Over the years the Stevens line has been talked down about as if their product was inferior. Someone would find something bad to say about them and others would chime in and then even people who did not even have a dog in the fight found their selves cheering for their demise. (But we here in the INGO community wouldn't know anything about that...)
I wish to illuminate some willing souls to the real truth of the Stevens 620. This is a design from John Moses Browning, sold to Savage and produced under the Stevens brand. (Savage had acquired Stevens and thereby Springfield and had three grades of normal production, Savage, Stevens and Springfield. Savage would be 'fancy', Stevens 'field' and Springfield 'budget') This acquisition was just after the first world war when the financially troubled Stevens went belly up producing Mosin Nagants for the Czar or Russia, and with him having been over thrown, no payments were forthcoming. Stevens was being investigated for war profiteering by our government and an unusual fire just happened to break out in their record room which is why, today, we have such a hard time dating the year of manufacture of the older Stevens products. Savage got them cheap off the auction block and kept their line and the 620 was made from 1925-1955, so the whole production was under the ownership of Savage.
The 620 followed the 520 series and was a cosmetic rendering of the receiver to remove the distinctive Browning "humps". (The 520 actually had two humps)
It is an internal hammer, top locking bolt pump shot gun with a side ejection port. It is a 'take down' model with the receiver portion, after being taken down, weighing more than some modern shotguns. The amount of milling it took to produce a single copy boggles the mind. If you ever get a chance I highly recommend you take one down and look at the workmanship, it will give you a true appreciation of this gun. There are several videos online on how to take one down so I won't bore you with that here. Weight was not a consideration when this gun was made, all they wanted to do was make a gun that would last several lifetimes. With the last of the production being old enough to collect Social Security, I think they have made their mark.
The receiver, compared to what we know as a receiver today, is actually made in three parts. The body, the back plate with the threaded lug for the stock bolt to fasten the butt stock and the front of the receiver where the barrel and magazine tube attach which is part of the barrel.
(the butt plate is not shown)
The trigger group is of all steel construction, no plastic or alloy to be found here. Even the slide release (bottom left hand of picture) is milled from a solid piece of steel.
The actuating arm assembly is even a steel tube, threaded on both ends with milled caps for each end. The cap closest to the receiver has a slot cut in it for the action rod to fit through. There is a slot cut into the tube for the end of the rod to locate and three holes drilled in the tube for three rivets to be hammered in place securing the rod.
The bolt is chromed and breaks down into 4 parts with the removal of a single fitted pin.
This particular gun is unusual in that it has a 24" matted, modified choke barrel. In the Savage tradition they did not print out the choke on the barrel but used a series of asterisks, one means 'full', two 'mod', three 'ic' and four 'cyl'. If you notice the the lock dropped down in the center of the bolt, it isn't dirty but blued because on this model it sticks up all the way through the receiver rather than in an interior notch.
Here is a pic of all the blued parts minus the butt plate.
You can see the lock in the bolt a little better in this pic.
Overall, I would not want to imagine what it would take to cause this gun to fail. Also I would not want to imagine what it would cost to have this gun reproduced in the current year. Since virtually nobody is aware of the value of this gun it can still be had for ridiculously low prices with one selling here on INGO recently for $100.
This is the 'truck' of the shotgun world. If you are man enough to carry it I would doubt it would ever fail you...
I wish to illuminate some willing souls to the real truth of the Stevens 620. This is a design from John Moses Browning, sold to Savage and produced under the Stevens brand. (Savage had acquired Stevens and thereby Springfield and had three grades of normal production, Savage, Stevens and Springfield. Savage would be 'fancy', Stevens 'field' and Springfield 'budget') This acquisition was just after the first world war when the financially troubled Stevens went belly up producing Mosin Nagants for the Czar or Russia, and with him having been over thrown, no payments were forthcoming. Stevens was being investigated for war profiteering by our government and an unusual fire just happened to break out in their record room which is why, today, we have such a hard time dating the year of manufacture of the older Stevens products. Savage got them cheap off the auction block and kept their line and the 620 was made from 1925-1955, so the whole production was under the ownership of Savage.
The 620 followed the 520 series and was a cosmetic rendering of the receiver to remove the distinctive Browning "humps". (The 520 actually had two humps)
It is an internal hammer, top locking bolt pump shot gun with a side ejection port. It is a 'take down' model with the receiver portion, after being taken down, weighing more than some modern shotguns. The amount of milling it took to produce a single copy boggles the mind. If you ever get a chance I highly recommend you take one down and look at the workmanship, it will give you a true appreciation of this gun. There are several videos online on how to take one down so I won't bore you with that here. Weight was not a consideration when this gun was made, all they wanted to do was make a gun that would last several lifetimes. With the last of the production being old enough to collect Social Security, I think they have made their mark.
The receiver, compared to what we know as a receiver today, is actually made in three parts. The body, the back plate with the threaded lug for the stock bolt to fasten the butt stock and the front of the receiver where the barrel and magazine tube attach which is part of the barrel.
(the butt plate is not shown)
The trigger group is of all steel construction, no plastic or alloy to be found here. Even the slide release (bottom left hand of picture) is milled from a solid piece of steel.
The actuating arm assembly is even a steel tube, threaded on both ends with milled caps for each end. The cap closest to the receiver has a slot cut in it for the action rod to fit through. There is a slot cut into the tube for the end of the rod to locate and three holes drilled in the tube for three rivets to be hammered in place securing the rod.
The bolt is chromed and breaks down into 4 parts with the removal of a single fitted pin.
This particular gun is unusual in that it has a 24" matted, modified choke barrel. In the Savage tradition they did not print out the choke on the barrel but used a series of asterisks, one means 'full', two 'mod', three 'ic' and four 'cyl'. If you notice the the lock dropped down in the center of the bolt, it isn't dirty but blued because on this model it sticks up all the way through the receiver rather than in an interior notch.
Here is a pic of all the blued parts minus the butt plate.
You can see the lock in the bolt a little better in this pic.
Overall, I would not want to imagine what it would take to cause this gun to fail. Also I would not want to imagine what it would cost to have this gun reproduced in the current year. Since virtually nobody is aware of the value of this gun it can still be had for ridiculously low prices with one selling here on INGO recently for $100.
This is the 'truck' of the shotgun world. If you are man enough to carry it I would doubt it would ever fail you...
