OOPS!!
I meant Money Pit
1933 Model 21 Tournament Grade
20Gauge, 30 inch barrels, 3 inch chambers, Full/Mod
Restocked and completely restored.

Nice looking M21. Who did the work?

Bob, nice looking gun. I have the money for one more project myself right now. I thought I was going to purchase a 12 gauge 21 and have it restocked in some nice English walnut but the thought of a 20 gauge has been on my mind. I was looking at 28" guns (20 gauge) but have located a 30".
most of my shooting is at clays and doves. So tell me does the 20 gauge handicap you?

http;//wwwphotobucket.com
http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa401/alancope/

Here are seven 21 20s that were at our New Years meat shoot.

I hope the picture comes up I think they are a real go to gun.

Alan Cope

Not sure how much you threw in that pit Bob, but that is a very, very nice piece of wood and a 30" 20 ga probably a not a bad place to invest it !

No Bob you did mean 'tree'. No such thing as a 'PIT' with the word 'Winchester' stamped on top of it, not in this country anyway!!
Beautiful M21, but ain't they all!!!

Work was done by Les Pittman of Phelan CA. (760)868-2424
Les is the former Pachmeyer top gunsmith and his work is second to none.

Pittman did some wood work on one of my Parkers, and he is a wizard.

" OUR MAN IN PHEEEELAN "

Nice piece of wood!
Looks like proper 'kidney' styled checkering on the fore end.
Are the 3" chambers original?-Dick

Forend is original to the gun, refinished to match the new butt. Barrels are stamped 3" chambers.

The "Pit" part of this project was the barrel work that had to be preformed. Gun was shooting left barrel 8" low and 8" to the right. Right barrel about half of that to the left. Looked into Lapping the barrels but didnt want to ruin the chokes. I took the $$ plunge and had the barrels taken apart and put back together correctly (strip and relay). Galazan wouldn't touch the barrels. Kirk Merrington was game with no guarantee of results(for the lapping). Les Pittman said that he would correct the problem and that the barrels would come back to me, better than Winchester. Gun now throws about a 50/50 pattern, dead center.

Wonderful gun!!! What a looker!! Glad everything worked out for you!! A guy would be proud to shoot this baby!!

I hope you have many happy and healthy years shooting her.

All the best!

Greg

Nice! I've had the pleasure of shooting two different long barrel 20ga 21's. Great dynamics, great triggers, great everything.

Sort of a dream gun for me...

Looks like a real successful project.

Kudos to you and to Mr. Pittman.

Great gun Bob. Not many smiths would take on that point of impact work in that manner (the proper manner IMO). I've used Les for a stock bend when he was working out of his garage in La Habra.

Alan, could you please post your pictures, the link you supplied is for an album and a password (your password) is necessary to view your images. Thanks, Bob

I agree Chuck. I agonized over the correct repair on this gun. I ultimately felt that anything less than a strip and relay would have ruined a fairly scarce Model 21. Who needs another 30" 20 gauge Skeet Gun. Screwing with the chokes to walk the pattern left and right would have left me with nothing but a few thousandth's constriction.

Have you been out to Les's new place in the desert? Just a short 2 mile jog off highway 138, on a rain rutted road (full of Quail) to his new abode and workshop. On a positive note, It's the only place you can get Les and you can pattern right in his backyard.

Bob

You mention the forearm is original to your gun. What type of recoil abutment is installed? If one isn't visible when the stock is removed is there a screw between the ejector cocking levers?
thanks,
Mike

Bob,
I haven't been out to Les' place in Phelan yet. Maybe I'll use him for some work soon. Finding good smiths is hard to do.

I find it hard to believe that Kirk Merrington would even consider the lapping method, since he makes his living taking barrels apart. Changing point of impact when relaying a shotgun is not rocket science. I had my Model 21 Trap barrels relaid and refinished a year or two ago for $750. Some gunsmiths make more of it than it is and charge much more, for no reason other than that they can.

Seems to me that I heard years ago that 30 inch M21 20 gauges were subject to a peculiar barrel "flip". Anyone else ever hear that? I'm sure not knocking this gun - it's a beauty. Wish my 2 bbl skeet grade gun was a nice!

I have a 32 20g LC and have shot a 30" M21 20g, I've never noticed anything abnormal. All of them have some flex during the recoil. Just a matter of how much.

Woof! nice wood:)

Chuck, for the last couple of years I have been using Jack Dockweiler in Redlands. He's getting up there in years, but the work is good and reasonably quick.

Yes,the barrels have a very slight down pitch to account for the flip.