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I know that the late war Stevens 520-30 handguards were stamped with an S. Around what SN did this start to appear? Thanks!
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The serial numbers for the 520 trench go up to almost 70,000. It was the last few thousand that usually have the S marked bayo adaptor. These guns would have been made in late 43 to early 44. -
The history of the markings is simple:
It was wartime, and armorers were always repairing damaged guns. The bayonet adapters from the different makes were not interchangable, so to end confusion, it was ordered that the Winchester adapters be marked with a "W" and the Stevens adapters be marked with a "S". Ithaca was already out of production, after making only 1422 Trench guns.
So, the "marked" adapters were primarily spare parts, and are only found on very late guns, Stevens 620 and Winchester M12 (mostly the factory parkerized ones).
There were blued W adapters, but they were spare parts, and after the war the packages were opened and they were parked to match the guns still in service. A W marked adapter would never be correct on a M97 trench. And not on an early M12. If you do get a M12 with a W, there is a good chance that is not the original adapter, although no one can say for sure.Comment
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I just picked up a really nice 520-30 missing handguard. I have a line on both "S" marked and unmarked correct handguards. The gun is 66xxx. I am guessing this is late war and therefore should get an "S" marked one?Comment
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I had the same question with my # 604xx . I emailed Bruce Canfield and he said the non-S was the one I needed . Might give him a try .
ChrisComment
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Bigskybound, IMO your gun is late enough for the "S" marked adaptor.Comment
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Tom:
Thanks. Another collector posited that he thought it was around the 62K mark that the "S" showed up.Comment
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Sure there are earlier 520s with S marked adaptors. But the S marked adaptors really start showing up in mass on the last few thousand guns produced.Comment
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