Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bought a shotgun off the auction

Cool old scatter gun. Pretty heavy?

Not really. Long barrel shotguns look bulky. But it's just a long tube. This one has a very solid feel to it.

The receiver looks bulky too but really that's not much more than more tube so there you go. Yep, neat old gun right down to the corn cob, I like that look.

My Dad bought a 620B and it will shred doves no matter how far they are from you.

But it throws the best pattern of number 1 buck.

I kinda like old obscure shotguns, they can be had pretty cheap these days since most don’t have screw in chokes or take 3 1/2” magnums.

I’ve got a pair of Browning double autos that get funny looks when you tell guys they only hold two shells.

High Standard made a pump that looked like a M12 but was functionally almost identical to a Mossberg 500. Even better that the whole thing is made of metal though the trigger group is aluminum.

My dad has his first shotgun, a Marlin 120 Magnum. It’s a big old heavy steel gun that looks a lot like a M12. Really nicely built and finished gun, all steel and the last one I saw sell went for under $300.

There’s some neat old bargains out there for a guy who’s mainly interested in neat old shotguns and not the newest tech.

These old Stevens guns aren't really all that obscure. They made one variant or another of them for 50 years. I don't know the exact number, but several hundred thousand. Once you learn to recognize them you start to notice them popping up here and there.

My Grandfather had a Ranger Model 30 from I think Coast-to-Coast hardware.
It was a re-branded Stevens 520-A, 30" full choke.

He didn't really take the best care of it, had a cracked stock that he had "fixed" with electrical tape.
I bird hunted with him back in the late 60s early 70s, as much as any of my other cousins.
When he passed the shotgun went to one of my older cousins (2 years younger than my Dad) and eventually found its way to me.

I was going to fix it up but it landed in the back of the safe and that project never got started.
One of my other cousins was always going on about being the #1 son of the #1 son and hinting about the shotgun, so a few years ago I gave it to him.

Of course I warned him. Grandpa had shot a hole in the door of one of his cars with it and it did have a tendency to go off when cycled.
He cleaned it up and says it shoots fine. I really didn't mind him having it as I have my memories hunting with Grandpa and he let me use it a few times to shoot Iowa roosters....

Clyde Barrow was fond of shotguns. That's one of his old "double hump" Stevens 520s propped up on the right.

Never knew that Bristoe. Ole Clyde liked the 520s - HA!

The one on the right looks close to what my Grandfather had, with the banded forearm pump and the safety inside the trigger guard.
Of course the one in the picture has the barrel cut down for obvious reasons.

Thanks for posting the pic.

I was reading up, and apparently, Clyde had that 520 during the shoot-out in Joplin, Missouri when his brother, Buck, got shot. Somewhere during the getaway the shotgun was tossed out of the car for some reason,..bent the trigger guard. It sold at auction for big money.

The problem with the High Standard pumps is that the butt stock through bolt screws into the trigger group unit and it is prone to break. The problem with the Marlin 120 is the action bars are prone to break and no replacements available.

Apparently, Clyde had another 520 that was cut down even more.