Sears Ranger

About the Sears Ranger

The Sears Ranger is a hammerless, takedown, pump-action shotgun chambered in 12 gauge, sold under the Ranger store brand by Sears, Roebuck & Co. It was manufactured by the J. Stevens Arms Company as a rebranded version of the John Browning-designed Stevens Model 520, most commonly catalogued as the Ranger Model 30. Feeding from a tubular magazine holding five shells, the Ranger was an affordable working-class field gun aimed at hunters and farmers buying through the Sears catalogue during the 1930s.

The Ranger name was one of several Sears, Roebuck store brands used to sell mass-market firearms by catalogue. Underneath the badge sat a genuine John Browning hammerless pump design, giving budget buyers a Browning-engineered shotgun at a fraction of a name-brand price.

Sears Ranger specifications

Sears 'Ranger' was a store brand, not a manufacturer; the shotgun was built by J. Stevens Arms (later Savage Arms). The civilian Ranger/Stevens 520 is the same basic design as the militarized Model 520-30 'trench gun' used by U.S. forces in both World Wars.