Stevens 520 Trench Gun

Nice shotgun indeed! And I'm ssooo glad I opened this thread and viewed what was titled here.
Two highly abused phrases on the EE; "trenchgun" or the ever so slightly less lethal sounding; "riotgun"

A pox on those that misuse these titles! ;)
 
One thing that I noticed right away that is a replacement part is the heat shield/bayonet lug. Most likely from a Winchester 1897 and not an original Stevens 520-30. The original 520-30's had a purplish hue to the bayonet lug/barrel attachment chunk at the end. Unless of course that part is now covered with parkerizing.

Great looking gun. I love these!

Ian

Interesting Ian, that appear to be the same heat shield and bayonet lug as an M97. I don't know much about the Stevens 520, did they contract these parts from Winchester?

Trench guns are a tough subject, so few in Canada and even less that are still in original configuration.

-Steve
 
Interesting Ian, that appear to be the same heat shield and bayonet lug as an M97. I don't know much about the Stevens 520, did they contract these parts from Winchester?

Trench guns are a tough subject, so few in Canada and even less that are still in original configuration.

-Steve

Ok, I just pulled my book out "Combat Shotguns" by Bruce Canfield. Like I thought, they were never parkerized the finish is said to look like a " brushed blue" and can resemble parkerizing under poor lighting. Some early examples are said to have the commercial polished blue finish but the rest had the dull blue finish. It is said that none were ever parkerized.

It is also said that the early guns were put together using up the commercial stocks and pump handles that is why some of them are checkered. The earliest guns had both wood pieces checkered apparently.

As for the bayonet/barrel sleeve portion of the heat shield, it is said that the original Stevens ones were anodized and that is what gave them the pinkish hue. The 6 row vented handguard was blued. The later Stevens bayonet lugs are said to be stamped with an S whereas the early and mid production ones didn't have any markings at all. He also goes on to say that there were no parkerized handguard/bayonet adaptors manufactured during WWII and any such example seen today has been refinished.

You can check the side of the bayonet adaptor and see if you can see an S or a W (for Winchester), but it may not be marked in any way. If you want to see what the pinkish originals look like, just google Stevens 520-30 trench gun and choose images and you will see some.

Cheers,

Ian
 
WOW!!! 3 Grand, it seem just like yesterday (2001 actually) that I paid $499.00 plus tax at Wholesale Sports for my Winchester M97 Trench Gun. I wonder what it is worth now?

Well, Collector's Source had a Winchester 1897 Trenchgun for sale about 1 year ago. Blued finish, sling & bayonet included. It was priced at $2200 and it sold within mere weeks of it's original listing date.
 
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