They looked out of place in the rack – that pair of side-by-side shotgun barrels there amidst those belonging to single-barreled pumps and autoloaders, a bolt-action rifle or two, and a few “black guns” that I couldn’t identify.
I had been in this little shop only a few times previous, and in fact I had come this time just to use their FFL service to receive a gun through the mail. I hadn’t expected to find anything of interest, so I may have even done a double-take (no pun intended). But to lovers of shotguns with more than one barrel that distinctive twin-tube profile stands out like the prettiest girl at the dance; I walked around to see what was on the other end.
The barrels belonged to a Stevens 311A: 20 gauge, 28-inch barrels, un-checkered walnut with original butt plate, case colored action. And very clean; the barrel bluing was still nearly perfect, the case colors strong and bright, the wood nearly unblemished except for a couple of deep gouges in the forend, a little out of character with the overall condition. I thought: Wonder how that happened? A fall, or leaning it somewhere it didn’t belong? Bet someone was upset with themselves! Still, it was very crisp, one of the nicest I’d seen in a while. The few blemishes showed that the gun had been carried and shot, but it obviously had been well cared for. The date code stamp read N, denoting the year of manufacture as 1962. I was surprised when I looked at the tag and saw the very reasonable price, knowing the numbers one sees on even lower-rung doubles like this one in the shops and at gun shows, especially in the smaller gauges.
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