clarence said

 Another first yr, 1934, gun, if “the books” are right about finger-grooves being limited to that yr. only. 

Nope, the “books” are not right about that point.  The finger grooves were used from 1934-early 1938 on the Model 67.  The “first year” piece of erroneous information was published by Herbert Houze in his book “Winchester Single Shot Rifles”  “To the Dreams of Youth”.  An honest mistake, he based that statement on a Winchester internal memo which stated that the permission to remove the finger grooves was approved in 1935 however, this did not happen in actual practice until the new stock change in 1938 which incorporated the blunt forend and semi-beavertail stock.  The new stock drawing without the grooves is dated 1/25/1938 with the finger grooves actually eliminated on the standard models a few months later, although the dual-sight 67 models continued to use the finger groove stocks up until about 1940 when the supply of existing finger groove stocks was finally exhausted.  This is one of those cases where the actual production lagged behind the approval memo by a number of years.  Houze based his statement on a sole document and did not consider (or did not see) the rest of the production documentation which clearly refuted the memo date.  

Unfortunately, the “first year” stock groove error has been perpetuated in subsequent articles and will likely continue to be repeatedly published until a more definitive work can explain the actual evolution of the stock changes.  Those kind of errors can happen to any of us and that is why continued research and incorporation of new information and supporting documentation is important to our collecting community.

And, I agree, I prefer the finger-grooved stock as well.  Classic look and great feel.  

Best Regards,