Stevens 320 with pistol grip and ghost ring

I picked this up about 5 years ago at a gun show. I wasnt looking for anything in particular but liked how it felt and thought it would be a good backup to my Mav 88 but it's probably going to be a replacement for the maverick. I brought it to the range several times and shot birdshot, slugs, magnum(?), and a mix of old winchester/remington that my dad left me as well as new winchester/remington/cabela's brand(?)* I love it though, the pump action is so smooth and I had fun shooting it. My nephew liked shooting it too and wants one lol.

*Im not home to confirm brands and types of ammo

320 Security Ghost Ring Sight with Pistol Grip | Savage Arms

Tactical shotgun featuring a pistol grip, ghost ring sights, and an 18.5" barrel. The 320 Security offers reliable performance with a durable synthetic stock.

www.savagearms.com

 

Stevens 320 with pistol grip and ghost ring

320 Security Ghost Ring Sight with Pistol Grip | Savage Arms

Tactical shotgun featuring a pistol grip, ghost ring sights, and an 18.5" barrel. The 320 Security offers reliable performance with a durable synthetic stock.

www.savagearms.com

The Stevens 320 is a Chinese Winchester 1300 clone. Meanwhile the Winchester SXP Defender, the newer version of the 1300 Defender, is made in Turkey.

I wonder how much parts compatibility there is between all the clones?

 

My first shotty was an 1897 Winchester 12GA pump. Since, I have the Mossy 590A1. Sorry, but that old Winchester was a great field gun but not practical for SD.

 

When it comes to pump combat shotguns the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500/590/Mav88 get the most attention, and generally for good reason. But they are not the only quality self defense pump-guns out there. What is a non-870 non-500/590 scatter gun you rely on for protection?

My first adventure into non-hunting shotguns was the Winchester 1300 Defender. They were well made, rugged, and did everything I asked them too. Extended tubes from the factory was a nice touch as well.

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I like the winchesters , I really do ..... but after having the pump sleeve come unattached from the spot welds on the action bars on a 12ga turkey 1300 and a 20ga youth model 1300 .... I have been left nervous.
My 12ga 120 has yet to fail "knock on wood"

 

Ithaca Model 37 DS Police Special.

 

Same here.
Mine is a 1968. 18” open choke rifle sights. There’s a shiny spot on top of the barrel where it rode standing up in a cruiser rack for years.

I like shotguns, have 13 or so.
Pumps, single shot, double barrel, bolt action.
.410, 20 ga, 16 ga, 12 ga.
Two date to the late 1930’s.

 

I have two.

The Maverick 88 Security 8, and the Saiga S12. The capacity of 7+1 or 10-12+1 makes for a persuasive argument.

I have an Ithaca 37....but mine is the longer barreled 4 round hunting model, otherwise, I'd put it into the mix for SD. Love that gun.

 

ITHACA Model 37 featherweight with folding stock.

 

IMHO you should have at 2 of whatever you got - 100% spare parts. Making a simple round firing pin is easy enough, filing out a hammer not so much.

I like the Model 37 Ithaca a lot. However the magazine tube is much tighter than the others which means it rattles less but requires a collet case sizer for jamming free reloads. I hunted for many years with one. I have dad's 37 but I bought 2 870 Expresses for me.

Back in the gun shot days I reblued dozens of 97's - lot of parts in them. IIRC the W 97, I 37, Rem 10 and 29 and there is one more that will fire if you hold the trigger back and cycle the action - can be a useful feature.

 

VEPR 12, not a pump but I have had no issues with mine and would not hesitate to carry it in SHTF. A fine Russian combat shotgun and I do have 2 as they are no longer able to be imported.

 

My off grid camping shotgun is a 590 M.
2 mags sit next to the weapon. 1 10 round mag of slugs for bears, and 1 10 round mag of 00 for 2 legged intruders. Been long time since I had problems with either in the woods.
At home, it has 2. 5 round mags of 00 - lighter for the wife. Unfortunately, I recently had 2 legged intruders in my yard but my lights and cameras scared them off.

 

Well, what is your price range? The reason mossbergs and remingtons are the go to pump shotgun is because they are tried and true and affordable. I just bought a maverick 88 security for $250. You can’t beat them. I don’t know any good semi auto shotguns for less than $1000 so if thats what you want to spend get a benelli m4

 

I am not buying. I am just having a conversation with the forum.

My go to shotty is the Beretta 1301 Tactical but I do have s-e-v-e-r-a-l pump shotguns that I accrued over the years until I achieved peak scatter gun technology.

 

Shockwave and Saiga 12, I am covered

 

I sold my Saiga 12 before moving from Denver. I sorta wished I had kept it because I don't believe they're "gettable" anymore since Obama screwed things up.

 

I still have my old Savage 69 XLR as my main standby. For a time, it was the police riot gun of choice in many departments:

 

My first shotgun was a .410 Savage 67. I killed a lot of squirrels, some moccasins and a few ducks with that thing, when I was a kid.

 

Benelli Nova or Weatherby PA-08 are the only pump action shotguns I've ever been impressed with. The Police editions of the Rem 870 or Mossberg 500 are sufficient as well. I wish they still made the Weatherby. Personally though I prefer a semi-auto. Benelli and Beretta both make quality inertia and gas guns that are extremely reliable, especially with heavier self defense capable loads.

 

Took a lot longer for the Nova / SuperNova series to be mentioned than I expected. They are very well made quality guns.

 

Old school reliability.

Al

 

I have a Police-grade Rem 870 that I bought in the eighties. It has a glass-hard Parkerized coating on it, tube extension, open sights (with adjustable rear sight), and a side mounted mini flashlight on the mag tube.
The action is so smooth it can be operated with a flick of the wrist With no “slamming“ force required. When fired, the action unlocks and slides halfway open making a reload operation very fast.
I called Remington when I first got the weapon because I had concerns the action might be unsafe or missing something since it opened and operated so smoothly. Turns out, I have a rare instance of a weapon “very well put together and smoothed that operates beyond the normal characteristics of the standard factory issue and you are lucky to have one” I was informed. I agree.
It is a dead-on killer at 100 yards with slugs.

 

This one said "Police Pump" on the end flap of the box when I bought it new in 1982. I have 3 barrels. 18" cylinder, 20" cylinder w/ rifle sights and a 26" w/screw in chokes.
I added the mag extension and bayonet lug.

Al

 

My ‘Primary Fighting Shotgun’ is a FN-SLP..I like it very much…last time I played, I put seven OO’s downrange in just over 2 seconds…63 .31 caliber balls flying around all at once will usually make people want to go home …jmo

 

Maverick 88 with pistol grip, folding stock, and side saddles. This thing is awesome. Reliable, accurate, and portable for those shtf situations when you have to be mobile.

 

I have multiple Savage Stevens 320s, a Emperor 12 that is a Turkey made clone, 2 590A1s, a Wards 500ABD (Mossy 500 Store brand) a Win 1200, and 2 Rem 870s. I like them all. Excluding the 870 and 500 choices, I would be a toss up of the 1200 and 320. I got great deals on the 320 brand new, that is why I have multiples. That way I have parts, plus the non pistol grip ones came with 2 barrels. The 1200 just feels nice though. The Emperor is nice, but heavy and does not have a lot of feedback around. Parts might be an issue.

Word of warning on mag tube extensions. Do your homework. Some models have dimpled or otherwise limited tubes that you need to modify to add an aftermarket extension. That is why I went with my 870 Tact. All the newer regular 870s have limiting features you must work out.

 

I grabbed a tacticle Hatsan, Turkish made 18.5 inch 12ga pump.
Paid like 220.00 at Dunhams.

 

I grabbed a ..Hatsan, Turkish made...

#metoo

.02
jd

 

First shotgun I ever bought was a Win defender 1300 and I still have it sitting behind my bedroom door to this day.

Moss .410 pump (in a configuration they never sold). I replaced the stock 21"/4+1 with a 18.5"/5+1 setup.
Escort 20G semi
ATI 12G semi

.

I also have an Escort 12G semi and 2 Steven's 350 pumps (Ithaca 37 clones). I only wanted the one but they were on sale for $135 each (combo pack with 18.5 and 28" barrels) so I bought both. Later picked up a rifle sight barrel that cost me as much as one of the combos did.

 

I had a Mossberg 500 all set up with a shock reducing stock, red dot, laser with a push button in the pistol grip, extended mag, etc. I liked it a lot but my Wife took it away from me after she fired it the first time. The recoil reducing stock and the laser made her decide to keep it. We're both retired now but back then, she outranked me in the Sheriff's Department!

Of course, it also allowed me to set up something else the way I wanted it. I bought a SPAS 12, the full stock model. It was a great shotgun but fat and heavy. Plus, the manual pump stroke was very hard even after I took it all apart and loosened it up. I sold it and picked up a Remington 1100. I extended the mag, installed a pistol grip thumb hole stock and a slanted "bump grip" on the front end, ghost ring sites, side saddle shell carrier, 20" barrel, fat charging handle and tuned the gas ports for double ought buckshot. It will dump them as fast as I can pull the trigger and I tried hard to cause it to lock up. It's not a hard kicker because it's gas operated and the thumb hole stock with the forearm slant bump helps to keep it on line. It's now my go-to shotgun for those things that go bump in the night.

 

I collect Combat Shotguns. I absolutely LOVE my Benelli SuperNova Tactical. It's extremely smooth, sexy, refined, shoots like a dream, feels like a dream, looks like a dream.

I have Mossbergs - M930SPX and a 590 ... love them too.

I had a (Freedom Group-era) Remington 870 Tactical that was a lemon. Sucked. Had feeding/pump problems and ejection issues and this is a pump-shotgun we're talking about .... I know everyone loves them, I absolutely loved Remington, but someone was hungover when they made my 870. Traded it.

I also have a Saiga-12 I love, never converted it but one of these days.

 

Yeah, I bought a later 20 ga 870 for one of my nieces, that even though I went through Remington's armorer's school, I couldn't fix. Just sucks when corporate takeovers result in crappy quality and cheapening of formerly great products, but that's mostly the norm. It's good to hear that Ruger seems to be making a good product with their Marlin resurrection. I hope that continues.

 

Winchester Model 12 Riot Gun. Carried one for twenty years & still have one.

 

Yes IIRC the W 12 is the last one I couldn't remember that will fire if you hold the trigger back and cycle the action.