Modifying the Stevens 311 to Enhance Usability

[JWFilips]

Never made it more useable as per the thread posting but it made it mine
Also I honed out the tubes to shoot modern Plastic shells
You would be surprised how tight the tubes were with modern plastic shells

[nagantguy]

I went through many of these same headaches making my 311 into a coach gun, the barrels had a bulge right at the end of the muzzle, cleaning/stoning everything was a huge help as was underpowered springs, I also I let the wood of the forearm and put a brass weight in there to help the barrles open and stay open enough to get out old shells and get new ones in, I've hunted birds with it since it's been reborn, swings like a dream and with both tube now having true ip bores sure puts up a nice cloud of light shot, buck shot is a vertical spread on a man size target out to 50 yards and the 2 brands of slugs I've tried print high but centered about two inches apart. I plan on playing with it more for a slug load an be ready for our boar hunting trip!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I did the mod to the cocking lever tonight. It wasn't very hard at all. Since I had the entire receiver apart I was able to just stick the cocking lever in and pin it and then try the barrel drop a number of times. I used my Foredom Flexible Shaft Tool and a 1/4" grinding stone to do the work. I fiddled with it so I could understand how it worked and I could do another in about 5 minutes now that I know what to do. See Pics:

Surprisingly it came out looking pretty much like the drawing on the website that I originally Googled. If you look at the pics you can see that the lever has an odd radius on the face now. Note: right in front of the black mark is where I started with the grinding. Previously it was a smooth radius (about 1/2"), and thinning out the tip is what gives you the extra barrel drop. The whole idea is to get the barrels to drop a little further before the Hammers actually go past the sears.. The step on the lever then contacts the Breach Face which stops downward travel of the barrels. Obviously the Hammers still must go past the Sears or the Hammers won't stay cocked .

I went a little farther and polished the face of the lever a little more and it all works pretty smoothly now and the breach opens about another 1/8-3/16" More than enough to eject and reload it without fighting it.

I also did a lot of work on the Barrel Locking Lever and it's related parts so that when you open the gun it doesn't hang up. All the parts were pretty rough and deburring and breaking edges worked wonders and it all moves really smoothly now.

I also put a dimple in the rear tang of the receiver that I will fill with red paint to indicate the fire position of the safety.

This gun is typical of any Working/Generic Gun made in the 50's-70's. No hand work whatsoever on the internal parts and you were left to break it in during use.

Here's some pics of the Cocking Lever as I ground on it.

Randy

[Drm50]

Op your 311 has probaly not been shot that much, I know exactly what you are talking about,
when these 311s get to well used state they will drop to bottom of travel with no pressure needed. I have a Fox B action, always wondered if 311 barrels will fit it. The next 311 I get
I am going to check that out. When I cut doubles, I fill hollow of barrel rib with low temp silver
solder and draw file the muzzles, looks factory when done. If you want you can touch this up
with Birchwood Casey, Solder Black solution.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I am up to the reassembly part of this project and am finding that the firing pins don't protrude the same amount.

The right one is .040 and he left is .020. I'm wondering which one is right.

I already know that too much will impede the opening of the gun as the pins don't retract until the hammers start to move back during cocking. Then the little springs on the pins retract them below the breach face. Both will travel further under inertia but the retainer screws act as the hammer stops.

I am going to have to assemble the springs into the gun and test it to see what happens, and I have to make a spring compressor to do that. even the reduced power springs are pretty stiff and I can't even compress them at all by hand outside the gun.

It is going good though.

Randy

[Artful]

I am up to the reassembly part of this project and am finding that the firing pins don't protrude the same amount.

The right one is .040 and he left is .020. I'm wondering which one is right.

I already know that too much will impede the opening of the gun as the pins don't retract until the hammers start to move back during cocking. Then the little springs on the pins retract them below the breach face. Both will travel further under inertia but the retainer screws act as the hammer stops.

I am going to have to assemble the springs into the gun and test it to see what happens, and I have to make a spring compressor to do that. even the reduced power springs are pretty stiff and I can't even compress them at all by hand outside the gun.

It is going good though.

Randy

I'm confused - you lost one correct? and you remade it to match the existing - and the diagram shows both pins with same part# 12A
so why is one longer than the other?

[Drm50]

.020 is about right for protrusion. To long can cause punctured primers, and pin sheared off when
closing empty gun.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Art: I lost one of the hammer spring plungers, I have those now.

The firing pins are very close in length. it is how far they stick out when the hammers are against the stops that is different.

The height of the stops is what is different and that is because they are different heights in the receiver itself. The FP retainer screws are the hammer stops, and they are close to the same, but the counter bores in the receiver itself are different heights in relation to the hammer pivot pin thus one firing pin sticks out further than the other when the hammers are down on the stops like they are after the gun is fired. As you start to break the barrels open the hammers start to be cocked and then the firing pin retraction spring retract the pins behind the breach face. However the pins don't retract until after the barrels have started to move open which if the pins stick out to far into the spent primers makes it difficult to open the gun.

This is why I am wondering if these firing pins are supposed to be close to the breach face when held there by the hammers but use inertia to go further into the primer, then rebound. They both will go further than the hammers push them.

Randy

[rking22]

I have a 311 from the 50s that was little used and in very good working condition, I shoot some vintage skeet with it on occasion. I will look this weekend and see what mine looks like in the FP department. Maybe that can offer you some additional insight. Will post pics if it seems useful to the discussion.

[JWFilips]

Just keep in mind those tubes were made for paper shells! You really got to open them up if you use plastic!

[rking22]

It is mighty tight

[W.R.Buchanan]

Well after switching the pins from left to right they now are fairly close in protrusion so I went ahead and reassembled the receiver.

And it works! with no parts leftover!

The barrels don't rebound off the Hammer Springs now (reduced power hammer springs) and stay open all the way, and the trigger pulls are good also.

I have to tell you guys that the detailing all the internal parts made a substantial difference in the way this thing opens and closes and works overall. It is noticeably smoother than it was,,, partially because it is clean as well, but also because everything inside was deburred,,, and before,,, nothing was deburred.

Anyway I'm going to work on the wood now, and get that sorted out and refinished, and then shoot the thing and see how the barrels are regulated and decide to put sights on it or not. I also have to fill the void between the barrels in the front, and I will get around to that soon.

Here's some pics of where I'm at right now with the project.

Randy

[Artful]

Looking Good - glad to hear it's Working Good - and I hope to hear it Grouping Good.

Keep us posted Randy

[Lonegun1894]

Looks great to me!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Got a Buttstock Shell Carrier for it yesterday it will always have ammo on board now. Still need to work on the wood but been busy with other stuff. Still need to shoot the thing as well,,, maybe next weekend at the Short Range Silhouette Shoot.

Randy

[Hogtamer]

Pretty slick Randy, nice work. While you're working go ahead and install a good permanent recoil pad and make your shooting sessions enjoyable. A scabbard hung over the back of your truck seat makes for a good "carry" weapon too! Ok, I know, I'm from Georgia......

[Artful]

A scabbard hung over the back of your truck seat makes for a good "carry" weapon too! Ok, I know, I'm from Georgia......

Or shades of Romancing the Stone

[Hogtamer]

I'm glad WR listened to our VP and took his advice....don't even have to hit anything!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KEsaXk6Sc3k

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

How timely. Last Friday I purchased a Fox Sterlingworth 12 ga with double triggers. It is a little stiff when removing fired shells. I'll use this info to hopefully slick things up.

My goal was to get something to use in Cowboy Action Shooting. On Sunday morning I took it to the range and shot a round of trap against those with "snob guns". Danged if the ole gun didn't break 23 out of 25. 3 out of 4 of them moved over to the international trap range. I guess they don't like my new shotgun more than when I showed up with my Mossberg 835 that still had mud from a previous duck hunt on it. They don't know class when it is right beside them.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Hog: It was definitely JB's influence that inspired this build. However as much as I am not a fan of that regime,,, a Double Barreled Shotgun with short barrels is not a bad choice for home defense.

It is an easy gun to learn how to shoot and my wife could conceivably shoot it in the general direction of a threat by holding it under her arm pit and avoid the recoil.

I have a Limbsaver Slip On Recoil pad for it, and they really work good on other guns I have and it should cut the felt recoil of this gun down to virtually nothing with light trap loads or my pumpkin ball loads.

The beauty of these guns is that all you can do with one is break it open, insert shells, close it, pull triggers, repeat. Thus for someone who is unfamiliar with firearms it can act as a serious Force Multiplier with little training involved.

Since my wife isn't particularly interested in Firearms or Firearms Training, but does realize that it is possible that she might need to know something,,, If I can get her to hold still long enough to broach the subject,,, this gun is the easiest way to achieve the goal of having her competent enough so that she doesn't shoot me!

She couldn't handle my M500 on a bet and that would be my first choice in the house, but she could handle the double.

Anyway I will report back on her success or failure with the gun. Others may wish to follow with their spouses, and in todays environment the more people we have competent with firearms the better off we all will be.

You never know when the need will visit you or yours.

Randy