Odd marking on Stevens 'coachgun'

[handofzeus]

I have an old Stevens with 21" barrels. It was likely a cutdown but I must admit it was well done. The Shotgun is a SxS 12g and built like a tank. It also has rifle sights on it so possibly used as a slug gun. Here's my question, on the receiver it is heavily stamped "PCL 29". Is this a police or military rank? Is this a prison guard rank? The gun is missing most of the blue and the stock has a repaired chunk behind the tang. All in all it's a pretty cool and hefty coachgun.

 

[the spank]

It looks to me as though it has definitely been cut down and had the sights added and the PCL 29 has been stamped on by someone other than the factory. No idea what the PCL designation stands for? I'm thinking someone made it into a cowboy action gun and the PCL is ______ Coach Line? , likely a designation only the person who made the gun into what it is knows.

 

[Falconflyer]

Maybe it's just the angle of the picture but the PCL 29 seems to be crooked to the receiver and also it looks like the letter C was pressed deeper into the metal on the right side than the left, the L looks as if it's deeper than the P as well. This would be an indication that it was probably done by a home tinkerer and not the factory. What does it mean... beats me.

 

[handofzeus]

I was thinking that anyone who owned it would have done a better job which leads me to think that it was an institutional addition by someone who didn't really care about aesthetics.

 

[marshall]

The factory never did any of that stuff, trigger guard included

 

[handofzeus]

I know the factory did none of the alterations, the question is does anyone know if PCL 29 holds some military or police/prison meaning.

 

[Brutus]

I once read Jim Cirillos book about the NYPD Stakeout Squad. They were tremendously successful in thier work. And after a liberal thinking mayor disbanded thier unit the NYPD detective squad was given shortened Steven's double barrel shotguns. For stakeout duty often robbed NY merchants.