I had to go to California last week to take care of more of my Dad's estate. (It's still in probate 27 months after his death. If you want to punish your heirs, be a resident of California when you die.) I was primarily dealing with the final disposition of his house. I had  left one firearm there, mostly because I couldn't drive it across the Canadian border on my way to Alaska. It is, as the title of the thread states, a US government issue Stevens Model 620 pump 12 ga. "riot" shotgun. It ain't 'pretty', but as 'they' say, "It gets the job done".

Here are some pictures.



The "US" and Flaming Bomb - you can just detect the flaming bomb at about "2 o'clock" relative to the "US".


Here's the model stamp. I note that there is also a "Flaming Bomb" in this image too:


And here is the Manufacturer's label:


It won't get much use, but then it hasn't had much use for the past 50 years. Note the Parkerized finish.

Paul

Quote from: gitano;115677It ain't 'pretty', but as 'they' say, "It gets the job done".
Paul

It's comely and still a thing of beauty. I like it.

RJ

You can send her over to my house, all homely girls like her find likeable company at my place; every last one looks pretty up beside me.

looks sweet to me............Ron

Don't get me wrong, fellas. I 'like' it. But this is what I think "pretty" is:

http://members.toast.net/keithkearcher/examples.html, and

http://www.customgunmaker.com/images/Ithaca16L.jpg, and

http://bertramandco.com/Winchester70.338.html, and

http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/projects.htm, and so on.

We've been down this path before - "working" guns have 'a certain' kind of 'beauty', but the guns above have 'actual' beauty.

The Stevens is appealing because of it's history, but I wouldn't buy one today when there are 'better' ones (and even 'prettier' ones) 'out there'.

Paul

Paul,
 
You have made your point about beauty so I'll say I like the pump action shotty especially because we can't have them here.
 
Secondly I loved those links but I also disliked them. I loved them as that was the best eye candy I have seen for a while when it comes to firearms, but I disliked them because they make my rifle collection look like cinderella's ugly step sisters.
 
Cheers
 
Jorge

Quotethey make my rifle collection look like cinderella's ugly step sisters.

Mine too...

Paul

The US marking on that Stevens makes it look like a stack of thirty one hundred dollar bills to me and that shotgun is beautiful!:grin: I saw the flaming bomb proof.....any stock cartouches?????Regards, Rick.

All those ugly SS rifles make me sick. ......Paul H

Quote from: Paul Hoskins;115797All those ugly SS rifles make me sick. ......Paul H

Especially because they are single shot rifles

Sorry I didn't get back to you on this, Rick.

There are no cartouches that I can find. There are some stamps on the metal that are commonly found on USGI firearms though. There is a "P" behind the trigger guard but on the metal, also one on the barrel and the front of the receiver as can be seen in the third picture above. There is an "M" in front of the trigger guard  on the trigger guard assembly.

The serial number is 17,???. I don't think there are any records that associate serial numbers and manufacture dates for Stevens civilian firearms, but maybe there are some for the military ones. If you find anything out, let me know, please.

Paul

I know little about these, however, anything that is in that outstanding condition with US property markings is very valuable! Regards, Rick.

It's just another of the guns my Dad took off of the line when he was at RRAD in '63. I'm confident in my belief that it hasn't been shot since then. It would have been nice TODAY if he had kept the hand-guard and bayonet mount on it. However, "collecting" wasn't his perspective in '63 AND it may have never had those additional parts as there were MANY issued without them.

Paul