Stevens 16 gauge double barrel

Not military but WWII era and Adam requested we share our guns.

Markings indicate 1940-1948 manufacture. I bought it in early 70s for $50.
I sort of wish it was a 12 or 20 gauge because ammo is more plentiful. 16 gauge isn't scarce but there is much less selection of loads and shot sizes.

Side by side doubles have fallen out of favor here and double triggers even more so.

Front trigger is right modified choke barrel and back is left full choke barrel

 

Should I ever decide to change careers and become a break and enter thief, your house will not be on my target list.

 

That was well done. Belly laughs!

 

That's not a Stevens 311 series, is it? Stevens made a range of doubles from the 40s through the 70s, the 311 being the basic grade I believe. It was relatively inexpensive but from everything I've read online it was a fine gun. (Imagine that, American gun companies once actually made sound weapons for the middle and even lower ranges of the market.) The fictional 1950s private detective I'm writing has a 12 gauge Stevens 311 cut back to the legal limit. Shortened 311s were used by NYPD detectives for stakeout duty into at least the 1980s.

 

My 311A. It is indeed a fine gun.

 

Ha. I'm glad you asked. For almost 50 years I thought it was a 311 but I just looked and in very tiny letters it says 511.