Stevens 512 Gold Wing O/U Shotgun Opinion

I bought one to try it out and see if it was worth it.
Put a bunch of rounds through it at the skeet range , and liked it for a weekend partridge gun, but i don't think it would stand up as long as some other field guns that are Italian made.

It shot well enough however, and for the price , if a person did not shoot several hundred rounds every weekend , it will do great...
Cat
 
Would they be better than the Stoegers? more durable or at least as durable as a Baikal? I have been thinking about getting a 28 and 410. They are pretty in the pics.

What are the triggers like? Stevens in my opinion has never been known to put their name on garbage.
 
I tried one a few weeks ago, and I was NOT impressed. I used to own a stoeger, which I did not like much, but in my opinion it's still a much better gun for the money. Specifically, I found the wood-metal finish on the Stevens OU to be very bad, and the "engraving" to be crude enough that I'd prefer none at all. that's it for the cosmetics, except that you could detect a slight wobble in the rib (but not the barrel) when sighting down it. As far as function goes, I found the safety/barrel selector to be very difficult to operate - prone to stick and too "low profile" to get your thumb onto dependably. Perhaps this would work in with use (the gun was new when I fired it). The gun was very stiff when breaking it open, requiring two hands to push down the barrels enough to get the bottom shell in/out. Again - with use this would surely improve, and is not that unusual for break action guns. The lever was easy to operate, except that yo uhave to be sure to push it FULLY over to the side or else the lugs (not sure if this is the proper term - it's the little "nipples" that stick out of the face of the breech and lock into holes on the sides of the barrels) would stay sticking out and get caught on the top of the barrels when closing the gun. The stoeger did this as well though - just watch out for it and get used to pushing the lever ALL the way over when breaking the gun, and/or visually checking that the lugs are retracted before closing the gun. Fit was better for me with the Stevens than the Stoeger, but that's sort of irrelevant to your questions - just to say that the stock dimensions are different, so one might fit you better than the other. hope this helps
-DW
 
Well I am no shot gun guru or anything, but I know what I like and I like my Stevens 512 Goldwing in 28 gauge. It is not a $2000 Browning nor is it in the same league as that gun, but it is a solid workhorse that I carried all last season with out fail, and it killed grouse, woodcock, pheasants and hare, and a few pigeons...both the clay variety and the feathered variety. It's fit and finish are acceptable for the price I paid, plus it came with 5 screw in choke tubes. I could do with out the faux gold pheasant inlay on the reciever, but it is there and I will waste no effort in an attempt to remove it. Overall I am pleased with this shotgun and I will continue to use it for years to come. I will however probably upgrade as the Chief Financial Officer in my household allows and pass this one on to her or the boys.

Just my 2 pennies for ya!
 
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I could do with out the faux gold pheasant inlay on the reciever, but it is there and I will waste no effort in an attempt to remove it.

No effort, the right oils should clean that right our of there. I was using "suzi juice" on my Browning (penetrating old from the Suzuki dealer) it was a great cleaner/lube but it ate all of the gold out of shotgun. I didn't really care.
 
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