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Stevens 520 Trench Gun Build


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Ive finally found a nice affordable Stevens 520 that I can build into a trench gun. Its a Riverside Arms so there wont be any confusion as to its pedigree after Im dead and gone but will definitely look cool at 10 feet. Numrich has the correct uncheckered forend and uncheckered butt so Ill probably get those ordered soon. Ill give East Taylor another try as they list a correct Stevens 520/620 heat shield. Anyone here messed with a Stevens 520 or 620 trench or have an original theyll share photos of? Im curious about the lower swivel, looks like a piece of stock is milled out and the swivel is inlet into the flat spot. How far from the buttplate? Also it looks like the end of the bayonet lug is flush with the end of the bbl. This build shouldnt be as hard as my Winchester M12 as the bbl takedown on it does not affect the trench gun features. Gotta love a Browning.

 

Hopefully it will look like this.

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Edited by Baltimoreed11754
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You're in luck. The correct butt swivel for the Stevens 520 trench gun (and the 620) is the same as the stamped butt swivel for the Thompson M1A1 submachine gun. The butt stock is inletted on the bottom to take the swivel. I'll have to dig my 520 out to measure the distance of the swivel from the butt plate.

 

A few years back now an company in Louisiana called Counterfeit Trench Guns built beautiful Stevens 520 & 620 trench gun replicas. They're perfect, except that the serial number ranges are for post war sporting guns, and they didn't try to replicate the martial markings. Otherwise, they're really beautiful. I suspect that CTG used the steel East Taylor repro hand guards. CTG had a real master who did the refinishing. He blued the heat shield portion of the guard, and left the bayonet mount the correct brownish red. Beautiful work!

Edited by TSMGguy
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Ive ordered a plain uncheckered 520A buttstock and pump forearm from Numrich and found a stamped M1A1 sling swivel in my stuff though to me the milled ones look nicer. Would a khaki or od Kerr sling be appropriate? Got a bid in on a heat shield. Cant wait to get my build started. Edited by Baltimoreed11754
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The wood came from numrich, very nice. Won the bbl and heat shield auction. They came the other day. The heat shield is a little nicer that the first one I got for my M12 build but Im not sure about the screw holes. Still waiting for the shotgun.

 

Update 9-30. gun is at ffl so Ill pick it up this week. I have a Martini Cadet coming too so I might wait a few days for it to arrive and pick up both. No hurry.

Edited by Baltimoreed11754
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  • 2 weeks later...
Ready to start the build. Im leaving the 30 inch original bbl alone and am going to have the original complete front end and a second trenchgun front end. A two bbl Stevens. But I couldnt stand it so I swapped bbls around and put 5 rds on my plate rail. A very slick fast gun, loads like a M12. I did clean up my lower swivel and blued it, turned out nice.

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Edited by Baltimoreed11754
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I have a Stevens Model 520-30 Trench shotgun, but it is missing the barrel shroud. Where did you find your barrel shroud?

 

I took measurements of the sling swivel position on the buttstock. I have included the photos below.

 

IMG_6418.jpgIMG_6419.jpg

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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David, that is exactly the measurement I need. Thanks. My heat shield is supposed to be an East Taylor unit made especially for the Stevens bbl dimension. I found it on fleabay. It is a friction fit and will stay on the cut down bbl by itself. I left it on when I shot my plate rail the other day and it slid forward a couple of inches. It looks to be better than my first experience with an ET product. Hopefully it will tighten up like my M12 unit did. I hunted around and found a complete mag tube and handle/operating rod so my plan is to leave the original front half of the gun intact and build a second trenchgun front half with my bits and pieces. Thats the true beauty of this design. Im currently working on a project for my son and daughter in law to earn some brownie points but next week I want to get this build started. If I have any other questions Ill let you know. BTW does your 520 have the 3 notches cut into the bbl? Thanks again. Edited by Baltimoreed11754
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  • 5 weeks later...

Baltimoreed11754,

 

Yes, mine has the 3 notches cut in the barrel.

 

attachicon.gif IMG_6421.jpg

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

 

Hi, David,

 

Those cuts make installation of the East Taylor repro Stevens bayonet mount/handguard easy. As mentioned, I have these on both 520 and 620 "counterfeit" trench guns. The mounts are all steel, well made, and are very convincing. They lack the original Stevens "S" marking. They fit perfectly, do not shoot loose under recoil, and the spot welds don't come loose.

 

Don't know whether East Taylor offers these finished or not, or whether they can finish for you. You might contact them. Link below.

 

Regards,

 

Howard

 

http://www.partsforantiqueguns.com/Stevens_trench.html

Edited by TSMGguy
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The correct slings for WWII Stevens 520 and 620 trench guns are the M1907, M1917, and M1923 slings.

 

Only Stevens 620, Ithaca Model 37, and Winchester M12 trench guns remained in US inventory and service after WWII. The rest were sold off as surplus, given to police forces, or provided to other nations as military aid. There's no doubt that web M1 slings found their way onto these guns too, so take your pick.

 

Personally, I prefer the Stevens 620 trench gun to the 520. It's faster handling and the safety doesn't bite your hand. Both kinda pale in comparison to the light, slick handling Winchester M12. Counterfeit Trench Guns, LLC, converted these in addition to their Stevens offerings, but they cost about three times as much at the time. The barrel tapers are different between civilian and military M12s, which had a straight taper. The East Taylor bayonet mount repros may take this into consideration but don't know for sure. Call and ask.

 

Gunparts has repro 520 & 620 butt plates. These are made of some kind of black plastic that's easily shaped and fitted. They also have beautiful new blued butt plate screws. Look for the screws under the appropriate model listings. The sling swivel uses the same screws and 1 1/4" swivel found on the M1A1 TSMG.

 

Several places have reproduction wood, including this seller. He includes a new butt plate:

 

http://www.gun-parts.com/savagestocks/

Edited by TSMGguy
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Also, Gunparts has repro Stevens 520 and 620 butt plates. These were originally hard rubber. The repros are some kind of black plastic, but they're inexpensive, so I ordered one. I just screwed the new plate to the butt and marked the plastic to be removed with a pencil. I then removed the plate and filed off the excess. Then, I wrapped masking tape around the stock just forward of the butt plate to protect the wood, screwed on the plate again, and started shaping with progressively finer grades of sand paper wrapped around a small sanding block. Final smoothing is done with 0000 steel wool for a smooth, slightly glossy finish. The butt plate now looks like it was a professionally fitted. It looks new, and really nice.

 

Stevens trench guns did not have cut or press checkered wood. Their earlier 520 and 620 sporting models didn't either, and wood is pretty easy to find. Each original butt stock will have a serial number under the wood line that doesn't show on an assembled gun. I've never seen a serial number on a 520 or 620 slide grip. It wouldn't be surprising to find that someone's making reproduction stocks.

 

Gunparts has new correct butt plate and sling swivel screws, too. These are new and beautifully blued, so no need to put up with damaged originals. Look under the correct Stevens shotgun model for the butt screws. The swivel screws are identical to those used on Thompson SMG swivels.

Edited by TSMGguy
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