The Steven 525 is one you don't see every day. Actually, you don't see them but once every 10 years or so. You may know the Stevens 520 shotgun, a Browning patent, like the nice 1910 one I posted about the other day. Well this is the other one I found recently. It was at a farm auction back East. I actually have a video of the auctioneer showing it to a bunch of greybeards who just shook their heads as it got over 2 C-notes. Looked like a crusty old barn gun to them. I was nervously hopefull they didn't start bidding.
I won it, and have decided to call it the Deer Gun, for reasons that will become evident.
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This Stevens 525 was a Deluxe, special order only shotgun. This one ordered with premium AAA grade walnut, a horn pistol grip cap, checkering, and an item becoming a new fad - a full length "hollow" lightweight rib. It also has a fairly high polish, charcoal blued receiver. It has a 32" full choke barrel, and a short 13 1/2" pull.
They were made starting in about 1911, and continued to be made until about 1916. By that time WWI had started for most of the World, and Stevens had other manufacturing projects. After the war, the 525 never came back. Records are lost for Stevens, I'd estimate a hundred or so of these were made from 1911-1916.
Compared to English side by sides, American guns were pretty plain. They were made for hunting, not showing off. Engraving could be had in the next higher versions (530 and 535) which are almost never seen. A lower version 522 was the "Trap Shooter." model with straight wrist. The 525 cost double what the field grade 520 cost, at $50. That was a LOT of money back in 1911. As a comparison, a Winchester 94 was $16, A Colt SAA was $15. For shotguns, a Winchester 1897 was $21 and a Browning Auto-5 was $30. It's interesting how expensive shotguns were compared to rifles, in the period. Pumps started becoming the shotgun preferred in America, with the 1897 and this one and a couple others being early.
This one has amazing wood, one thing I was certain it would have. Even as crusty and dirty as it was when I bid on it and got it home, I expected nice wood. You couldn't tell anything about the wood under the gray dirt. The case hardened bolt was also too dirty to see, and the rib's anti-glare tooling was full of oil and dirt - it looked like a solid metal top with no wriggle-work. A hunter had decorated the stock with a hand incised deer head, that was all I could see in the black, oil soaked stock. He also notched the buttplate 11 times, probably for his deer.
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After cleaning, conserving, with a gentle hand. It was black from the edge at the receiver to past the checkered wrist, saturated, weeping Petroleum based oil. It's original varnish was long gone. I had to clean the oil-soaked wood. I didn't want to have the wood deteriorate in the wood to metal fit areas, which it will if not remedied.
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And here it is, ready for functional testing and a trip to the Trap range, a 114 year old pump, from before the Model 12 came out.
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I won it, and have decided to call it the Deer Gun, for reasons that will become evident.
This Stevens 525 was a Deluxe, special order only shotgun. This one ordered with premium AAA grade walnut, a horn pistol grip cap, checkering, and an item becoming a new fad - a full length "hollow" lightweight rib. It also has a fairly high polish, charcoal blued receiver. It has a 32" full choke barrel, and a short 13 1/2" pull.
They were made starting in about 1911, and continued to be made until about 1916. By that time WWI had started for most of the World, and Stevens had other manufacturing projects. After the war, the 525 never came back. Records are lost for Stevens, I'd estimate a hundred or so of these were made from 1911-1916.
Compared to English side by sides, American guns were pretty plain. They were made for hunting, not showing off. Engraving could be had in the next higher versions (530 and 535) which are almost never seen. A lower version 522 was the "Trap Shooter." model with straight wrist. The 525 cost double what the field grade 520 cost, at $50. That was a LOT of money back in 1911. As a comparison, a Winchester 94 was $16, A Colt SAA was $15. For shotguns, a Winchester 1897 was $21 and a Browning Auto-5 was $30. It's interesting how expensive shotguns were compared to rifles, in the period. Pumps started becoming the shotgun preferred in America, with the 1897 and this one and a couple others being early.
This one has amazing wood, one thing I was certain it would have. Even as crusty and dirty as it was when I bid on it and got it home, I expected nice wood. You couldn't tell anything about the wood under the gray dirt. The case hardened bolt was also too dirty to see, and the rib's anti-glare tooling was full of oil and dirt - it looked like a solid metal top with no wriggle-work. A hunter had decorated the stock with a hand incised deer head, that was all I could see in the black, oil soaked stock. He also notched the buttplate 11 times, probably for his deer.
After cleaning, conserving, with a gentle hand. It was black from the edge at the receiver to past the checkered wrist, saturated, weeping Petroleum based oil. It's original varnish was long gone. I had to clean the oil-soaked wood. I didn't want to have the wood deteriorate in the wood to metal fit areas, which it will if not remedied.
And here it is, ready for functional testing and a trip to the Trap range, a 114 year old pump, from before the Model 12 came out.
