Strength of old Stevens/Savage/etc. break action shotgun?

[IslandTimes]

So I've been thinking about picking up one of those older single barrel break action shotguns made by Stevens and co. that were sold under their brand and various hardware/sporting goods store brands. Examples would be the Stevens Model 105 and 107 and the Stevens/Springfield Model 94 shotgun and variants.

I've been unable to find any good info on these guns, and was curious how strong they are and how interchangeable they are with other parts? If I picked up one of these that originally had a 20ga or .410 barrel, could I buy and fit a 12ga barrel to work on the same receiver?

Additionally, do you think the action could withstand a custom barrel chambered in a rifle or pistol round? I'm thinking along the lines or .357 mag, or a heavy .45 colt load, or maybe even .45-70! I think it would be a neat project and I could put together a case or the one gun with multiple barrels for sport and hunting.

 

[ironworkerwill]

The easy part: withstand .357 to .45-70 Sure, the receiver on those are tough as nails.

The hard part: Those old shotguns weren't made to have interchangeable barrels.

Some who owned them would have the gun factory rebarreled. Since the guns are no longer produced ....it wouldn't be practical.

Possible solution: Thompson Contenders, Thompson Encore, and other manufacturers that make swap barrel firearms.

 

[Jim Watson]

Order an interchangeable barrel off the shelf? Not likely.
Come up with an interesting DIY for the well equipped shop? Sure.
Pay a gunsmith $500 to convert a $50 gun to a $75 gun? Not me.

There used to be insert barrels to shoot BP or low pressure smokeless like .38-55 from shotguns. MC Ace still makes them. So the action is probably strong enough.

 

[Pete D.]

New barrels need to be fitted to the receiver, a process called jointing. I did it with a Savage 430 O/U. It was a lot of work....much filing and polishing and a whole lot of Dykem Blue.

 

[natman]

Additionally, do you think the action could withstand a custom barrel chambered in a rifle or pistol round? I'm thinking along the lines or .357 mag, or a heavy .45 colt load, or maybe even .45-70! I think it would be a neat project and I could put together a case or the one gun with multiple barrels for sport and hunting.

Back when H&R was still around they had a program where they would fit interchangeable barrels to your receiver. However they would not fit any rifle barrel to a shotgun receiver. Even though they looked the same, the shotgun receivers were not as strong as the ones used for rifles. The rifle receivers were made with better steel and heat treated.

If you want the kind of swappable single shot you propose, look to Thompson Contender. Trying to convert an old shotgun to a rifle is a bad idea.

 

[expat_alaska]

Back in the 60's my Dad bought me a used Springfield Arms (Chicopee Falls, Mass/bought out or marketed by Savage/Stevens) 20 gauge Mod choke single-shot for my first bird gun. When I graduated to a Rem 870 12 gauge in 1969, it sat in the closet until my Dad saw a Numrich ad in Shotgun News for a .357 Mag barrel to fit it in 1970. He absconded with "my" shotgun, bought the barrel (with ejector, not extractor), carved and inletted a chunk of walnut into his vision of a "beavertail" fore-end, bought a .357 Max Clymer reamer to re-chamber it, added a 4X Weaver scope, and used it for many years on Nebraska whitetails. It was his pride and joy to use, easy to carry around, and show off to his hunting buddies. I have not seen it since I enlisted in the USAF in 1971 and moved away (Alaska).

I don't know who manufactured the barrel, and I doubt that Numrich has marketed/sold one for years/decades, but you might contact them to see if they might have one sitting around somewhere, or give you a line about it.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/forum/...pringfield-armsCheeopee-Masson-the-195761.htm

Excerpt from that link:

"More likely it is stamped on the barrel: Springfield Arms, Chicopee Falls, Mass. This Springfield Arms is a house name of Savage Arms as in Savage/Stevens/Springfield. Jay Kimmel's book "Savage & Stevens Arms, A Collector's History..5th edition 1864-2003 states this about Springfield Arms Co.,Chicopee,Falls, Mass.......it was strictly an assumed business name of Stevens Arms(Savage era). Without listing anything about the gun except the gauge it is nearly impossible to tell you anything about it...I have several reference volumes containing Springfield catalog listings for the year of 1929 and there is no shotgun (or any other style) Model 1929. Listed are: Single barrel/single shot: Models 107,105,106, and 108(Stevens) Model 89 Dreadnaught and the Springfields: Models:95,958,94 and 948. SxS Double guns: Stevens: Model 330,335, both hammerless and hammer model 235. Springfield Hammerless models 311 and 315 and hammer version Model 215. In repeating shotguns: Stevens Models 620 and 621 and Springfield Models520 and 521...BTW the "book" is availble from www.corystevens.com"

If using this (above) ^^^^ link, scroll down 2/3 of the page in order to obtain the book, if you are interested in it.

Good luck in your endeavors, sir!

Jim

 

[bangswitch]

The actions are pretty tough and can take quite a bit of abuse, but they weren't meant to be Thompson Contenders where you could use multiple barrels on a single receiver. I've got three Savage doubles, and there are differences in the receivers between gauges on them. I also have a Model 94 .410, but have never tried to see if a larger gauge barrel would fit it. I put about 1000 rounds a year through my 12 gauge double, shooting clays; it has held up spotlessly, even though it was designed as a field gun and expected to have maybe 30-40 rounds a season through it.

I'd agree that it would be counter productive, expense-wise, to have them custom modified, since they weren't expensive guns to begin with.

 

[Merle1]

Back when H&R was still around they had a program where they would fit interchangeable barrels to your receiver. However they would not fit any rifle barrel to a shotgun receiver. Even though they looked the same, the shotgun receivers were not as strong as the ones used for rifles. The rifle receivers were made with better steel and heat treated.

If you want the kind of swappable single shot you propose, look to Thompson Contender. Trying to convert an old shotgun to a rifle is a bad idea.

IIRC, there was also a potential problem with firing pin sizes.

 

[IslandTimes]

So I decided to put some numbers together to try and figure out what one of these guns may be able to handle. I'm not worried about chamber pressure as the barrel insert would handle this, but I wanted to see how the bolt thrust, the force against the breach, compared. I ranked everything to what I thought a 12 gauge black powder shotgun would be able to handle, with green being below the threshold, yellow at or around the threshold, and red being over.

I assumed a 9,000 PSI chamber pressure (my research indicated anywhere from 8K to 10K) threshold for 12ga black powder shells and pulled the case specs from SAAMI drawings. The formula: Bolt Thrust = Max Pressure x Case Area. I would not count on these numbers being accurate to anyone else's numbers, but they should give an accurate comparison compared to each other.