Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Riverside Arms 20ga SXS

Hey guys
My father passed down to me a Riverside Arms 20ga SXS that my grandfather used to hunt quail, and my great grandfather used to hunt quail with. I have researched it a little and know that this gun isn’t collectible. These men were farmers that had to save for what they had.
A little about the gun. It has the April 20 1915 markings and hammerless with dual triggers. I have shot the gun a few times over the years and everything seems to still work as it should. The stock is cracked, and bluing is gone. I am willing to spend money to have it refurbished. (Mechanics cleaned, new stocks fitted to me, reblued) Does anybody know who works on these guns? I know it’s not a Purdey or a Parker but it’s still very special to me.
Thanks for all the help guys
Eli

This is a less expensive version of a Stevens 311 so consider how much you want to sink into the gun. You are looking at a good several hundred dollars as a minimum if you want someone else to do all the work. You have to decide just how far you want to go and spend on this project. To save money do as much as you can yourself.

These are very simple gun so cleaning is easily done yourself. The simplest is to remove the wood from the metal and spray heavily with carb or brake cleaner. Hit the extractors too. Let dry then spray liberally with a CLP type product and then blow the excess off with compressed air. That should take care of the internals.

Hot bluing is relatively expensive, $350 the last time I looked at my gunsmith's. It is the most durable though. I would look at either cold bluing it myself or using one of the modern coatings. Cold bluing is not overly protective but it can look good. Kits can be bought pretty reasonably. The gun originally would not have had a less expensive bluing than even the 311 so one might find a modern alternative that comes close. I qhave not priced out these finishes but it would probably be more than cold bluing yourself.

Replacing the stock would probably run up to a couple hundred dollars for a new one from Boyd's, Numrich Gun Parts, or the like. That would include stain or whatnot if needed. Final fitting would probably be required too. If you are patient and know how to use a rasp you can do it yourself.

A fitted stock would likely run several hundred dollars for a basic stock to start. It can only go up from there. Hopefully, a new stock from the above will fit well enough or the addition of a recoil pad will get you close enough. That would be the cheapest way.

Or, you could get the original stock repaired. If it can be saved you might be a bit of money ahead depending on what needs to be done. I've had cracks repaired for as little as $50 and had quotes on others of over $200 due to what needed to be done. Even if the crack can be easily repaired, you are still dealing with a 90 year old piece of wood that might not have been cared for properly.

Either way, you might have to finish/refinish the stocks. You can pay someone to do it which will probably be upwards of $100 or do it yourself. I've done a couple simple jobs myself and price ran under $100 all told. The finish was not high grade but it was certainly serviceable. If I had some patience it would have come out better.

So, you need to decide how much you want to spend. For $300 or possibly less you could do much yourself or pay several hundred or more for others to do it for you. Only you can make that decision.

Pretty much what Woodmaster81 said.

New stock fitted to you will be more than the gun will ever be worth. However if you are ok with that then I say do it. Depending on what you want for metal finish this could get expensive fast. If you are going to dump money into the stock then I would say case color the frame and have the barrels blued. If it were me and I was willing to dump money into it I would have Turnbull do all the metal work. The stock I would probably have Wenig's do. I am sure others will disagree but to me if you are going to put money into a gun that isn't worth it, you may as well go all in and make it look good.

I wouldn't do anything to it. You will be destroying the gun's heritage. The gun now tells the honest truth about your father and grandfather's hunting years which one day might mean it is priceless to you and why did you ever want to change it.

Parkerizing is cheap, easy & ugly.