doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Mismatched Win 21 for $3,525 -- What am I missing?

The seller said on November 23:


Link to the auction is here

Do we think the winning bidder, who bid $3,525 on November 24, and the two next highest bidders, who bid $3,225 and $3,500 on November 30, didn't know or didn't care about the mismatch.



Personally, unless I really knew the market, or really wanted to shoot this 12 gauge IM/Full solid rib 12 gauge gun, I would not pay this kind of money on a mismatched anything.

I probably won't remain mismatched very long. I probably won't remain a plain jane very long.

A good start for an upgrade project if you like 21's and don't mind 12ga guns.

No one even cared what the bbl length was.

How can it not stay mismatched?
Are you saying that someone would grind and restamp the numbers to match the receiver?

Hello,,welcome to the real world.
....and you wouldn't even know it....

Yep. Happens all the time. See the same thing in high grade Foxes/Parkers. Sometimes the original barrels are bulged etc and are replaced with other that are fit to the receiver and reengraved etc. Not hard to do at all for a pro engraver. In the case of the Foxes, the original barrel roll stamping machine is out there.

I don't believe I've ever seen a Model 21 with that much DAH.

Something stinks.

Had a friend show me how it is done 40 years ago. I believe that it is common on high grade shotguns that justify the cost. NO heat required.

bill

I assume there is no NFA problem changing the serial number of the barrels to match the receiver

Also, is the forearm wood stamped with the serial number underneath, that would seem hard to fake.

And if Cody has the receiver on file, what is the chance the mismatched barrels match the Cody letter

There is an old saying..."it ain't illegal if you don't get caught".

Of course altering Serial Numbers is not cricket! Of course it is done. I have been in this industry for 37 years now. I am amazed at how many NIB guns over 100 years old are for sale. Or how many upgraded guns there are with serial numbers altered to fit known records. Few check for duplication of ownership provenance, just does the gun match number to grade.

As an example of how it is done: 1997 was my first year as a vendor at Tulsa Gun Show. I was newly moved to MO. from OR. so I took advantage of the 4 hour drive to purchase a table for my business. While walking around I found a Weatherby dealer selling
4 rifles as NIB. I recognized my work as being done within the past year. I also recognized the bluing job to be from a shop in Vancouver, WA. I mentioned to the dealer that NIB was not appropriate for these 4 guns. He said he bought them from another dealer who claimed they were. I had to produce my ATF Bound Book to convince him they were not NIB. Which I did. I do not know how long the NIB label stayed off after I left. Oh, the dealer who sold them NIB....was my client. We had a long conversation when I got home.

Several decades ago I had a 20 A grade Fox which was a little rough. Sold it and was surprised to see it was a high condition gun a year later. Called the dealer and asked about the gun. He gushed with enthusiasm about what a factory gem it was. I asked who did the work to which he said it was all Philly original. When I asked him if he wanted before refinish photos he got quiet. I explained I sold him the gun a year earlier. Then he hung up.

There are high grade factory original guns out there. Might be as high as ten percent of all listed for sale. When I see high grade, high condition or rare guns for sale I take it with a large grain of salt.