my late "Uncle Vern" had an original Stevens 520-30 trench shotgun from WW2 that I found fascinating in my youth.. It was his tractor gun and it showed... patina lol... he shot 3 inch magnums in it often... 'they just hung up sometimes'...
well Uncle Vern was actually my uncle's bachelor brother that lived with my aunt & uncle... so even tho I was the only person to ever clean and oil the thing, when it was time, he gave the gun to a real nephew.. sad, but I understood.. but I also never knew what a challenge it would be to find one.. it ends up it is a rare model... and regularly sell for over 3 grand... too much for my blood...
so anyway 3 years ago... I was at a gun auction with a friend selling some of his collection and I find a westernfield hunting model version... I end up winning it for $145 plus fees... after explaining it to the better half I started talking to my go to gunsmith about building a tribute gun...
well 2 years ago I dropped off the old field gun to my buddy... it took quite a while to assemble the "correct" reproduction parts and finally get it wrapped up...
so I got to see it all together for the first time yesterday... still a little tweaking to get it running 100% but I am very pleased how it turned out..
now I did not want to create a "forgery".. just a tribute so I had VERN engraved into the receiver.. so now I have attached before & after images for your enjoyment...
well Uncle Vern was actually my uncle's bachelor brother that lived with my aunt & uncle... so even tho I was the only person to ever clean and oil the thing, when it was time, he gave the gun to a real nephew.. sad, but I understood.. but I also never knew what a challenge it would be to find one.. it ends up it is a rare model... and regularly sell for over 3 grand... too much for my blood...
so anyway 3 years ago... I was at a gun auction with a friend selling some of his collection and I find a westernfield hunting model version... I end up winning it for $145 plus fees... after explaining it to the better half I started talking to my go to gunsmith about building a tribute gun...
well 2 years ago I dropped off the old field gun to my buddy... it took quite a while to assemble the "correct" reproduction parts and finally get it wrapped up...
so I got to see it all together for the first time yesterday... still a little tweaking to get it running 100% but I am very pleased how it turned out..
now I did not want to create a "forgery".. just a tribute so I had VERN engraved into the receiver.. so now I have attached before & after images for your enjoyment...
