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What's a barrel number? Serial numbers were not required on shotguns in the US before 1968 and most manufacturers did not use them. Many were marked with a "batch number" for internal record-keeping/quality control, etc. and various other numbers for various reasons unknown and unimportant once they left the factory. If your gun is marked "J. Stevens & Co" it was manufactured from 1864 to 1886. From 1886 to 1916 they were marked "J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co", and after 1920 "J. Stevens Arms Co". Sometime in the 1940's the marking was changed to just "Stevens" and usually accompanied by "Savage Arms". Authentication means paying a recognized expert to examine the gun and sign a certificate stating that it is an original product. I think, in the case of a Stevens shotgun, there is little chance of it being "counterfiet" and no one will care if it has a few replacement parts.

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21y ago

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