Savage/Stevens Model 512 Insights

I was once privileged to sit across from the Honorable Richard Beaumont, then Chairman of James Purdey and Sons, during a visit to London. The interview was scheduled to last 20 minutes. The Chairman graciously held up all incoming calls and kept me fascinated for 90 minutes explaining the methods and attention given to the manufacture of Purdey Best double rifles and shotguns.

During that time he mentioned his curiosity about the US preference for the over/under as compared to his countrymen’s traditional rapture for side-by-side barrels. I remember him stating, "If the eyes of Americans were positioned one above the other any question of their choice would remain unspoken." Of course, Mr. Beaumont fully recognized and appreciated our likes for the O/U aiming plane and lesser concern over shot group convergence and saw every economical reason for James Purdey and Sons not to ignore it.

Proof of that was in evidence. It was one of Purdey’s Best, an O/U made for an American customer, regally awaiting the arrival of its new owner while snuggled on royal purple velvet inside its custom-made English 410. Pictured here is the 12 gauge. It includes five choke tubes. The .410 received for this article had a fixed Modified choke upper and lower barrels to allow the use of steel shot. walnut case. The rust bluing of the barrels knew no depth. It seemed to be infinite.

The metal to wood fit was all but invisible. The gun was perfection and worth the high fivefigures being paid for the privilege of owning it. I’m not attempting to make a direct comparison between the Stevens Model 512 and a Purdey Best. The price alone makes that impossible. Besides, the only gunsmithing firm on this side of the pond allowed to even clean a Purdey was Griffin and Howe who once partially occupied the same building as the original Abercrombie and Fitch on Madison Avenue in New York City.

You, on the other hand, are quite likely to be called upon to service a Model 512. Field Stripping Place the safety switch (27) on SAFE. Open the action by turning the operating lever (16) to the right. Check to confirm no shells are chambered, put on your eye protection and close the action. The release lever is center located in the underside of the forend (13). While pulling the wood away from the barrels, swing open the lever toward the rear of the gun. Open the action and lift away the barrels.

It won’t be necessary to pull on the lever again when reinstalling the forend. Just place the rear of the wood in position and push it toward the barrel. It should snap right into place. Do not use excessive force at any time during field stripping or final reassembly. Detailed Disassembly You must proceed with this as follows: Stock, Forend, Hammer Spring Assembly, Safety, Trigger, Sear, Hammer, Firing Pins and Operating Lever. Savage/Stevens factory guys tell me that this order is vital.

Equally so is to make copious notes or sketches or both as you move along. Reassembly is in exactly reverse order. Advised is the use of a clear plastic bag large enough to en-

close your hands, any small tooling being employed and the receiver. If the large bag seems a bit much, at least use a number of small plastic ones. Each will contain all the individual parts of an assembly and be magic marked according to content, such as, firing pins, operating lever, safety, etc. As specified, I begin with the stock. The butt pad screws have slotted heads. To prevent damage to the butt pad or screw heads, select a hollow ground driver with a blade width of about 0.210.

Dip the blade in Vaseline before inserting it into the pad and engaging the screw. You only have to back out the top screw and loosen the bottom one. Then rotate the pad down to reveal the back end of the stock. Eight inches down inside is the 11mm hex head stock retaining screw. It’s surrounded by a hole too small for a standard 11mm socket and set too deep for my 3/8-inch extension to reach. The latter was easily solved at the local hardware store and the addition of a 12-inch extension to my tool inventory.

The next problem is the socket itself. If forced down far enough to grab the hex head there is a definite danger of splitting the wood and that would mean writing out a check to Savage Arms for anew stock. Luckily, I had been previously clued in by the service ‘smiths up in Westfield that they grind down their sockets to fit within the bolt hole. Obviously, I opted to do the same and opted to use my small EMCO lathe.

The outside diameter of the bolt gripping end on my socket measured extension end miked out at 0.670. OK, I had to turn off about end to eliminate stock damage. I also made sure to tap the socket down on my bench top and seat it firmly in the extension. There were several times soon to come I’d want to remove the rig and check my socket reduction progress.

If the socket and extension ever became As expected it is neither easier nor more difficult than any other over/under shotgun to accomplish. separated in the process there was no way I could fish the socket out of the stock. Fortunately, all went well. Once the bolt was removed, the stock, being tightly fit, required a gentle bump on the bench to encourage its letting go of the receiver. That brings me to the forend. Look inside its barrel channel. The large screw at the front end is one retaining screw (12).

The second retaining screw (14) is located farther back. Beneath the drive is the modified blade driver for spring compression. At the bottom, marked at the stock bolt-head depth, is the hard wood dowel used by the author. Both are backed out to access parts #7 through #11. The latter is the forend latch pin. Like all pins in the Model 512, it is removed right to left and replaced left to right. Next on the list is the hammer spring assembly (34).

You’ll need a tool you have probably fabricated previously to tackle this. It’s a small blade driver with a notch cut in it large enough to span the hammer but not allow the spring to pass through. Insert the tool between the

front of the upper hammer and its spring. Compress the spring to the rear. Remove the hammer, spring and balance of the assembly. Do the same with the lower hammer. Mark the hammers so you know which belongs up and which belongs down. The lower safety pin (31) keeps many small items captive. Study it and them. Push upward on the safety selector spring with a pair of long nose pliers. Nudge the pin outward and pull upward on the safety/barrel selector (27).

The safety retainer (29) will fall free and be very careful not to lose the upper safety pin (28) when removing the safety. Refer to the schematic. Above the trigger assembly area you’ll find three operating lever pins (26). There should be four. All of these pins are the same size but serving different purposes. One retains the upper firing pin, fits through the upper hole in the center post of the receiver and the notch in the firing pin (24).

Another retains the lower firing pin (25) in the same manner and fits through the next hole down in the receiver center post. You can use the fork tool to individually push each firing pin spring back far enough to allow removal of a retaining pin. Follow that by withdrawing the related firing pin. Mark each pin to differentiate upper from lower. Stick with the trigger assembly area of the schematic. That’s where most of the action to come will happen, not the least of which is the trigger itself (35).

I call your attention to how the drawing indicates a separate trigger return spring (38). News Alert! Due to a recent engineering change it’s not separate anymore. The trigger and return spring are now as one having been united by the trigger pin (36). So? So when you drift out the pin you’d probably want to apply a finger tip over the spring recess in the trigger if you haven’t already taped over it. I did neither, choosing to scrape the ends off a Q-Tip and stuff them in the recess.

As I have done many times over, you’ll discover these little balls of cotton on a stick are very handy for things other that cleaning out your ears. With the trigger free and its spring trapped inside, drift out the front (49) and rear (50) American Gunsmithing Association

guard pins. Remove the guard. Follow it with the trigger and spring. They come out downwards and together. Both right and left sears (42 & 43) are next along with their respective springs. These all should be marked for proper reassembly. If you fail to mark this and manage to get the sears back in where they weren’t located in the first place, the individual who owns the 512 isn’t going to be happy at all with your work. The hammer retaining pin (41) is actually the fourth top lever retaining pin (26).

Marking the hammers is equal in importance to marking the sears, so be alert. Drifting out the hammer pin instantly involves a couple of very, very fussy parts. They are the selector reel (46) and selector reel spring (47). Getting them out of the shotgun is no problem. Getting them back in is another matter entirely.

The Savage ‘smiths tackle this trying task by grabbing the top of the spring with long noses, starting the retaining pin back Schematic Notes The schematic drawing on the following page has been keyed to the areas containing parts involved with the detailed disassembly of the 512. (1) The Forend; (2) The Top Lever; (3) The Safety; (4) The Hammer Assembly; (5) The Firing Pin Assembly; (6) The Trigger Assembly; (7) The Stock. Note the center support in the receiver (15).

The holes in it critically relate to several assemblies as described in the text. *1 Barrel 2 Extractor 3 Extractor Retaining Screw 4 Front Bead 5 Center Bead 6 Choke Tubes 7 Forend Iron 8 Forend Locking Case 9 Forend Latch 10 Forend Spring 11 Forend Latch Pin 12 Retaining Screw 13 Forend 14 Retaining Screw *15 Receiver 16 Operating Lever *17 Top Lever Lock 18 Top Lever Pin through while pushing the spring down into the receiver and forward toward the breech face.

After detailing this procedure they then told me their best advice is to avoid messing with it at all. I recommend you do likewise. However, I didn’t entirely follow their boycott. At the same time I drifted out the hammer pin I replaced it with a slave pin and allowed the two selector problems to remain in the receiver. It worked for me. Why shouldn’t it work for you? In fact, I like the idea so much I’m going to buck it up to Savage Arms. Ah, but where is the third #26 pin and what’s it up to?

The third pin locates in the receiver center post to the left of and beneath the pin hole for the lower firing pin. This third # 26 pin retains the top lever rod (32). Remove it and you can lift out the operating lever (16). When you do, the top lever lock (17) will fall free. If necessary, and only then, the top lever pin (18) can be removed.

Be prepared before beginning re- 19 Top Lever Pin Long 20 Top Lever Pin Short 21 Top Lever Spring 22 Top Lever Spring Screw 23 Firing Pin Return Springs 24 Firing Pin 25 Firing Pin 26 Top Lever Retaining Pin 27 Safety/Barrel Selector 28 Safety Pin 29 Safety Retainer 30 Safety Selector Spring 31 Safety Pin *32 Top Lever Rod *33 Bottom Plate 34 Hammer Spring Assembly *35 Trigger 36 Trigger Pin moval.

Have a plastic bag over the top lever if and when you remove that pin because parts 19, 20 and 21 will be cleared for take-off and they love to fly. Generally speaking, box lock shotguns, whether over/under or side-by-side, are trickier to work with than side lock models. However, I don’t consider the Model 512 to be overly complex.

Be sure to move carefully, be certain of where you have to go as well as what you have to do getting there and, if at all possible, take sharp digital photos of how any assembly, large or small, appeared prior to working on it. If it looks the same and functions the same after you’ve put it all back together you did it right. If you still have doubts, a test firing will prove you did. On the other hand, such a test can also prove you didn’t put it all back together right.

If that’s ever the case always retrace your steps before handing the gun back to its owner. AG 38 Trigger Return Spring *39 Left Hammer *40 Right Hammer 41 Hammer Retaining Pin *42 Left Sear *43 Right Sear *44 Sear Spring 45 Trigger Inside Pin 46 Selector Reel 47 Selector Reel Spring 48 Trigger Guard 49 Front Trigger Guard Pin 50 Rear Trigger Guard Pin 51 Stock Assembly * indicates restricted to factory service

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