Two more pics.

 

I know that this is a little old, but I think that I just bought this same gun at a gun show in st. louis today. the marks on the stock and all the wear marks all look alike.

 

Most probably either a Stevens Model 56 or Savage Model 4 sold by Witte's Hardware store in St. Louis back in the 1930's.

 

Nope, this gun is single-shot as I said. My kwik research on the two models you mentioned show them to be mag-fed. However, my gun does appear to be a single-shot version of the 56, so probably precedes it.

EDIT: This gun, apparently. Stevens Model 15.

 

I seem to recall Iver Johnson making a model called the XL, but my memory is not as reliable as it used to be.

 

They made a model called the X, with a Schnabel forend. Single-shot S L LR.

 

Looks like a Mossberg Model 10 or 20 as a house brand for the store.

 

Looks like a Mossberg Model 10 or 20 as a house brand for the store.

Nope, bolt is different. Compare the undersides of the two bolts.

 

yep, looks like a Stevens Model 15...I think we have a winner!

 

Stevens is a different action layout.

Heres my Westernfield M36(Mossberg 10) There version came with target sights and swivels.

 

The whole rifle looks like a twin of a bolt 410 shotgun I acquired recently. Mine had no marking at all but the stock, trigger guard, bolt, trigger, and action takedown screw all appear identical. The two differences (outside of it being a 410) are that mine has a removable 3 round magazine and bead sight.

My research online indictes it was probably a Stevens/Savage make.

It appears in your pictures that the action screw is not fully seated. I had to shorten the screw to get it fully tighten the action in the stock as the screw was bottoming out on the bottom of the action before the action was contacting the stock.

 

My research online indicates it was probably a Stevens/Savage make.

It appears in your pictures that the action screw is not fully seated. I had to shorten the screw to get it fully tighten the action in the stock as the screw was bottoming out on the bottom of the action before the action was contacting the stock.

I just loosely put the gun back together for a minute to take the whole-rifle pics, then took it down again. No issue with the action screw.

Polished the bolt, ending in 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Used a couple of 1911s to hold the gun up for the pic.

Gonna shoot it tomorrow!

Also I should mention that it has a metal buttplate; two screws, no markings on it.

 

The Stevens Model 15 has the receiver and barrel all made out of the barrel blank like the Winchester 67.

This one has a separate barrel/receiver.

As such - it's probably not one of those.

The hard part about a lot of these old miscellaneous store brands is that they were made up of miscellaneous pieces and parts so they often don't really match ONE main model perfectly.

It sure looks like a Mossberg. Mossberg based store brands were famously a mishmash of every sort of surplus or discontinued/overstock part under the sun that they could dig out of the corners of the warehouses and under the benches of the factory. They fitted them all together and out the door they went.

As such - you often have to do a bunch of sleuthing to chase down which parts came from what model/year guns.

 

The Stevens Model 15 has the receiver and barrel all made out of the barrel blank like the Winchester 67.

This one has a separate barrel/receiver.

As such - it's probably not one of those.

The hard part about a lot of these old miscellaneous store brands is that they were made up of miscellaneous pieces and parts so they often don't really match ONE main model perfectly.

It sure looks like a Mossberg. Mossberg based store brands were famously a mishmash of every sort of surplus or discontinued/overstock part under the sun that they could dig out of the corners of the warehouses and under the benches of the factory. They fitted them all together and out the door they went.

As such - you often have to do a bunch of sleuthing to chase down which parts came from what model/year guns.

Coming around to the idea of Mossberg 10. All the little details match, except the bolt bottom, but who knows? Designs mighta changed a bit over the course of years.

I had been thinking Mossberg copied the Stevens design, but now I don't know what to think.

 

One thing that stuck out in your pictures was that the front of the trigger guard is bowed backwards (like mine) which makes the front screw inside the trigger guard bow (makes it hard to install/remove).

Also, the bolt can be cocked by pulling back on the knob at the rear of the bolt.

 

Savage Model 3? That was a single shot and the bolt and receiver sure look similar.

 

On my gun, the finger grooves end at the takedown bolt and go further forward to the front of the stock. But very close. The Model 3 was made from 1933 - 52.

Research has shown me that Mossberg worked for Stevens until 1919, and maintained good relations with his former employer after starting his own company.

 

More research: Pulling out my Mossberg history book, Havlin's "More Gun for the Money", my gun most resembles the Mossberg Model C, 1931 - 32.

 

The receiver is the same as my model B which has an open slot all the way back.
My model C has a bridge across the receiver back of the bolt handle. The bolt is exactly the same as my model C. The model C was an upgraded model B. There are different bolt designs of the B, 1 piece and 2 piece bolts, some with a screw on top to hold them together and different firing pins. Mossberg often sold his guns to "houses" and used up surplus parts to do so. It makes sense to me that yours is a late model B, ca. 1930-1931

 

The receiver is the same as my model B which has an open slot all the way back.
My model C has a bridge across the receiver back of the bolt handle. The bolt is exactly the same as my model C. The model C was an upgraded model B. There are different bolt designs of the B, 1 piece and 2 piece bolts, some with a screw on top to hold them together and different firing pins. Mossberg often sold his guns to "houses" and used up surplus parts to do so. It makes sense to me that yours is a late model B, ca. 1930-1931

Thank you, very helpful. I am going with Model C because of the 24" barrel and overall 41" length. The B had 22" and 40" respectively. Plus finger grooves, common to all Cs but only the last of the Bs. Mine does not have the bridge, which on a C that I just saw online was in front of the bolt handle. (If it was in back, you couldn't take the bolt out.)

Maybe just call it a "B/C" and be done with it!

 

Took the Witte/Mossie to the range today, and shot it open sights @ 40 feet, using front and rear bags. Didn't take the 146 B-A due to time constraints. Gotta get to a gun show this afternoon.

Tried only a few types of ammo, but it proved itself to be a good shooter nonetheless. I struggled with the sights the whole time; the rear notch is too narrow IMO, and the indoor range lighting didn't help. Also, it was not all that good at extracting both types of Federal ammo. CCI SV, Blazer, and Eley Edge were no prob. I would put it down to the cases Federal makes. (Not to make a Federal case out of this, but.....)

On the target you see four numbered groups. I measured them end-to-end with my digital measuring thing and subtracted 0.22" for C-to-C results. Measurements are four shots of the five-shot group. They are:
Federal Ultra Match, 0.30" (the top of this group is cropped off, sorry)
Eley Edge, 0.36"
CCI SV, 0.40"
CCI SV, 0.49"

This is just a preliminary shakedown. When I got it home, I filed the rear notch wider, then blackened the front post and rear notch with my permanent marker. Let's see what it can do with these improvements. Pity I can't stick a scope on it.....

 

Picked this gun up at the gun show yesterday. It's a JC Higgins Model 103.18, which cross-refs to a Marlin Model 100. Very clean and smooth action, very nice stock, needs some bluing work. I imagine it will shoot very well. Wednesday I will take it and the Mossie B/C to the range and test 'em out. It's the top one in the pics, with the B/C for comparison. Same barrel length. Nice buckhorn rear sight! Brass bead front sight. Trigger pull is 4.5#, which I will probably bring down with a spring change, along with polishing the engagement surfaces for a smoother feel.

A nicer gun overall, with more heft to it too. Paid $125.