Very old gun, low brass or high brass?

mister2 · Post by **mister2** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:48 am

Hi I have a very old but in good shape Ranger 12ga SXS. I'm not sure who the mfr is but I've been told it's either a Savage, Stevens sold by Montgomery Ward as a store brand. I've had it looked over by a gunsmith and it is safe to shoot and I have shot #7.5 low brass shells through it with no problems. I would like to know if anyone here that still uses these older guns for pheasant hunting do you use low brass or high brass? I wasn't sure if the barrel could withstand the pressures of high brass shells. The gunsmith said it should be ok however he recommended using low brass shells only. I have not had any luck in finding low brass shells in the #4 and #6 shot that is why I am asking if anyone has experience with this.

Mountaineer · Post by **Mountaineer** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:10 am

Brass height is the poorest measure of pressure, ignore that advice!....go wiith low pressure RST shells if the gun has been determined safe.
But, if the same gunsmith suggested "low brass" then I might be more than a touch leery of any of his advice.

armand · Post by **armand** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:21 am

you could by a pair of minniskeeters and shoot 20gauge through it. i use them in my old shotguns all the time they make them in 410 but lose to much due to there size. 410 minniskeeters work well if your shooting damascuse sorry for the spelling keeps them safe.

BigShooter · Post by **BigShooter** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:16 pm

No one is going to want to give you advice over the internet that may endanger you, without seeing the gun, knowing its age, knowing the actual manufacturer & their other guns of the same vintage. I will tell you when we were hunting waterfowl in the early sixties we were shooting tons of 2 3/4 inch magnum factory & handloaded lead shotshells out of late 1930s, 1940s & 50s shotguns without incident. At that time I was shooting a Winchester Model 24 SxS I still own. Before I got it fixed by a gunsmith it would occasionally shoot both barrels at the same time, with magnum loads. Other than getting knocked on my butt once at age 12 (the log I was sitting on was lodged behind my bent knees), the gun itself never had a problem with the pressures.

BigShooter · Post by **BigShooter** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:32 pm

If that was a Ranger 400 it would've been a Stevens Model 311 SxS. If you can find any kind of a model number you likely will find a cross reference to the actual manufacturer on the internet.

The "Texas Ranger" Model was also an early Stevens SxS. It's pretty likely your shotgun is a Stevens Model 311. There's a picture of one in this old thread: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtop ... 5&t=237548.

If you have a 311 & want to try to determine the year of manufacture look at this info: http://www.gundigest.com/gun-collecting ... al-numbers

JIM K · Post by **JIM K** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 5:30 pm

go on our site and post question.

www.shotgunworld.com

mr.jhlove · Post by **mr.jhlove** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:53 pm

JIM K wrote:go on our site and post question.

http://www.shotgunworld.com

x2

rgsiii · Post by **rgsiii** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 9:16 pm

Mountaineer wrote:Brass height is the poorest measure of pressure, ignore that advice!....go wiith low pressure RST shells if the gun has been determined safe.
But, if the same gunsmith suggested "low brass" then I might be more than a touch leery of any of his advice.

This is absolutely correct. I would have the gun evaluated by somebody else.

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Very old gun, low brass or high brass?

Very old gun, low brass or high brass?

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