Are Checkered Forends on Stevens Guns Limited to Very Early Ones?

[Ironlip]

I've got an excellent condition late Stevens trench gun (65,000 SN I think), matching barrel, receiver and stock, original finish on all wood and metal, and the forend is checkered. The stock is smooth. Color on the stock and forend match perfectly. Has anybody seen that before?

I know checkered wood was common on the early ones as they used up commercial parts. Are there records that say when Stevens started producing commercial guns again? Did they have war contracts that continued after the shotguns were produced? If not I suspect checkered parts might have gone back into production at some point? There's always the "bottom of the parts bin explanation" and that could apply here, but I'm wondering what other explanations might exist other than a swapped or replaced forend.

Are 520 and 620 forends interchangeable?

[scosgt]

If the gun looks right, it simply means that they were using parts they found in the plant. Very common.

[Keydet92]

Ironlip,

Checkered wood on a Stevens 520-30 trench gun at s/n 65000 is NOT common.

Stevens 520-30 wartime production began in the spring of 1942 and the contract was complete by June of 1944. At that time, and until the end of the war, there was still a prohibition on the production and sale of civilian firearms. The majority of the Stevens facilities in Chicopee Falls, MA were involved with the production of 1,000,000 Lee-Enfield No 4 Mk I rifles for the British until August 1945.

520-30 production is heavy on long-barreled training guns to begin with (31000-38000) followed by riot guns (39000-57000) with some trench guns mixed in and finally almost all trench guns (58000-70000) every one in this range I have recorded had smooth stocks. Checkered stocks and mixed stocks are common below 50000, the highest mixed gun I've recorded (before now) is 57935 (checkered fore end). It is possible it's original but not at all common at 65000. Who knows what happened during its lifetime (unit armory/arsenal repair, post war swap, etc). I wouldn't let it disturb me too much on a nice 520-30 trench I was looking at buying. Smooth fore ends can be had on Gun Broker and eBay from time to time if it bothers you.

After the war Stevens went back to selling the 520-30 (520A) as JC Higgins 102.25s, Western Field Model 30 SB562As, and Riverside Arms 520s. They're one of the very few guns that appear in the fall 1946 Sears catalog (with "Sorry Not Available" stamped across the ad). Stevens used up lots of left over 520-30 parts to make these post war guns. Many have wartime reproof "P" stamps and Brinell hardness test marks and some have left over smooth wood.

All the fore ends for the Model 520, 520A, 620, and 620As are interchangeable, as long as they're 12 or 16 gauge, along with many other common parts. In fact, the only difference on 12 and 16 gauges from the same year, other than the barrel, is that the 16 gauge bolt is machined so the ejectors are closer together. The 20 gauge is the only odd ball.

[scosgt]

I do not disagree with your statement. However, if a checkered forend turned up in the factory, they would use it. IF they ran short and could cannibalize an existing civilian gun in stock, they would do that too.
They went out of their way to drive future collectors crazy

[scosgt]

Just to cloud the issud further, the late Pat Redmond had a consecutive pair of new unfired Ithaca trench guns. One had plain wood, the other checkered, both numbered to the respective guns.

[Keydet92]

I do not disagree with your statement. However, if a checkered forend turned up in the factory, they would use it. IF they ran short and could cannibalize an existing civilian gun in stock, they would do that too.
They went out of their way to drive future collectors crazy

I completely agree. From my research it looks like Stevens had used up all their checkered wood well before s/n 65000 and were turning out guns with all smooth wood. The checkered fore end on the OP's gun is very unusual but not impossible.

[Keydet92]

Just to cloud the issud further, the late Pat Redmond had a consecutive pair of new unfired Ithaca trench guns. One had plain wood, the other checkered, both numbered to the respective guns.

Interesting but as previously noted very unusual for this range of Stevens 520-30 trench gun production. This would have been common on Stevens riot guns made before s/n 50000 as the last of the available pre-war wood was used up.

Stevens pre and post war production of the Model 520A, in all its various trade names, never exceeded around 15,000 per year and the Model 620A was around half that. So they had some fraction of this total yearly production on hand in completed firearms and parts when civilian production and sales were frozen in Feb 42. They cannibalized and converted all the completed guns (the preponderance of the early long barreled training guns) and used the on-hand parts to make the rest of the early guns while still keeping workers gainfully employed turning out new parts (smooth wood).