Why would Win 21 have an "18" after the serial number?



P.S., is this part of the gun called the barrel flats?

Those are the barrel flats. But I don't have any idea why the 18 is there.

You have an early production M21- extractors, not selective ejectors--

The characters don't quite look to be the same size ??
Depth doesn't appear to be the same either.

Gotta ask
Do you have a letter from Cody?

https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/winchester/

Not my gun
Merely a potential purchase
Cody has no info on this serial number

It amuses me when selling an early two triggered, extractor gun, dealers seem to want to discount the gun because it has two triggers and no ejectors. Then when selling the same gun later it becomes are rare, seldom seen version which they want full price for.

Not to pick on RWTF and maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought the term “selective ejectors” is kind of silly. I see it used all the time in gun descriptions. But aren’t all ejectors selective? Or are there guns designed such that, if you fire only one barrel and break the gun open, it ejects both the fired shell and the unfired one? Wouldn’t seem very useful.

Non-selective ejectors are found on many single barrelled Rook and Rabbit rifles.

When the rifle is opened, fired or unfired, the ejector kicks in and unless you have remembered to stick your thumb in the way the empty or live round flies to the nearest puddle.

Lord Dunsany recommend disabling them to avoid the “ping” which he found alerted rabbits to his whereabouts more than the shot did.

Thanks for that Parabola. I have zero experience with Rook and Rabbit rifles and was unaware of that. I’ve shot nearly all my rabbits with a Remington Nylon 66, which is a far cry from a nice single barrel rook rifle.