Double Trouble: Stevens Model 311

The first sign of trouble occurred at a Scout-sponsored Cowboy Action event. The shotgun instructor placed two fresh 20 gauge shotshells into the Stevens side-by-side and closed the action. Both barrels went off. Although surprised, no unscout-like words were released into the wild. Since all the safety rules were being followed, the discharges merely expended themselves downrange. A different shotgun was brought to the line, the event continued, and the Stevens was brought to my shop for inspection and work.

The Stevens 311-pattern shotgun is aside-by-side shotgun that you can find under the name Stevens, Savage, or Fox. These shotguns have two triggers and internal hammers. The internals are all pretty much the same among the different nameplates, primary differences being the furniture and finish of the metal work. Barrel lengths range from 26-30 inches. I own a similar example in 12 gauge with 30-inch tubes, full choke on the left and modified choke on the right.

My customer’s Stevens Model 311 is a Series Fmodel which have automatically resetting safeties and three-inch chambers. This particular shotgun had birch furniture with a walnut stain, a semi-beavertail forend, blued 28-inch barrels, and color case-hardened receiver. All in all, a very attractive example of the pattern. Upon examination, I found that if you fully opened the shotgun, thereby cocking the internal hammers, the firing pins would retract properly. There was still a problem, however.

Once cocked, pulling the left-hand trigger (the forward trigger) first, the left barrel only would fire. If you then pulled the right-hand trigger (the rear trigger), it would fire normally. If, on the other hand, you pulled the righthand trigger first, both hammers would drop, firing both barrels. This malfunction was consistently repeatable. The receiver side plate clearly indicates the model and series number of the shotgun.

After making sure the shotgun was not loaded, I first removed the semi-beavertail forend to examine the shotgun cocking mechanism. As is typical of these shotguns with their very heavy hammer springs, opening the shotgun fully to cock the hammers and make sure they are securely engaged on the sears requires some effort. More on that later. Feeling certain everything forward of the breech was functioning within specifications, I decided to remove the stock to expose the lockwork.

The shotgun had been fitted with an aftermarket recoil pad. The rubber was clearly marked where the screws were located. I removed the upper screw holding the recoil pad in place and rotated it down. This gave access to the screw holding the stock in place. Along flat-bladed screwdriver is required remove the stock screw. You will also need to remove the rear trigger guard woodscrew. The stock should easily slide off the upper and lower tangs, revealing the shotgun lockwork.

Note the position of the left and right hammers when in the full cock position. The hammer springs

are very stiff and the weight of the barrels when opening the action actually assist in setting the hammers properly. The hammers are well up inside the receiver shell, along with the cocking lever, mainsprings, and mainspring plungers. Knowing the nightmare involved in removing and replacing hammers in these shotguns, I decided to try working on the triggers and sears first. Note the relationship of the critical lockwork when the shotgun is cocked, ready to fire, and the safety on.

One of my gunsmithing mentors repeatedly said you had to know how things work before you can diagnose problems and repair them. Here you can see the design, function, and repair of the system. In this instance, you see the hammers fully back. Both hammers pivot on the same pivot pin. The sears pivot on their common pivot pin to engage the hammer sear surfaces. The longer arm of the sears pass outside the triggers and hook inward to rest on the large surfaces of the triggers themselves.

The safety toggle pivots to rest atop an angled surface cast into the extended end of the triggers to keep them from moving. The actual trigger and sear springs are not heavy springs. The hammer springs provide most of the energy in the system. Sliding the safety button forward on the top of the receiver pivots the toggle off the triggers.

Once the toggle is free of the triggers, pulling back on either trigger will cause it to pivot up, which pushes up on the sear causing the other end to pivot down from the hammer notch, releasing the hammer to fall forward to strike the floating firing pin in the breech face of the receiver. Troubleshooting and Remedy Cycling the action where I was able to watch the parts move, I could see the problem was centered in the left side of the shotgun.

The trigger and sear did not seem to move when the right trigger was pulled, however, both hammers dropped. This told me the triggers were not interacting and the issue was in deeper. The first step was to remove the sears. This is done by punching out the sear pivot pin. In this instance I was very lucky, because the sear about which I was concerned was the left one. It dropped from the receiver before the sear pin was fully removed.

What I found examining the sear was that the lip of the engagement surface of the sear was rounded up and had created a burr on the top side of the sear. The burr kept the sear from dropping fully into the shallow hammer sear notch. This condition resulted in

Punch out from the left side as the right end is knurled. The darkened area shows the heat treatment of the critical sear surface. The upper view shows the sear upside down and give a good view of the necessary angle required for positive engagement with the hammer. The blue coloration at the tip shows the extend of the heat treatment and hardening of the sear surface. The second perspective view shows no side wear that might be causing unwanted movement. the doubling when the right trigger was pulled.

Wanting to replace the sear, I called the usual suspects and found that none were available. I did pick up anew hammer just in case I needed one. My examination of the existing hammer by camera showed no wear on the notch. I took the original sear and carefully massaged the metal lip back in place. I moved the metal very slowly to avoid damage to the heat treat. Once the top of the sear was returned to its original smoothness, I carefully reangled the sear for a more positive engagement in the hammer sear notch.

As an added precaution, I removed a small amount of material from the sear where it engages the trigger. This allowed the sear spring more play for engaging the hammer. There was a small downside to this solution in the addition of a slight amount of creep to the left trigger but this was considered acceptable to the customer. Going out to the range and busting a string of clays suggested the shotgun had been returned to reliable function.

As the primary function of the shotgun was as a backup for the Scout Cowboy Action Shooting program there was no knowledge of when it would next be needed. Interestingly, the need arose three weeks into the summer program when the new coach gun started doubling. The old Stevens went back to work, reliably serving over two hundred students during the next five weeks. AG