1905 Stevens double barrel

BossmanPJ · Sep 30, 2014

I have been informed that a family member has a Stevens double barrel 12 gauge for me as a family heirloom. I am going to go get it at some point but my question is: can it shoot normal shot shells? I have held and inspected said shotgun before an it is in amazing shape. The hammers lock tight and have no play. Action locks very tight. But it is from the early 1900's. Should it be able to shoot today's birdshot and buckshot loads as long as it's not high brass or magnum loads? Any help would be great.

iH8DemLibz · Sep 30, 2014

I believe there are lower powered shells out there for cowboy action shooting and such.

My personal opinion is that you will be fine with modern/standard 2-3/4" loads.

rseymorejr · Sep 30, 2014

Make sure that it doesn't have Damascus (twisted steel) barrels before you shoot it. They are not safe with modern shotshells. It would probably be worth it to have a gunsmith check it out when you get it.

mopar92 · Sep 30, 2014

Have a gunsmith check it out.
It'll cost you but do you want it blown apart on a bulk pack of Federal on sale at Wal-Mart?

BossmanPJ · Sep 30, 2014

mopar92 said:
Have a gunsmith check it out.
It'll cost you but do you want it blown apart on a bulk pack of Federal on sale at Wal-Mart?

Very true.

jimbobborg · Oct 2, 2014

Reloading BP shells isn't hard, and if you're using full brass shells it's even easier versus plastic shells. Rinse out the barrels with water, use some Ballistol, and you're set.

sxs · Oct 21, 2014

As others said, double check to make sure it isn't damascus steel. (a 1905 Stevens wouldn't be, at least I wouldn't think so...but verify) and then have someone (gunsmith) check the bore and make sure it's 2-3/4". If so, presuming no corrosion (or at least insignificant corrosion) you should be good to go on any light trap loads and even moderate field loads. FWIW, I occasionally shoot a Vulcan Steel 1903 Parker with light trap loads.

If it's not 2-3/4" chambered, shells are available in 2-1/2" for about 10 or $11 per box of 25 if you buy at least 10 at a time.
. Just bought a flat of 2-1/2" for a 16 ga Sauer Drilling with 65mm (2-9/16") chambers and they let me mix shotshell types (shot sizes and 2 boxes with Spread-R wads) to make up a flat .

BigDaddy · Oct 21, 2014

jimbobborg said:
Reloading BP shells isn't hard, and if you're using full brass shells it's even easier versus plastic shells. Rinse out the barrels with water, use some Ballistol, and you're set.

There is no sense apologizing, this is a blatant thread hijacking: When and over what time period did the gun companies ditch BP guns and adopt smokeless powder?

sxs · Oct 21, 2014

BigDaddy said:
There is no sense apologizing, this is a blatant thread hijacking: When and over what time period did the gun companies ditch BP guns and adopt smokeless powder?

Since 1905 is only a few years after smokeless powder became the norm, I think we can cut Jimbobborg some slack. He probably doesn't know just when the transition occurred.

BigDaddy · Oct 21, 2014

sxs said:
Since 1905 is only a few years after smokeless powder became the norm, I think we can cut Jimbobborg some slack. He probably doesn't know just when the transition occurred.

Not busting Jimbobborg's chops, I don't know when the transition occurred either, hence my question, when was it the norm? If smokeless powder was developed today, by March 2015 everyone would have ditched black powder. 100+ years ago, they probably weren't so eager to change.

jimbobborg · Oct 22, 2014

BigDaddy said:
There is no sense apologizing, this is a blatant thread hijacking: When and over what time period did the gun companies ditch BP guns and adopt smokeless powder?

What exactly is wrong with pointing out that you can load shotgun shells with BP? Lots of folks shooting cowboy action use shells reloaded with BP. And new brass shells are available from Midway USA, amongst other sources.

Biggfoot44 · Oct 22, 2014

The issue is that for several decades after the common usage of smokeless, dammacus bbls were a desireable feature on upper end shotguns, and on many midreange models were an extra cost optioin. Ironically the "fluid steel" bbls that were less desireable in the day, are now presumed strong ( pending the usual gunsmith inspection for damage, cracks, looseness, etc).

By modern thinking (in the USA) all dammacus bbls are considered suspect . In the UK , dammacus bbls are commonly reproofed to modern standards.

ducrider45 · Oct 22, 2014

I think that those early Stevens had twisted barrels. Low pressure loads only.

sxs · Oct 22, 2014

BigDaddy said:
Not busting Jimbobborg's chops, I don't know when the transition occurred either, hence my question, when was it the norm? If smokeless powder was developed today, by March 2015 everyone would have ditched black powder. 100+ years ago, they probably weren't so eager to change.

The thread hijack comment sounded a little blunt to me so I thought you were criticising his post about loading black powder. I guess i misunderstood . Sorry for the presumption.

The quick answer: The transitions occurred over a period of time, but for the most part was in the 1890's. There was a significant period of time where you could choose your load...smokeless or blackpoweder... for many firearms

sxs · Oct 22, 2014

Biggfoot44 said:
The issue is that for several decades after the common usage of smokeless, dammacus bbls were a desireable feature on upper end shotguns, and on many midreange models were an extra cost optioin. Ironically the "fluid steel" bbls that were less desireable in the day, are now presumed strong ( pending the usual gunsmith inspection for damage, cracks, looseness, etc).

By modern thinking (in the USA) all dammacus bbls are considered suspect . In the UK , dammacus bbls are commonly reproofed to modern standards.

Some studies have been done to demonstrate that many damascus barrels (especially on higher end guns) were, in fact, stronger than some fluid steel back in the day. HOWEVER, one problem with damascus is that if there is even slight, difficult to see pitting in the bore, there is the possibility that the corrosion could have worked internally between the 'folds' of the steel compromising that strength greatly. Furthermore, some cheaper damascus guns used fairly thin damascus steel barrels that wouldn't be appropriate for any smokeless powder loads.With some catastrophic failures of some damascus guns, many have decided not to ever shoot any damascus barreled gun. Of course their are also those who take great joy in shooting these old guns. One group : http://vintagers.org/

My avatar is a vintage Lincoln Jeffries Damascus barrelled gun that i actually own.

1905 Stevens double barrel

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