AboutSteven L. Ashe Expertise Hunting firearms and how to choose what you need. How to build a reasonably priced custom rifle. What calibers must you have to hunt anywhere. How to train bird dogs. How and where to hunt. How to find good guides. How to view and enjoy hunting as a sport.
Experience
Past/Present clients Worked with a number of novice bird dog people who went on to win championship status with their dogs.
Question QUESTION: I just got a used 12 ga Stevens model 311, series H, side by side shotgun. Serial is B209XXX and it is a 3" Mag with 30 inch barrels. The stock and forearm have checkering and are losing the painted finish. There are no small circles with a letter in them anywhere. No choke value is stamped on it, but the top of each barrel has SP1 stamped. Any ideas as to what the chokes are, when it was made, and possible value in good condition with the exception of the painted wood starting to peel?
ANSWER: Take the barrels out of the action and look underneath. The choke markings should be there.
Steven
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QUESTION: Thank you for taking time to reply. I have taken the shotgun all apart and do not see any choke designations such as full, modified, I/C, or anything other than the SP1. All three metal pieces have 6KE on them, but I think that is used to keep the matching parts together. The receiver does have a symbol that looks like a fat hourglass, whatever that means. Any ideas as to the age, or a site that might break the serial numbers down into years?
Answer Sometimes the chokes are shown with (*) marks or numerals, but those symbols would be on the barrels. With 30 inch barrels, I would bet that the right barrel is Modified and the left barrel is full choke. Put a dime into the muzzle and see if one is not tighter than the other. A dime will not go into a full choke muzzle.
Best thing to do, is to do a search using the maker and model name and see what comes up. I tried and there is some info out there on the Stevens 311, but no much. Also some of those guns for sale, which will give you an idea of what your is worth.
The Stevens guns were mostly what collectors call "farmer's guns." They were inexpensive guns, offered for sale at the local hardware store and treated as any other tool, by the farmers who owned them. Not much collector value. The primary value would be in the continued use of the gun as hunting shotgun. The 3" Mag chambering indicates that the gun is not old. My guess would put it being made in the 1970s or later. Just a guess on value, would be between $100 and $200.
Steven L. Ashe
