Stevens 311a.. 2 hands & a knee to open

[1858remington]

I've got an old stevens 311a,

I love the gun, but man is it hard to open after firing.

I gotta bend the action over my knee.:banghead:

I've heard that Ruger vaquero springs can be used to improve the situation.

How and what must be replaced.

Pictures with instructions would be a great help.

What pound springs should i use, and where should I get them?

 

[Jim K]

The 311 is not anyone's idea of a finely made double gun, but it should not be that hard to open. I suspect something is rusted or bent/broken. I would pull off the stock and foreend and lube everything in sight with a good gun oil, paying special attention to the cocking plungers and the cocking lever.

I don't recommend disassembling the gun any further unless you have some experience with double guns.

Jim

 

[Carl N. Brown]

When you break a hammerless double barrel you
are cocking the internal hammers. When I could not
find a 311R I bought a Baikal Bounty Hunter
12 ga "hammerless" double and breaking it open
is good exercise.

 

[Oldnamvet]

What kind of shells are you using? I found the same problem with my double when using the cheapo winchester 1 oz loads. These are the ones with steel instead of brass. They would expand and the ejectors had a hard time pulling them out, making the gun very hard to open. Better shells and no problem. If you can open the gun when it is empty but it is very difficult when shells have been fired, consider the ammo.

 

[1858remington]

I was using light federal trap loads.

The action was difficult to open.

I've heard tell that cowboy action shooters replace the hammer springs to make the gun more user friendly.

I was wonderin what springs they use, and how one goes about replacin them there springs.

 

[oletymer]

Try lubing the hinge area.

 

[PJR]

I was using light federal trap loads.

What is happening is that your firing pins are sticking in the primers. Check a fired hull and see whether the primer indentation is oval or otherwise shows signs of the firing pin being stuck.

First thing is try a different load. Federal primers are softer compared to other brands and more likely to stick in my experience. Secondly, light loads might not provide enough recoil impetus to kick the firing pins out of the primers.

I don't know whether the Stevens 311 has a firing pin return spring or other mechansim to retract the firing pins when the gun opens. If it does it is also possible that time, corrosion, lack of lubrication might be affecting the inner workings of the gun. Having a strip and clean on the action might help.

 

[evbutler462]

One morning many years ago, a man appeared on my doorstep with a Stevens 311. He was a deer hunter and loved to shoot deer with buckshot. He had this same problem. I took the barrel and forearm off and depressed the action so that I could dry fire it. Then I took a file and blunted the firing pins a little. Problem solved. Don't remove too much. Just flatten them a little. Hope this helps.

 

[billp]

stevens 311

I broke off the screw of my stevens 311 f/m 20 gauge shotgun cocking mechanism in about 1968.

Not enough lube.

Stevens kindly sent me replacement parts for free.

regards