doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Winchester Model 21

I have a Winchester Model 21 Custom Trap grade that has a two barrel set with #6 engraving with gold and B carving. The letter from the Cody Firearms Museum states that everything letters on the gun except for the engraving. What are the odds that the letter could be wrong about the engraving. The gun was started in October 56 the final inspection was not until October 57. The gun does have a 6 marked on the barrel flats of the #1 barrel. I guess what I want to know is there a possibility that the engraving is actually factory and not added on later. I feel that a year is a long period of time to do custom stock work on a gun to not have done the engraving.

Is the engraving signed? That might help answer your question. Go over it with the best glass you have & see what you can find. I'm not even a remote knower of what they did or didn't do to 21's, but have owned several and enjoyed them and that is the more important part, IMHO. Just take satisfaction from using it and don't get too caught up in the originality thing unless you bought it as being factory, in which case the seller might have some responsibility if it was represented that way, otherwise who cares really? If you are contemplating selling, I can see where it may matter. If the engraving is well executed and you like it, whats more to say? If it has the '6' & it matches other other known lettered '6''s then you have a good argument it is factory, in my unexpert opinion. If it does not match, then that's a dif horse.

Lots of guns have been 'up-graded' some better than others and some better than the originals. I suggest you judge your own gun by itself and let it stand on its own merits. It sounds quite nice.

What are the bbl lengths and chokes, if you don't mind my asking?

To answer your question, the odds are pretty good that there is more information than you got the first time. I have had revisions to Cody letter sent to me unsolicited. If you are not too familiar with pre-Custom Shop Model 21 engraving patterns and exact styles, you may want to post good pictures of your gun to get more comments.

Your best bet would be to get a copy of Ned Schwing's book on the Model 21 and look at the pictures of the 21 engraving. There are also (bad) pictures of them in the books- "Winchester Shotguns and Shotshells" and "Winchester Repeating Arms Company". Your gun could or could not have taken a year to make, with or without the engraving. It all depends. If only one barrel is stamped with a #6, you could be looking at a gun the was made with only one barrel, and sent back to have a second barrel and the engraving put on. Does the paperwork say that it came from the factory with both barrels? If so, it could have been sent back for the engraving later. Or, it could have been upgraded from, say, a #2 engraving to a #6 engraving. I believe all Custom Grades would have had some type of engraving unless it was ordered without it. I have only heard of one 21 having a signature on it so that doesn't help much. It is hard to say. Like eightbore says, pictures would help if you could post them somehow. Good luck.

This is a pre-Custom Shop Model 21 and is very commonly unengraved. Pre-1960 guns were only engraved if special ordered that way. Jimmy's assumption about the engraving on this gun would be true if it were made 1960 or later when the #1 engraving pattern was standard on the Custom Grade. A second inquiry to Cody would be my next step in documenting this gun.

This gun by the final inspestion report had the second set of barrels fitted in Oct 22, 1956. The final inspestion was completed on Oct 30, 1957. The gun is checkered and carved as model 21 catalog #2111. With 30" barrals mod. and full the second barrel is 28" WS1 and WS2. The carving is the old style B carving by Ned Schwing's book. The stock is Monte Carlo with both barrels having beavertail forearms carved in the old B carving. I will try to post photographs of the gun later today.