[Sav22]

Thanks for the info!
This 56 is marked Springfield ,manufactured by J.Stevens Arms Company ,Chicopee Falls Mass. . So I reckon it was made after the move from Ithica NY.
The only other marks on it is a 4 in a circle, at the breach-end of the barrel.
Have you heard anything about the performance ? I haven't shot it yet ;besides it needs a front sight anyway.

John, Stevens was always located in Chicopee Falls from it's founding in 1864 until it was eventually absorbed into Savage - Savage, a totally different company founded in 1893, bought them in 1920; until the late thirties Savage ran them as somewhat seperate fully owned subsidiary. It was Savage Arms that moved from Utica, NY to the Stevens facilities in Chicopee Falls after WWII. Stevens had basically just became a brand name for lower priced version of Savage models by the 1940's, most of the earlier Stevens only designs had been dropped by then. Before the move Stevens always had seperate product & parts catalogs; after WWII Savage, Stevens, & Springfield models were all in a combined catalog. Today many people use Savage & Stevens interchangably - this should not be the case IMO - from 1920 to WWII they still were quite different even though Savage Arms owned them both and before 1920 they were seperate companies as different from each other as any other companies at the time.

 

[Sav22]

The Model 56 & 056 first appears in Stevens' catalog No 59 with a price list dated March 1, 1934 showing the 56 @ $9.75. It is on a thin extra page that is glued into the catalog. It is the Stevens version of the Savage Model 4 that was the repeater version of the Model 3. Looking at Savage parts lists I first find the Model 3; in 1933 when the Model 4 is first shown there already is a Model 3-A & 3-B - the Model 4 has many parts common to the Model 3. In 1938 the Model 5 tube fed is listed and shows safety parts and the later 'speed lock' bolt that has a 'cocking piece' that cannot be grasped The next change is in 1940 when it lists a 3-C but still shows older style parts and no safety parts; nothing new for the Model 4. I see no other changes up thru the 1948 catalog, that is the last of the small sized Savage parts catalogs. The 1951 parts catalog lists nothing before the 3-C or 4-C and also lists a 5-A - I did not find anything on a 4-A or 4-B listed in any catalog. I think that although the early catalogs do not show it, the Models 3 & 4 must have gotten updated at least by the time the Model 5 was introduced in 1938. Nothing here is really all that clear as to when anything was changed, there are some assumtions that need to be made.

Top is the 1951 catalog that I think was the next one issued after the smaller 1948.

 

[Sav22]

Try this place.
www.e-gunparts.com

I have bought a sight with all the inserts and a hood from them a couple years ago.

 

[Sav22]

I think these might be what you need, I bought one of these a few years ago just for the inserts - http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Search.htm?s=530320

They also have a hood that works, I will try to find that number also, there are a couple and some are to big.

There has been someone selling the same thing on eBay for over a year for $9 or so - I think he could just buy them from Numrich as he sells them. He list them as "Mossberg style" and has been informed as to what they really are and that they are available thru Numrich for less.

I think this is the hood I bought that goes well with that sight - http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/557400.htm