My dad gave me one of my grandfather's shotguns a few months ago and I took some time to do some internet research this week.

It's a 12 gauge hammer double barrel with Riverside Arms, Chicopee Falls, Mass. marked on the receiver. Riverside and Riverside Arms Co are names the Stevens Arms Company used on their less expensive shotguns made from 1915. The gun is basically a "Trade Brand Name" shotgun although that is not quite true. RIVERSIDE ARMS CO was a name used by the Stevens Arms & Tool Company of Chicopee Falls, MA after 1915 to about 1929. They used the name on their less expensive shotguns. The guns were mechanically identical to the more expensive guns but were less well finished and had hardwood stocks and forearms instead of walnut.

The Riverside Arms Co. name first appears in the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co., Chicopee Falls, Mass., catalogue No. 54 issued circa 1914 on a hammerless double the No. 315 and a hammer double No. 215. These guns were based on G.S. Lewis Patents No. 1,086,378 granted Feb. 10, 1914, for the hammer gun and Patent No. 1,136,247 granted Apr. 20, 1915, for the hammerless gun. During WWI the Stevens factories were taken over by New England Westinghouse for wartime production. After the Great War the Chicopee Falls factories were bought by Savage Arms Corp. and the gun business there emerged as J. Stevens Arms Co. a wholly owned subsidiary of Savage Arms Corp. They continued to manufacture both Stevens and Riverside guns up to about 1930, when they changed the name of their lower priced line from Riverside Arms Co. to Springfield Arms Co.

My grandfather was a Saturday morning horse trader in his younger days and would go down to the courthouse square in Pontotoc, Mississippi, and swap knives and trade with the other farmers. My grandmother indicated he traded for this shotgun sometime before WWII and was his most used hunting firearm until he died in 1969.

It's pictured with his S&W .32 Safety Hammerless "bicycle gun" that he carried in his front pocket for over 30 years. I have no intention of shooting it but I do plan to hang it for display in my home office.

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Shucks, that's post-Damascus steel, so if it has a tight lockup, working safety, no push-off and no rust in the barrel, I'd have to shoot some dove loads.
Enjoy your treasure and it's hard earned patina.

Do yourself a favor and give it a good coating of Wax before hanging it up, and maybe a swabbing of the bore with some Rig. In 10 or 20 years when someone wants to try and shoot it it may still be able to do so.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

That is so cool.

Are those his initials on it?

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Rule of law, not a man.

Nice. Should have framed the knife in the picture as well. I like old steel in a lot of forms.

Yeah, I don't know why I didn't. I took an earlier picture with my 1892 lever gun and had the knife in the frame.

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Are those shells new/modern or better still, roll crimped of the correct vintage? If you can score some of those, pose the next set of pix with one or two standing on the base so everyone looking can see the roll. It just adds a nice touch to the photos.

Someone above said in 15 or 20 years it might still be able to be shot. I'd sure hope so. Your sayin' its about 100 years old now. Making it 120 should do nothing to its shootability. Keep it out of the rain and don't let the house burn down around it.

Oh, and I'm grandpa and I sure hope my grandson or sons will want to own and shoot mine. That is if mean ole grandma doesn't sell it without thinking.

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Dick Burg

Yeah, it came with a couple of boxes of roll crimped paper hulled shells. I'm thinking they date back to at least the mid 1960's and maybe older.

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I wouldn't shoot it - there's wood missing.

Hang it in a place of pride and remember the stories associated with it.

Spent many a day with my Grandpa’s 12 ga Stevens Double Hammer Gun.
My Brother has it.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I'd shoot it for sure, but I'd use light loads only. Remember that the wood is 100 years old.

Congratulations,vice every thing on the shotgun,knife,& .32 revol.

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Life is short,live it fully.

I'm envious. I'd love to own the double gun and the .32.

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Oh well, what the hell.