I love the store brands, just got another

[sigp220.45]

My local tactical Timmy place somehow acquired this Sears Double Barrel. I love the store brand guns - for me they harken back to a time when you could buy a working man's gun at Montgomery Wards, J C Penney, or the tire shop. I have guns marked J C Higgins, Ted Williams, Hawthorn, and now this Sears shotgun.

The store didn't want it and the owner thought the stock was cracked (it isn't) so I offered $150. He looked at me like he hit the Lotto and the deal was done.

Apparently this is just a Sears branded Stevens 511, a descendant of the venerable Savage 311. Seems sturdy to me. It needs a buttplate, but thats an easy fix.

As you can see from the obligatory parking lot shot there was a fine coating of rust on the barrels, which came right off with some Mothers and a shot of Ren Wax.

I'm going to resist my usual urge to break out the hacksaw and leave this one as is. I think an American made double in decent shape is worth 150 bones all day long.

Any other fans of the lowly store brand?

 

[ISCS Yoda]

At one time I think I had a Sears shotgun but I can't recall for sure - during my cowboy action shooting days several shotguns passed through my hands. I do recall them clearly, however, and always found them fascinating because I knew a real gun company was making them.

 

[cadmike]

I do appreciate the store brands for the same nostalgic reasons you mention. I love old single shot rifles and shotguns but would love to find a double like you did. I have a Western Auto Revelation r100b single shot .22 lr/l/s bolt action rifle. Some kind of mossberg remake.

As a kid I remember being with my dad at the local monkey wards, located in a shopping mall, looking at guns. Different times.

 

[s&wchad]

Yup, worth $150 all day long. I'd buy as many as I could find at that price!

Sears had guns made for them by Winchester, Savage/Stevens, Hight Standard, Marlin, Mossberg, etc… They were very similar to standard production models, with only minor cosmetic changes and designed to sell at a price point.

You gotta love the way Sears identified their various models.
NO. 101.512220 sure has a nice ring to it!

FYI - The Blue Book of Gun Values has a cross reference of store models in the back. IYou don't really need it, since it's easy to tell who made them by the factory proof marks.

 

[AlHunt]

I've had a hankering for a double in each of 12 and 410 for some time now. THAT was a steal.

 

[Old_Cop]

Well worth $150!

 

[CajunBass]

I'd have been on that like a hobo on a ham samich.

The first gun I ever picked out and paid for myself, was one of those Sears doubles, in 12 ga., with 30" full/mod barrels, and double triggers. I was about 15 years old, and worked on a farm for $5.00 a day to pay for it. I think it was $79.95 in the Sears catalog back then. My mother called Sears on the phone and ordered it for me. It came on the "Sears truck" a couple of days later. That's all that was needed in those pre GCA-68 days. It was a COD delivery. Mine didn't have the "checkering" yours has, and was only chambered for 2 3/4" shells.

I missed my first deer with it. Not the guns fault I promise. He trotted out from behind a lap pile, looking like Bambi's Daddy about 25 yards away. I was dumb and green and tried to lead him like you would a bird. Duhhhh! I shot in front of him. He looked at me as if to say, "What are YOU doing here? BOY!" then trotted off into the woods. I totally forgot I had the second barrel.

I foolishly sold it to a co-worker.

BTW. The only shotgun I've got today is a Sears 12 ga. pump I got about 1978. That one has put a few deer on the ground.

I didn't know of any place to buy a gun, except Sears for a long time.

 

[Richard Simmons]

Congratulations! It's been over 50 years but if my memory serves the first shotgun I used to hunt pheasant and quail was a 16ga from Montgomery & Ward. It was a double barrel with double triggers and a Rynite butt stock and forend. Pretty sure it was a rebranded Stevens 311.

That was probably back in the fall of 69-70. The gun already had some years on it. Can still recall the wrist of the stock being wrapped in that old, white medical tape with the area around the tang safety cut out. I'm guessing the Rynite furniture was prone to cracking hence the tape job. Those were the days before duct tape.

Some time before he passed grandpa sold it to a neighbor. It wasn't the best shotgun by far but it was one of those guns we all tend to want to keep. I've yet to run across one like it but if I did I'd likely get it for old time sake.

The stock material was actually Tenite not Rynite as noted in post #21.

 

[max]

I helped a friend clean out her sister's house a couple of months ago. I mentioned here that I was given a Winchester M-12 Featherweight for my time. I also gave her a fair amount of cash.

One of the other guns is a Ranger double barrel 20 gauge. It will sell at a household auction soon. It was a Stevens made for Sears.

 

[44wheelman]

Back in the days when guns were hardware, and sold at such.

 

[Hair Trigger]

Apparently this is just a Sears branded Stevens 511, a descendant of the venerable Savage 311. Seems sturdy to me. It needs a buttplate, but thats an easy fix.

Savage (as Savage Industries) has owned Stevens since 1920, so the 311 is also a Stevens. Stevens was still operated as a separate company until the mid-1940's; their production was in Utica, NY. It was moved to Chicopee Falls, NY in 1946, and in 1961 was consolidated with Savage production in Westfield, Mass. You should see that on the barrel stamp, which would give you a general idea of the guns age. Model 5100 was the shotgun used as a "store brand" the old savage and Stevens catalogs don't list the M5100. It only differs from the 311 and 511 in cosmetics, the actions of the 5100, 311, and 511 are all the same, with a few parts differences from improvements over model years. The 5100 usually had the cheaper finish, a painted stain on a lower grade wood. The 311 and 511 was a tad more upscale, with clear stains on higher grade stocks. The Fox Model B was the highest level of these shotguns, as Savage had also bought the A.H. Fox Company in 1929, and continued to build their shotguns as AH Fox until 1942, after which production stopped on those fine shotguns. The Fox name was used to make a more upscale version of the 311, using quality walnut stocks and the metalwork was more adorned, but the lockworks were the same, an Anson-Deely box lock action. Savage Industries was reorganized as Savage Arms in the mid-1980's and stopped production of these shotguns (311, 511, Fox B).

My first double was a Stevens 311H, which I sold after a couple of years when I found a Fox Model B. These were both 12 gauge. Since then, I've found a 16 gauge and a 20 gauge Fox B.
My 12 and 16 gauge were both made in Westfield, Mass, but my 20 gauge was made in Chicopee Falls, NY.

They are great shotguns, regardless of the brand stamp. You can see from the parts breakdown that all these guns are pretty much identical. And speaking of parts, some of them are getting harder to find, hammers and firing pins in particular. Hammers are paired, and right side parts generally get more wear than left, as the right barrel gets used more. Most of these guns are choked modified on the right and full on the left, although you can find others in Imp cyl/right, and modified/left.

 

[jtcarm]

My dads original shotgun was a plastic-stocked Montgomery Wards SxS.

It ended up with my brother.

 

[Patrick L]

My son is a rabid Boston Red Sox fan. One of these days I'd like to find one of the old "Ted Williams" Sears shotguns in decent shape and give it to him.

 

[Buick]

Nice shotgun. I too try to buy any excellent condition American made double i run across. That would be a 300 dollar gun in my locale. I found a wonderful Montgomery Wards "Herculese" hammer double a couple years back. Surprisingly it is choked improved cylinder and modified with a mid barrel bead. Its in super shape.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have a pre WWII Ward's branded Savage/Stevens 310 (internal hammers instead of strikers!) in 30" 20 gauge Full/Fuller. Someone restocked it with AAA Walnut and set it up as a youth or lady's trap gun (Beaver Tail fore end and "S" type pistol butt stock)! That gun refuses to miss at Sporting clays (which usually has IC/Mod chokes). I've hit 50-60 yard crossing birds and smoked them. I too paid $150 but about 15 years ago.

Ivan

 

[CajunBass]

I remember when I was drooling over the Sears "wish book" trying to decide which gun I as going to order, that they listed those doubles with both 28 and 30 inch barrels, choked full/modified. They also had a 26" one with Mod/IC.

I was sorely tempted, to go for the 26" one, being almost under the spell of Jack O'Connor, who preached shorter barrels and more open chokes, but I couldn't go against the locals who preached full choke for anything. Even getting a modified choke was radical in those circles. And anything less than 30" barrel was a girls gun.

You could get laughed out of the pre-hunt get-together if you showed up with a 28" one.

 

[clang444]

I've had a few of these shotguns too and still have a store brand in 16 ga and Fox Model B in .410. One thing to note is that many of these guns do not have serial numbers, Savage didn't bother putting them on until late production.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Still got my Sears 20 Ga.

 

[bill-in-texas]

I love timely threads...

I just came across a Westfield-marked 311D last week.
It had cracks in the stock wrist, unfortunately. The mechanics seemed sound and it wasn't priced too high, as I recall.
Nonetheless, I just had to examine it closely. I'm intrigued by the vintage stuff, and find it fascinating that freemen could order from a catalog and have delivery to their front porch back in my dad's younger days. (He's 87.)

Good information, y'all!
Thanks for the further education.

-Bill

 

[DWalt]

The first shot I ever took was with my father's Western Field (Montgomery Wards) .22 bolt action single shot. I think it was from Mossberg. I am sorry I sold it in the estate sale after he died. Several years ago I traded into a Sears O/U 12 Gauge made by Antonio Zoli. A very nice gun, but it had double triggers, fixed F/M chokes, extractors only, and it was somewhat difficult to open and close. I sold it without ever firing it.