There is more to identifying a vent rib that was installed by Simmons or Winchester than examining the Simmons mark on the side of the rib. The mark is easily removed. If the mark is removed, the gun is no longer of interest to a serious collector because an original gun in a certain era and serial number range has the Simmons mark. "Didn't want the Simmons name tacked on it." most likely didn't have anything to do with Winchester's decision to have some Model 42s have the mark and Model 12s not have the mark. If Winchester wanted a mark or didn't want a mark, that's the way it would have been. The reason that the Winchester marketed Model 12 never had a Simmons mark is that no vent rib on a Winchester marketed Model 12 was installed at Simmons. Some vent ribs were installed on Winchester marketed Model 42s at Simmons, and most of them had a Simmons mark.
