MatthewVanitas
Member
I was out motorbiking in East Austin, and dropped into Mustang Pawn on East 7th. The prices are uniformly ridiculous, but they know me there and have sold me guns and music gear for a fraction of listed price. For example, they sold me Ruger MkII marked $399 for $130, which is a steal even ignoring the markup.
So I walk in today and they have this beauty hanging on the wall:
It's a Stevens Model 311 Series H, made in Westfield MA. 20ga, barrels are 18.5", 29" OAL. No idea of the age, but it looks/feels nearly new, in terms of tightness. Very tight lockup, some cosmetic wear, and then hacked down. Not at all a rattletrap like many old sXs I've handled.
I was a bit ambivalent, as I don't care for that type of stock finish, and the current stock is just barely shoulderable. It was marked $399, which was more than I was willing to pay for it.
The clerk there actually went online on the shop computer, pointed out that new Series H stock sets could be had for about $80 total (or less if used), and then quoted me $200. I figured that's pretty competitive with Chinese and Russian coach-guns, and this one's a Stevens, so now it's sitting in my living room.
The cutwork is actually pretty well done. The barrel has solder at the joint, and only a tiny bit of toolmark at the cut. The trimmed buttplate actually fits the stock properly too. Not bad overall.
I'm torn between three options:
1) Leave as-is, just have fun blasting some water jugs on a range trip a few times a year.
2) Put on a new full-length buttstock (maybe sell the trimmed one for a few bucks), replace the steel bead with tritium, have a heck of a nice defensive coach gun.
3) Pay $200 for a stamp, $30 for engraving my "manufacturer name", and $100 or whatever barrel shortening costs, to have it cut down to about 8" or so.
Decent deal for $200?
Any suggestions on which option to take?
P.S.: In the last two pics, you can see there's kind of a burr in the catch. Is that supposed to be there? Should I (carefully) remove it with some rough sandpaper or (gasp!) a Dremel?
So I walk in today and they have this beauty hanging on the wall:
It's a Stevens Model 311 Series H, made in Westfield MA. 20ga, barrels are 18.5", 29" OAL. No idea of the age, but it looks/feels nearly new, in terms of tightness. Very tight lockup, some cosmetic wear, and then hacked down. Not at all a rattletrap like many old sXs I've handled.
I was a bit ambivalent, as I don't care for that type of stock finish, and the current stock is just barely shoulderable. It was marked $399, which was more than I was willing to pay for it.
The clerk there actually went online on the shop computer, pointed out that new Series H stock sets could be had for about $80 total (or less if used), and then quoted me $200. I figured that's pretty competitive with Chinese and Russian coach-guns, and this one's a Stevens, so now it's sitting in my living room.
The cutwork is actually pretty well done. The barrel has solder at the joint, and only a tiny bit of toolmark at the cut. The trimmed buttplate actually fits the stock properly too. Not bad overall.
I'm torn between three options:
1) Leave as-is, just have fun blasting some water jugs on a range trip a few times a year.
2) Put on a new full-length buttstock (maybe sell the trimmed one for a few bucks), replace the steel bead with tritium, have a heck of a nice defensive coach gun.
3) Pay $200 for a stamp, $30 for engraving my "manufacturer name", and $100 or whatever barrel shortening costs, to have it cut down to about 8" or so.
Decent deal for $200?
Any suggestions on which option to take?
P.S.: In the last two pics, you can see there's kind of a burr in the catch. Is that supposed to be there? Should I (carefully) remove it with some rough sandpaper or (gasp!) a Dremel?
