Restoring a Stevens 311 SxS - UPDATED 7-13-13

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ruggedruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
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462
Got an old Stevens 311 from someone awhile back. The gun had been sitting, exposed in an old house, with no A/C for years. When I picked it up, for example, it was a humid summer night and all the windows were open. It is fairly rusty, but not covered. The gun had this terrible, opaque finish on it. Almost a stain, almost a paint! I figured it wasn't a 'tenite' stock though I'd never seen one, and it didn't seem walnut, so I assumed birch.

It has a serial # that starts with the letter "D", followed by six numbers. I've read to different stories: 1) That a D prefix means it was built in 1954. 2) That pre-1968 guns only had a date 'code', and no letter in the serial #. The code would be a letter "D" for example, enclosed in a circle or something like that. So, really not sure when this gun was made.

The receiver is case-hardened. The rest is blued.

I disassembled the gun, and sprayed a coat of Citrus Strip on the wooden parts, finding two different woods. The buttstock, which I cleaned up first, appears to birch. The foreend came out darker and it appears to be walnut. (Note: I still have a few pieces to clean up, and neither has been sanded at all, just the stripping has been near done).

I had originally planned to buy a walnut stock set at some time, since I figured this to be birch. I really don't have the money at the moment to go that route. If I stick with the current setup, how could/should I stain the two pieces? If it was all walnut, would you just go Tru-oil? Should I go that route and stain the stock to match for now? Maybe I should just go ahead and buy the stock in walnut since I have the foreend. That'd make a nicer gun for sure.

I will have some other photos to add, along with questions, regarding the metal portions of this gun, and those will come later.

Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-16.jpg


> Is there such a thing as "real" case hardening and otherwise?
> There appears to be a small crack in the stock where it meets the receiver.
> Also, the wood of the stock is wider than the receiver and needs to be sanded down to fit properly.
Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-9.jpg


That's a pretty plain-looking foreend. I never guessed it was walnut underneath.
Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-11.jpg



Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-14.jpg


This is about as bad as the rust gets:
Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-10.jpg


A comparison of the wood grain of the two pieces.
Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-31.jpg


Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-32.jpg
 

TBear77

Single-Sixer
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Mar 14, 2005
Messages
342
Location
Idaho
Here's what I'd do.

1) Repair the crack in the buttstock. Then sand to fit closer to the metal.
2) Light coat of stain on the forearm. Then finish with TruOil or Spar Urethane.
3) Heavier coat on the buttstock to match the forearm. Finish to match forearm.
4) Keep your eyes open for a replacement buttstock in walnut.
5) In an inconspicious place on the case colored reciever, use Choir Boy copper pads (lightly) and lots of oil to remove surface rust. If the copper pads don't remove the case coloring, clean the rust off the exterior of the reciever. Use a copper solvent to remove any copper residue.
6) Use an old solid copper penny and lots of oil to remove rust from the barrels.
7) Once rust is removed, decide if barrels need to be reblued. I would not try to refinish the reciever.

Ted
 
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
1,443
Location
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I like the Savage/Stevens double guns. Good to see you are working to bring that one back. Regarding date, I extracted this from some info I researched some time back regarding a Stevens 311 20 ga I acquired (it's some info from Gun Digest):

"From October 1968 to March 1988 Savage/Stevens/Fox B doubles are serial numbered in a completely new serial number range beginning at A000001. The six digit (always) numbers, stamped only on the left side of the frame, not on the barrels or fore end or on the wood, are preceded by capital letters from A to E. The letters do not correlate to production years. The letter prefix accompanied the Savage/Stevens/FoxB/Springfield serial number on every gun they made from 1968 on. Beginning about 1978 numbers 1 to 20 were also stamped on the three major components, frame,barrels and fore end iron, to enable the factory to keep 20 guns of like model together in a group for packing in the standard 20 gun shipping carton."

Now, regarding stock finish, I would use walnut stain to match the two different wood pieces and finish using Linspeed or Tru-oil - stay away from the checkered areas with the finish, and I'd use a small brush and thinned down finish to put one very light coat on the checkered areas.

The cracked butt stock next to the receiver is common on double guns. I use thinned epoxy through a hypodermic syringe and/or work some thinned epoxy into the crack and use a heat gun to heat the wood and draw the epoxy into the crack. Clamp it until set - then sand and finish.

The case colors are not likely "real." If you can remove the rust using oil and fine steel wool while preserving the coloration - great! You can also do a passable re-do of the colorations with a cold blue solution on moderately heated metal - if you need some instructions on how to do that I can point you in the right direction.

Personally I would remove the rust on the barrels using the copper penny and/or steel wool and if they need refinish, put a rust blue on them.

Neat old utility grade double guns. Have fun with the restoration!
 

edlmann

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Apr 6, 2009
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lovely downtown Central Florida
ruggedruger said:
That's a pretty plain-looking foreend. I never guessed it was walnut underneath.
Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-11.jpg

A comparison of the wood grain of the two pieces.
Stevens311_Restrore_b4_-32.jpg

First pic absolutely looks like tonered/stained birch. Second pic less so, but it doesn't really look like walnut to me. I could easily be wrong, but it looks like birch with a stain that's penetrated further.

Walnut stocks are available from Boyd's and Gunstocks, Inc.. Maybe others.
 
Joined
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nice gun, lots of 'potential' I'd just clean ( lightly) the color cased receiver, useing brass/bronze wool, as for the barrels, they "need" to be polished out (buffed) and the rust and pitting removed, then its a question if you want to hot blue( rust blue?) or plum brown , the metal of the barrels.........as for the wood, repair the crack ( those are common) and try to stain (blend to match) the different woods, best you can, and a Tru oil finish will be just fine, and you'll have a nice gun....great candidate for a proper "restoration"
 

ruggedruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
462
Thanks for the advice so far, folks.

As for the wood, the grain of the foreend is open - it's like you can see the 'pores' of the wood, as is so obvious with oak, and maybe less so, with walnut (may be mistaken here). At first I did think it was darker stained, but the wood itself appears different.

Thanks for the info on the serial #s, cellar701. Let me check the stamps on my gun - there are some. I'll take some pics.

I've never worked on an older gun, (or any rusty gun for that matter), so I'm not familiar with the copper penny thing. I looked up some info online and tried it out tonight. It works pretty well, it seems. I started underneath the barrel, and I'll post pics of that sometime. So, the penny method is supposedly not supposed to harm the blueing? It will be harder it seems to get rid of rust from the grooved sight rib. Plus there are some scratches revealing shiny metal along that rib.

This is going to take awhile - I really shouldn't start this process for about 5 months, as I've got some big deadlines due before then - but the gun is literally calling me to do this!
 

ruggedruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
462
Here's a link to someone else's restore of a 311. They chose to Parkerize the metal.
http://frontlinearmory.com/gunsmithing/Stevens/stevens.htm

Also, the info I found online regarding the chokes is as follows. I thought I read that a penny will fit down a full choke, but not a modified. In this gun, a penny easily drops through both chokes.

The standard chokes were set by the barrel length:
12 Ga. - 24" & 26" = IC/M
12 Ga. - 28" & 30" = M/F (Mine has 30" barrels).
20 Ga. - 24" & 26" = IC/M
20 Ga. - 28" = M/F
16 Ga. - 26" = IC/M
16 Ga. - 28" = M/F
.410 - 26" = F/F
 

ruggedruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
462
I used the copper penny trick for awhile and then tried using #0000 steel wool with WD40, working very lightly, and starting on the underside. I was pretty happy with the results. However, I am not sure with what to expect as far as results are concerned. I can still see "flecks" in the finish, and am not sure if they are still surface rust, or pitting. Removing rust involves removing of iron, so I suspect pitting is expected. (PIC BELOW). Other than that, I think the barrels look awesome.


As for the wood, the foreend may NOT be walnut. Where the foreend is hollowed out (for the metal mechanisms), it is a very light colored wood, and in fact maybe birch. But if you look back at the photo of the two pieces, the foreend appears 'open-grained'. Both pieces have been stripped, and I can't wait to get to finishing them.

Both photos of the barrel show newly cleaned barrel with a thin coat of WD40 on them (which may make them appear darker).
bbl_after_1.jpg


bbl_after_2.jpg
 
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
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Orange County, CA
From looking at your pics, both stock and forend appear to be birch. The gun looks newer than '50s to me; most '50s 311s had walnut stocks of a slightly different profile, and weren't checkered.

I use bronze wool and Kroil to remove rust. You can get bronze wool at most True Value hardware stores, and it is the gentlest abrasive you can buy. Absolutely won't take off bluing (never tried it on case coloring) even with a heavy application of "elbow grease." Kroil is a handy penetrating oil I use to free up stuck screws and other frozen parts. I suspect any penetrating oil would work as well.

Those 311s are very tough guns. The balance of a 30" 12 is a bit cumbersome for an upland gun, but it would serve you very well in a duck, turkey, crow, or coyote blind--anyplace you don't have to lug it miles. You can take it on a boat and not be heartbroken if it gets wet, too. If it has 3" chambers, that's another indicator of a late production gun.

Glad you are bringing her back to life! A job very worth doing.
 

Pinecone

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Jan 29, 2007
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Maine
I have worked and/or restored a ton of these 311's. They also used "beech" as well as birch for the wood. I could be wrong, but the forearm looks like beech which can run the gamut of colors from white to yellow to reddish brown.................Dick :wink:
 

ruggedruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
462
Here is the buttplate for the stock. Some paint on it. Scuffed up. I don't mind in a way, but I might like to put a limbsaver on the gun.

Q1: If you were going to save and reuse it, how would you shine it up again (remove scratches)? Sand down, polish, buff? Or would you just buy a new plate? (15 bucks on ebay, and I'm sure on Bob's Gunparts, etc.)

Q2. I might add a limbsaver. I remember this thing kicked like a mule - more so than my Rem 870 Super it seemed. Which product to buy? Larry Potterfield from Midway USA seemed to display a pretty complicated method for adding that piece - and I'm sure it can be done without the specialized equip he shows.

I ought to try to determine my appropriate length of pull and see if I need to increase it.


311_refinish_023.jpg
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
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Kentucky
Were it mine, I'd spring for a new buttplate . . . just because . . . unless you're going to add a recoil pad.

Just a thought: If the stock length is right for you now, I'd just install the new buttplate and then NOT shoot the heaviest loads possible all the time. There are some pretty nice "reduced recoil" loads available, and of course skeet ammo isn't all that severe, either.

You're doing a nice job on that ol' gal. I still have, and shoot, my 16-ga 311-A that was the very first gun I ever bought back in like 1958 or so. Still works just fine, thank you.

:) :) :)
 

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