Savage Stevens Model 560 Semi-Auto Shotgun Review

With an MSRP of $499, the reliable Stevens Model 560 Field Semiautomatic shotgun deserves your consideration.

August 23, 2024 By Steve Gash

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Savage has a well-earned reputation for making good, solid guns, and selling them at a price most all of us can afford. Another prime example of this is the new Model 560 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun that flies under the Stevens banner. As most students of firearms history know, many gun companies have had a slew of corporate rearrangements and consolidations in their history, and the Stevens company is no exception, with its own interesting history of name and ownership changes. The firm dates from 1864, when the J. Stevens Arms Company was founded in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The name was changed to J. Stevens Arms and Tool Co. in 1886 and to New England Westinghouse in 1916. Interestingly, that entity made Mosin-Nagant Rifles. In 1920 it was sold to Savage Arms Corp., and guns were marked “J. Stevens Arms Co.” But this name was changed in 1940 to just Stevens. In 1999 Savage began manufacturing and importing arms trademarked Stevens again. Such is the new Model 560 Field 12 gauge. The Model 560 is made by the well-respected firm of KOFS in Isparta, Turkey. KOFS makes a wide array of sporting and military arms that are distributed throughout Europe.

A Sound Setup

savage-stevens-shotgun-02 — The gas-operated 12-gauge Stevens Model 560 semiauto- matic shotgun is made in Turkey for Savage Arms. It utilizes an aluminum-alloy receiver and appropriately sized bolt handle and action release button.

Many shotgun gurus have said that the semiauto is the closest thing to perfection in a shotgun, and the Model 560 conforms closely to the dimensions laid out by W.W. Greener in 1910. The ideal barrel length should be 40 times the diameter of the bore, according to Greener. For the standard 12-gauge bore of 0.729 inch, that works out to 29.16 inches. The Model 560 is available with 26- and 28-inch barrels, and my test gun’s 26-inch barrel seems just right. Greener also thought that the weight of the gun should be matched to the weight of the shot charge. This, he stated, should be 96 times the weight of the shot. Thus, for 11⁄8 ounces of shot, the optimum gun weight would be 6.75 pounds. My Model 560 weighs in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces (6.81 pounds). The Model 560 was announced in early 2023 and became available a few months later, and the Field model is intended for hunters who need a solid shooter. It is gas operated. It is versatile, complete with three flush-fitting choke tubes and a choke tube wrench in a neat black plastic case. The tubes have the usual constrictions of Improved Cylinder, Modified, and Full. The constrictions are identified by notches on the muzzle ends of the tubes: one notch for Full, three for Modified, and four for Improved Cylinder.

The constrictions of the three tubes are right on the money. The inside diameter of the Improved Cylinder tube is 0.718 inch, the Modified tube is 0.698 inch, and the Full choke is 0.680 inch. The gun also comes with the required trigger lock and an owner’s manual. The barrel is hard-chrome-plated for wear resistance, and that also makes for easy cleaning. The 3.0-inch chamber makes the gun suitable for the super waterfowl and turkey loads available these days. In addition to the Field version reviewed here, the Model 560 is offered in a 12-gauge Compact model. Most of the Compact’s features mirror the Field version, but the Compact has a 28-inch barrel and a 13.5-inch length of pull. (Hmm, this sounds about right for use with the heavy clothes usually required for waterfowl hunting.) The overall length of this variant is 47.75 inches, and the weight is listed at 5.4 pounds. Here’s an unusual quirk. My Model 560 did not come with a plug to limit the magazine capacity to two rounds. (Company representatives tell me that Savage will supply plugs for these guns.) But this is of little consequence, as a plug is easy to make and install. A half-inch wooden dowel, 6.5 inches long and slightly beveled at each end will do the trick.

savage-stevens-shotgun-03 — The Model 560’s gas system is versatile and efficient, firing 23/4-inch and 3.0-inch shells with- out requiring any adjustment.

The cap retaining the magazine spring is surprisingly easy to remove, and the spring is easy to control. So with the cap off, drop the dowel inside the spring, stuff the spring back into the magazine tube, replace the magazine cap, and you’re done. Company literature states that the gun’s magazine capacity is five rounds. Could be, but I could get only four 2¾-inch shells or three 3.0-inch rounds into the magazine of my test gun. No matter, once the plug is installed, you’re good to go with two rounds of either shell. The Model 560 is a handsome arm. The receiver is made of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy, and it and the steel barrel are finished in a nice matte blue. The stock and forearm are of Turkish walnut, and the “handles” on my test gun showed some nice figure here and there. The wood has a satin oil finish, and generous stippled areas are provided on the gripping surfaces. I recently learned that “Turkish walnut” is a different species than our American walnut. It is classified as Juglans regia, as opposed to the American black walnut, J. nirgra. J. regia is known variously as the Carpathian or Madeira walnut and is found from the Balkans to the Himalayas and southwestern China. It was introduced into California in the 1800s, and it is usually referred to as “English walnut” by woodworkers. There is also a J. hindsii that is endemic to northern California that is called “Northern California walnut” and “claro walnut.” The Model 560’s stock has a restrained but elegant grain and is quite attractive. The stock has a nice, 1-inch-thick recoil pad. Overall, the stock is very well done, except for one thing. This gun must be made for shooters with long arms, as the length of pull is 14.75 inches. This, of course, is also no big deal. Any competent gunsmith can remove the pad, shorten the stock, reattach and fit the pad to whatever length of pull the shooter desires. The drop at the comb (1.5 inches) and heel (2.5 inches) seems just right to me, and the wood-to-metal fit is excellent. The balance point is at the front of the receiver, just about perfect.

A Solid Shooter

savage-stevens-shotgun-04 — The shotgun comes with three screw-in chokes marked Improved Cylinder, Modified, and Full, and their constrictions are right on the money.

I closed my eyes, and carefully mounted the gun. When I opened my eyes, I was delighted to find that I was looking right down the rib. As part of my “field test,” I took the gun to the Ozark Shooters Complex north of Branson, Missouri, and shot some skeet, my favorite clay target game. All was well, as long as I remembered to push the gun out, bring it up, and then pull it back to my shoulder. If not, the pad hung up on my shooting vest, and, well, as you clays shooters know, the result was not pretty. But as long as I pointed it right, the barrel seemed to put the shot charge right under the fiber-optic front sight. When I mounted the gun properly, it crushed clays convincingly. The weight of the Model 560 Field makes it a delight to carry in the field and swing on birds, clay or feathered. The trigger pull is remarkable for a shotgun. My sample averaged a delightful 4 pounds, 12 ounces, and it was crisp and “mush” free. Heck, I’ve tested lots of rifles with worse triggers than this. The Model 560 has a manual safety located behind the trigger, and it clicks on and off easily. The button, however, is a bit small. It didn’t take long for me to get used to it, but it’s worth noting. The action release button is located at the lower right side of the receiver, and when emptying the gun, press the action release button to release a shell from the magazine to the carrier, then pull the bolt back to eject the shell in the chamber. Release the bolt handle, and the bolt will pick up the shell on the carrier. Repeat for the remaining shells in the magazine until the gun is empty.

savage-stevens-shotgun-05 — The gun’s forearm and buttstock are made of Turkish walnut. With the buttstock’s 1-inch- thick recoil pad, the length of pull is 14.75 inches.

I had not a single malfunction with any of the factory and handloaded shotshells I fired. My light skeet load held 1 ounce of No. 8s over 17.5 grains of Hodgdon’s new High Gun powder in Noble Sport cases with a WAA-12 wad. The chronographed velocity of this load was a modest 1,023 fps. As you would guess, the recoil also was modest. I think it’s noteworthy that these “wimp” loads cycled the Model 560’s action lickety-split, without a single failure to feed from the magazine, fire, or eject. This action needs no adjustment for different loads, and that’s a handy feature for a field gun. I also chronographed a couple of 3.0-inch loads in the Model 560. First up were some new waterfowl loads from Remington called the Nitro-Steel Duplex. The shot charge is a blend of 1¼ ounces of No. 2 and No. 6 steel shot in a buffer. The listed velocity is 1,450 fps. The wad weight was 52.3 grains, and the powder charge was 45.3 grains of a spherical propellant. All this adds up to a potent load. Over my Oehler Model 35P chronograph, it registered a sizzling 1,393 fps. In the 6.81-pound Model 560, this translates to 49.9 ft-lbs of free recoil. Surprisingly, the recoil didn’t feel too bad. The other 3.0-inch load was Winchester’s Long Beard XR load with 1¾ ounces of No. 6 lead shot. It is listed at 1,200 fps and chronographed 1,123 fps. With any of these super-high-tech loads, the quackers and gobblers should take notice. A delightful field load is Remington’s Heavy Dove Load with 11⁄8 ounces of No. 7½ shot and a listed velocity of 1,255 fps. It registered 1,232 fps (pretty darn close to the listed velocity), and it had a modest kick. It would make a dandy field load for chukars and pheasants. Overall, the new Stevens Model 560 looks like a solid value to me. It is attractive and 100 percent reliable, and it gobbles up all sorts of loads with no adjustment needed.