New Stevens 555

[scolopaxmatt]

Has anyone seen or had a chance to handle the new Stevens 555 OU?  If so, where as I've not seen a single one for sale in a shop or online.

 

[Doewhacker]

Who would even carry that up this way? Hmm I'll have to look them up.

[scolopaxmatt]

There's a nice little shop in Warrensburg that has a nice shotgun selection.  Nothing doing there though.  I even looked on Davidsons Gallery of Guns and nothing doing there either. 

 

I can always use another blue collar double hanging on the wall.

[Doewhacker]

Smittys might have one, you never know.

http://www.smittystrapping.com/pages/home

[Mr VJP]

They're made in Turkey, so supply gets short here in the US sometimes.  

 

Maybe they have stopped bringing them in until they fix the issue with both barrels doubling sometimes.  It has a single trigger and there have been reports of both barrels firing at once.  Since the gun only weighs 6 pounds, which is very light for a 3" mag 12 gauge, it can be a pain.

 

[scolopaxmatt]

That is light.  I wonder what a 20ga goes. 

 

The gun seems to have been pushed pretty hard at the SHOT show.  Both FS and OL ran blog posts and videos reviewing it.  That wasn't that long ago, so why would they cut the supply off after a market blitz?

[Mr VJP]

The 20 is only 5.5 lbs and is also a 3" chamber.  I think they are trying to resolve the doubling issue with the trigger and that has simply slowed the number of guns being shipped to America.

 

[scolopaxmatt]

The 555 replaces the 512.  I haven't heard or read anything about doubling issues... yet.  Perhaps this was a problem with the 512?

[bkln]

http://www.chuckhawks.com/stevens_555.html

[Mr VJP]

From what I've read, if you tend to squeeze the trigger like a rifle, it will double quite often.  If you pull the trigger hard and fast, it won't.  Apparently the trigger can be adjusted to a heavier pull to fix the problem.

 

I just wouldn't want it to double on me when I was shooting ducks with heavy 3" Mag loads in it.  At only 6 pounds total weight, that's gotta hurt.

 

 

[scolopaxmatt]

I've never had a gun double, but I imagine it would be quite a shock and suck a whole lot. 

[Mr VJP]

I've experienced it a few times and it is always an eye opener when it happens.  It will almost always happen on a double with two triggers if the shooter has a finger on each trigger when he fires the front one.  I've even done it intentionally in my youth a few times, trying to make sure I kill that turkey with 2 3/4" loads.

[scolopaxmatt]

Thanks for the links guys.  Good to know.

[Pygmy]

The Stevens 555 is reviewed in the March issue of American Rifleman.

They gave it a favorable review.. The test gun had a surprisingly nice piece of Turkish walnut in the stock..I also like the fact that the gun is adonized/blued rather than tacky looking stainless.

The auther didn't mention the doubling issue..

[Mr VJP]

Yeah, makes me wonder if they ever put anything negative in their reviews, which seem to coincide with a lot of paid advertising for the firearm they review.  Chuck Hawks made note of it in his review and just about every article you find on the net about it has comments from readers about it too.  I think a lot of 555's got returned soon after purchase also.