Higgins “102.25.” Truly - a rose by any other name! Such examples of these 520s include the Ranger Model 30 for Sears, the Western Field Model 30 for Montgomery Ward, the Riverside Arms Model 520 and the J.C. After this point the design continued on in the form of various “department store” re-brands, which by some estimates are more plentiful than the Stevens-marked shotguns. Guns were produced with Stevens rollmarks prior to 1929. However, they lacked such a model of their own to round out the product mix.įrom the gun’s inception, Stevens offered the 520 with two standard, full-choked barrel lengths: 28″ and 30″. Stevens Arms and Tool Company, as they knew slide-actuated repeating shotguns were becoming hot stuff at the dawn of the 20th century. The Stevens 520 began life in 1903 as a submitted patent by one John Moses Browning, which detailed a new shotgun with an internal hammer, locking-breech block, and a take-down design. Any firearm so ubiquitous certainly deserves a second look.
The relative lack of attention given to this shotgun is also a little unusual considering Stevens produced a few hundred thousand of the guns in multiple variations from 1909 all the way up through 1948. Not just figuratively, mind you: its distinctive “humpback” - egad, even a double humpback - strikes many as an ungainly feature. In this respect, the Stevens 520 is certainly the ugly ducking of Browning’s shotguns. The Winchester Model 18 are still being made as reproductions and are frequent companions of Cowboy Action shooters. Browning’s Superposed over/under shotgun and its derivatives remain beloved in the world of skeet and trap. Auto-5s are still knocking birds out of the sky. It’s amazing how many of these century-old designs are not just recognizable but still a part of today’s varied shooting cultures. If we start naming all of John Browning’s inventions, we’re going to be here a while so let’s just focus on the shotguns.
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