My second childhood.

[sbkittrell]

My first real firearm was a Stevens single shot shotgun that my Dad bought me for Christmas when I was twelve. It was stolen when our house was broken into in 1969. I went into Doc's Guns and Pawn in Greenville last week and found one just like it, a Stevens 16 gauge singe shot. The inside of the barrel looked like a mirror and the breach was tight as a new shotgun. It's the old style with no safety, and the big thumb lever. It was $69.00, so it's at home with me now. Yesterday I went back and bought a Riverside Arms Co. singleshot 12 gauge. Riverside was owned by Stevens Firearms. It was $69.00 too. This one is REALLY old. The blueing has been polished off over the years and the receiver and barrel is mostly a silver gray. It's got the old rounded pistol grip and the really small forestock. The patent date is 1913 so the barrel is OK to shoot modern ammo through. I figure it was built between 1913 and 1920, but that's just a guess. There is some pitting in the barrel, but it's not too bad and the breach is really tight, so as long as I shoot low brass through it, I'll be OK. I don't know why I like these old guns, except hunting squirrels and rabbits with them reminds me of fishing with a cane pole and worms instead of graphite rods and artificial lures. This post hasn't got anything to do with predator hunting, but I'm happy to get these guns (total cost for both was under $150.00) and wanted to show them off. The first picture is the Stevens 16 gauge and the second is the Riverside (Stevens) 12 gauge.

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd352/sbkittrell/P1000541.jpg

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd352/sbkittrell/P1000544.jpg

[jeeperdude]

cool, i got an old .410 stevens single shot like that, it was my grandfathers i got it severalyears ago when he passed. they r a nice gun, i still shoot mine everyonce in awhile

[sbkittrell]

Yeah, I like the old types. The kind with the big thumb lever and no safety except the hammer. They are just so daggone.....basic or something. Plus they remind me of when I was twelve years old. The new types don't do much for me for some reason. But I imagine hunting with these really will remind me of fishing with a cane pole. They'd make a good coyote gun too, if one ever tried to crawl in my lap for some reason.

[nissanman514]

my dad had a really old stevens 12ga pump ive been wanting to find another one but never have i am starting to wonder if it was a rare model i beleive it had a 28inch barrel on it i remember it being really long and remeber the gun being very accurate at 100yds!!!!

[nissanman514]

im thinking early 50,s era

[sbkittrell]

my dad had a really old stevens 12ga pump ive been wanting to find another one but never have i am starting to wonder if it was a rare model i beleive it had a 28inch barrel on it i remember it being really long and remeber the gun being very accurate at 100yds!!!!

You can try Mackey's up in Jamesville, they have a HUGE inventory of used guns, but they are WAY overpriced in my opinion. I don't have their number but you can google the name and get it.

Another good place in Greenville is Doc's Guns and Pawn on Memorial Drive near the 5th St. intersection. It's mainly a gunstore. I posted a comment about it on the thread about "where you buy hunting supplies" or something like that. Doc Bowen deals a lot in collectible guns and you will pay dearly for one of those from him, but he also has a LOT of old hunting guns, marlin, mossberg, remington, stevens, etc. and the price on those aren't too bad at all. Like I said I bought these two for 69.00 each, which is probably a little too high, but not much. You can look his number up in the yellow pages online too, so you can find out if he's got that Stevens you want, but hell I like hanging around in there and looking at all the old Colt SA guns, nineteenth century Winchesters, and old cap and ball rifles. He used to even have an old matchlock gun in there. It's like a museum and would be worth the drive on a Saturday, just to look around.