with the 311 - at your age and budget it will scratch your itch for a SxS - for now. But as you get older, and you try some of the better guns - like those from AyA, Ugartechea, Arrietta, even CSMC's RBL, you;ll soon start saving to get one of those especially in 20 or 28......:D
 
They were a cheap budget gun made for the occasional shooter. Most you see on the used racks are 30-50 years old and most of their useful life is pretty well used up. I've had several over the years and all needed a gunsmiths attention to keep them running. The fit is poor and the internal parts are cheaply made.

If you plan to use it as a hunting gun and fire a box or 2 of ammo per year you might be able to get a few more years of use out of one. But you'll never get one to hold up for very long if you plan on shooting a lot of clays.
 
I think they were very reliable, not fancy, guns that were solid performers. They did not handle like a more refined SxS, but back then I was much less refined as well, so we worked well together. I had a 20, and I was interested in ducks, and the guy next door let me use his 12 a lot, and if I did my part it always held up its end. I believe they are better built than the newer inexpensive SxSs like the Stoegers - and I have owned one of those as well.
They are much more field guns than target guns, but for pasture clays they are fine, and I have seen one run 25 on a registered trap line too. If something does break inside, Numrich has plenty of parts. They built the same basic gun with different trims and even for other brands for a lot of years. Working on a shotgun is EASIER than any car, much less an old Ford truck. I am a pretty fair gun mechanic, I do not call myself a gunsmith because I have not one artistic bone in my body, and it is in the end a simple mechanical device. You just need the right tools - check out Brownells - and a lot less force. I have worked on quite a few 311s or their clones, and by FAR the biggest issue was crud and corrosion. If you take the time to keep them fairly clean and lubricated they work well, but that goes for most guns.
Good luck and enjoy your new interest.
 
A few years ago I picked up a Stevens 5200/311 20 gauge from another member here.

I LOVE it.

I've always been quite fond of SxS shotguns, and have always been interested in the Stevens as a servicable utility gun, so when this one came available I grabbed it.

Very glad that I did.
 
Rusty_Old_F250 said:
what's the best things to look out for when buying a used (SxS shot) gun?
Click to expand...

Hi, Sam - Welcome to The Firing Line !

There's a few thing you can easily look for, if you remember to - AND ask the owner if you can "inspect" the gun.

With an "OK":

1) As posted - check the top opening lever (if it has one) for any position from center & towards the RH side. (Left of center means worn parts, expensive to have fixed)

2) Swing the barrels open and sight down each, both inside & outside, looking for shllow/fixable or deep/deal breaker) pits (inside), & (fixable) dents (outside).
Run two of your fingers down the length of each barrel, one on each side, feeling for a bulge (an unfixable deal breaker).

3) Check to find out if the action's worn, or bent "off-face", by removing the forend from the gun & flipping the gun upside-down with the buttstock held under one arm, and the opening lever held in the "open" position while the other hand tries to wriggle the barrels while they're seated in firing position.
Any movement between barrels & action, more than a very slight tolerance wiggle, is unacceptable - since it indicates there's an expensive problem present.

4) Visually check the action body for cracks - especially at the junction of the horizontal watertable flats and the vertical action face (a deal breaker).

5) Check the firing pin holes in the action face for deformation, fixable - but could stick FP's, causing an accidental discharge if unfixed.

6) After asking the owner if it's OK, a check for a broken firing pin can be made via dropping a dowel downbore & pulling the trigger(s) to see if the dowel's struck/bounced.
(A broken FP is a PITA to fix in a 311; unobtainium for many other SxS's)

7) Also check the buttstock neck for cracks - a dealbreaker on a sidelock, but fixable on a 311.


Good luck - 311's are safe/dependable guns, and one in poor cosmetic condition can make for a very satisfying restoration project.

They're not the best guns for formal trapshooting, but work just fine for informal shoots.

Short (26") barreled 311's usually are choked IC/IC; 28" = MOD/FULL; and 30" = MOD/FULL or FULL/FULL.

The more open chokes are better for game shooting; the tighter better for Trap.






.
 
Last edited:
There are better but certainly worth having.

For a variety of reasons, there are guns that touch one's heart. Old double do just that. ;)
The 311 in 12ga was the first real hunting shotgun, I owned in junior high. I hunted everything with it and that is how I got my camp name of Pahoo.

Mine came with unbreakable plastic furniture and pot metal trigger guard. Well, the plastic broke one very cold winter morning, while hunting rabbits and later, the trigger guard just snapped off. So watch that trigger guard. Restored it, gave it to my nephew. If I ever get a chance to buy a 20Ga, will do so. ... ;)

Good eye and;
Be Safe !!!
 
ok im going to side track this thread a little, it got me curious about my .410 so i went and dug it out,the barrels and the reciver both are stamped with an XP and a (B) no seriel #s on it and the side says stevens model 311,Savage arms corparation any ideal to put me close to when it was built
 
If there is no serial number anywhere on the gun (including underneath the barrels or on the water table), it will be at least prior to 1968 when the GCA was passed
 
subhuman said:
my .410 so i went and dug it out,the barrels and the reciver both are stamped with an XP and a (B) no seriel #s on it and the side says stevens model 311,Savage arms corparation any ideal to put me close to when it was built
Click to expand...


My $$$'s on 1950 as the DOM.



.
 
Thanks guys, your a wealth of info!

Gun is mostly going to get pulled out once maybe twice a month to go shoot clays at the local range with my buddies. Nothing real serious.

Sam
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top