311 Stevens

[Red Cent]

Some of you may have read about my mods on the 311.

Like any othe double, you want to "flick" the barrels down to cock the hammers and extract the empties so you can give  little backward shuck to rid you of the empties. Hard to do on a 311. They have a $7.00 fix at Brownells but it in't very good. Won't work if you cut the barrels either. The fix is the ponited flat tipped rod on the barrels that catch under the cocking lever and cocks the hammers.

After studying the situation, I realized the hammers were being cocked about 2/3s of the way through the barrel travel leaving hammer tension on the barrels/cocking lever even though the shotgun was cocked.

I removed the cocking lever and removed metal from the bottom of the front end of the cocking lever. This does not affect hammer travel nor does it do anything to the firing pins. The cocking lever stops in the same place because the top back of the cocking lever hits the breech face as it always has done.

I'll take pictures and show them. It works very well dry firing and using dummies (shells). Saturday I will shoot the thing and see if it works.


Now, you can pull the triggers, give the barrels a little flip and they open all the way, then give a brisk shuck backwards and the shells go flying. At the same time your weak hand iiis free to grab them there rounds and have at it.

At the very worst I may have to put a little stronger hammer springs in.

Later.

[Shotgun Franklin]

I only use my 311 for hunting but when you get all the bugs worked out I'd like directions. I think it's a handy modification.

[Bugscuffle]

Here ya go Pard. http://marauder.homestead.com/Stevens311.html . Go to this URL and scroll, down to the bottom of the page and you can access the exact directions on how to make your Stevens look like an unrelated group of parts and then to make it back into a shotgun. Along the way you'll come out with a gun that opens farther up so you can get the shells into the chambers mored easily and opens easier. On that last point, be careful how short you cut the barrels of your gun. If you cut it down to the 20" limit, then you'll still have to deal with the gun trying to close on you. The additional weight of the longer barrel will tend to counteract that.

[Lumpy Grits]

"If you cut it down to the 20" limit". BATFE, SG min. bbl lenght is 18". 16" for rifle.
This is measured from the closed breech to the muzzle from inside the bbl.

LG

[Red Cent]

She's 20" and a lot of  legal room to spare.  Bugsuffle, don't need the weight. Like I said, a little flip and the barrels open all the way and extracts the hullls.  Maruader is an ol' shootin' friend from the south. The fix that you point out is only for some 311s. Unfortunately mine ain't one of then. In this case, you are right about the barrels Bugscuffle. The fix still needs the weight of the long barrels to wwork.

Although I am out from the city, I don't like to shoot round the house. Legal but the neighbors are a hundred yards or so away. Wantin' to see if it runs real bad. Find out Saturday. One guy said it would lock up. Maybe he didn't understand the explanation of the mod.

[Bugscuffle]

That's good that your gun will open up and stay open with the 20" barrels. The last 311 that I did, I did for myself and I left the barrels at 26" and I'm glad that I did. I did one at 20" and it is sort of "iffy" on staying open all the way. The next ones that I did i left the barrels a little longer for just that reason.

[Red Cent]

Do you work on cowboy guns Bugscufffle? They are more fun to work with in that they are a little more simplidied. The Winchester M1897 shotgun is my favorite to tune up. Seems complicated at first but as you work through the maze, the light coms on.

[Bugscuffle]

I do the work on my own revolvers and I did my Rossi '92 and stood over the shoulder of a Pard that did his. He was pretty happy with his and I like mine, but have more planned for it. I've done a few of the '97's. A Pard on this forum just traded me out of my last one and he didn't send it back, so I guess that he's happy with it.

[Red Cent]

Have you ever changed barrels on a takedown and had to use the barrel rings to headspace? What do you do to smooth the 97 and git rid of the resistance when cycling?

[Bugscuffle]

Have you ever changed barrels on a takedown and had to use the barrel rings to headspace? What do you do to smooth the 97 and git rid of the resistance when cycling?

I use a Dremel tool and polishing tools (the realy fine black ones) to do all of the obvious spots and them I use valve grinding compound and some wooden dowels that I have sanded to form different shapes (Vees, half rounds, angled flats, etc.) of different sizes  to do the final polish of the mating surfaces. Right now I'm trying to find an affordable set of sear stones to work my pistol actions with.

[Grapevine Jimmy]

OK, RC, I saw your name on the Creedmore score sheet so how did the 311 do?

GJ, who was in the mountains celebrating a birthday and hope to be there for the Wild Bunch match.

[Red Cent]

Hey Jimmy. The hammer springs are just a tad light. Couple of times a light strike. The barrel drops with a little flick and stays open. I was firing (I shoot left handed), then with the left hand ,hit the lever, give it the flick, and with the left hand give the shotgun a pull backwards and then forward as I was pullin another two rounds. Rounds come out slick. I could get used to this thing .

[Grapevine Jimmy]

Could be a bad sign, leaving the "pump" side for tubes, next comes that evil black stuff.

GJ, who started with a 311 with long barrells.

[Red Cent]

Did the hammer springs last night. Takes just a tad more flick but it opens great and stays open.