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January 5, 2026
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I recently purchased a 21 Winchester 20 gauge Skeet gun with two 28 inch barrels. The F/M barrels seem to open easier when both barrels have been fired than the skeet barrels. I have to bump the bottom of the frame to get the gun to open and I wonder if there is an adjustment that might improve this situation. My 12 gauge trap gun opens much easier than the 20 gauge with skeet barrels.
Thanks for your assistance.
jlb
January 20, 2023
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To ask a dumb question, do the ejectors of the Skeet barrels seem to work freely and briskly with the Skeet barrels in place.? A little dried grease in their mortises?
Do the mating parts of the Skeet barrels show any wear or distortion? Can you compare the mating parts of the two barrel sets with a micrometer or dial indicator to detect any difference?
I would try to find a gunsmith with double gun experience and have him diagnose it. Self repair or adjustment with a 21 is poking the Devil with a stick.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
January 5, 2026
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All seems to be correct with ejectors. They are timed well and eject the shells over my shoulder when I fail to catch them. I can not see any difference in fit between the two sets of barrels. I wonder if it is punishing me for the occasional miss (well perhaps more then occasional)
November 7, 2015
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Sounds like you need to shoot more skeet, could be it will loosen up with use. My favorite doubles take several flats of shells to loosen up. Make sure you have a dab of oil or grease in all the right places. Do the Skeet barrels appear to be newer than the F/M barrel set? Could be original owner was more of a hunter than claybuster. If my shotguns punished me for misses I’d retire from the field beaten, bruised, bloody and possibly crippled for life.
Mike
January 20, 2023
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Mike has a point worth investigating.i had just assumed that your gun was manufactured as a two-barrel set, but Mike and I know nothing about the gun’s provenance. It would be very helpful to see photos of the markings on the Skeet set compared to those on the field set.
Do you know anything about the history of the gun?
The barrels of a Model 21 are marked with the gun’s serial number. Make sure both sets have the same serial.
One of the things you should do is contact the Cody Museum and obtain a letter. My understanding is all or virtually all of the Model 21 guns made are “letterable” – unlike other Winchestet
The letter should tell you whether it was originally sold as a two-barrel set. If it wasn’t, it should tell you which set of barrels it was made with. I’d guess the Skeet choked set.
Is it possible your field choked barrels were made up later and not used?
However, you really should get a Cody letter, to know what you’ve got. If you will show us the stamps and marks on both barrel sets, that would help immensely.
EDITED: I misread your post and erroneously thought it was the Skeet set that was hard to open. 
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
January 5, 2026
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This is a two barrel gun marked skeet. Both barrels share the same serial # with the frame and forend. I purchased the gun from Steve Barnett three months ago. BTW I love the gun but I am a reformed skeet shooter and I use the gun for 5 stand with the skeet barrels and I use the F/M barrels for quail (they run in NM) and perhaps pheasants. I may try sporting clays with the skeet barrels.
I shot skeet when I was a graduate student at Iowa and participated in the first Collegiate Championship at the Tiffen Gun Club (a Winchester Club) in 1969. This was a small event by the standards of the current Collegiate Championships. Much later in life I shot trap (Perazzi of course
) and was inducted into the NM Trapshooting Hall of Fame several years ago.
best to all jlb
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