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September 23, 2025
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Well, I had no intentions of buying a model 21, as I always figured I was priced out of owning one. The price was right on this one, and I’m tickled to own it.
I had Cody look it up, and recieved fairly limited information comparatively to some of the model 21 letters I have seen. It letters as g2100b. From my research, I understand this to be the symbol used on guns that have atleast one feature that made it a non-catalogged configuration. The Cody letter provides stock dimensions as well as denotes 16ga, and trap grade. I was surprised to see that the barrel length and choke configuration were not listed, and was told that I had recieved all the information they had after following up.
The information they did provide is accurate to the gun, and the barrels measure 28″, choked IC/Mod. Although this is not the closet queen condition it seems most 21’s are found in or restored to, it appears to be a well cared for honest gun that saw a good bit of use out in the field… minus the pachmeyer white line pad.
The Schwing book states that most trap grade guns came factory with a rubber pad. I am not sure if this one did or did not, and the Cody records do not confirm nor deny its rubber paddage or lack there of. The LOP measures a hair over 14″ with the current 1″ white line pad, which is the original LOP.
I am not sure what I want to do with the gun yet, and probably won’t know until I shoot it. If it shoots well, it will be a life long bird gun for me and I won’t spend the money on restoration. If I can’t shoot it well, I can have it restored without being upside down on the value of the gun beings as I got it cheap.
The one thing I know is that the white line pad has got to go. Schwings book indicates there are a variety of pads that the factory utilized. In the forums opinion, what was the most likely style of pad to come on this gun?
Attached are a couple photos and the Cody findings.
Thanks,
Garrett
June 1, 2023
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Congrats on a great find on a Model 21. I keep hoping Santa will bring me one some day, but all I have so far is a growing collection of coal!
One possibility for a factory installed recoil pad would have been this one:
Reproductions of this pad are still available at Connecticut Shotgun, among other retailers. It’s what I would probably put on a 21 if I were in your shoes. Congrats again on a great acquisition.
BRP
January 20, 2023
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This is the year we both got a Model 21. The first three things I want to note about yours that make it a real bargain are:
1. The Trap Grade walnut is far better than Field Grade wood.
2. In modern parlance, it is a “small bore” Model 21, which is in much higher demand because the vast majority of the 30,000+ made were 12 gauge. Schwing probably has a table of gauge rarity. (Mine is a 12.)
3. I’d do what the Parson says and substitute the Winchester logo reproduction pad. One of the peculiarities of the Model 21 is the presence of a “non-factory” pad has little effect on their market price.
As to “restoration” — unless I’m missing something not visible in the photos, like a re-blue or re-varnish, a loose rib or some mechanical issue — my strongest advice is to do nothing except change the pad. If by “considerable use” you mean scratches in the wood and worn bluing, ANYTHING you do except apply wax to the wood and wiping the steel with an anti-rust material is going to hurt value, not help it. Don’t mess with what look to me like original finishes. You’ll snatch defeat from the jaws of victory..
It’s a beautiful gun with honorable marks of use. The one thing I note that may be a special order -.or at least the exercise of an option — is the splinter forearm in lieu of the beavertail version. Or, in 1936 that might have been standard. Schwing would know.
Just get an English style leather barrel grip. Several.American leather goods companies make them.
My thoughts, only.
- 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.
September 23, 2025
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Thanks Bill.
From what I can tell, the gun is an honest example (sans buttpad) that was used but not abused. There are some dents and dings in the stock, no cracks or breaks. The majority of the blue wear is on the sides of the barrels near the forend, undoubtedly caused by the previous users wrapping their hands over the barrel in normal use.
My current intentions are not to touch anything other than the buttpad. It seems like there are lots of restored model 21s out there, and very few that exhibit this much use.
I have yet to garner a full understanding of the model 21 market, but I am absolutely thrilled about the configuration of this particular gun. With 28″ barrels, 16ga tubes, and IC/Mod – it seems that this gun is destined to shoot birds. It is a good example of trap grade NOT being an indicator that the gun is configured for clay targets.
The Schwing book does post production numbers by ga. His table is a limited sample size (13k examples) of 21s produced from 1930-43.
I don’t know if it would be kosher of me to post a direct excerpt of data from the book, but as an approximation of his findings: the ratio of 12, 20, and 16 ga guns would be 5:2:1 respectively.
I do not know the production figures on guns that were trap grade vs standard grade, but I am assuming significantly less trap grade guns were produced. It appears the checkered cheeks may have been an era specific thing to trap grade guns as I have seen some with, and some without. I am also curious as to the rarity of the splinter forends as well as the straight stock, as neither seem to be the common configuration.
At the end of the day, I am incredibly happy to have the gun. I never thought i’d be able to justify the expense, and I am dually blessed to have gotten a good price on top of what appears to be an uncommon configuration well tailored to my needs. Between this 21 and the 351sl deluxe I snagged, it has been a good month.
January 20, 2023
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Garrett, I forgot to mention the obvious — that yours is a Prewar gun, when quality was the highest.
It has taken me awhile to learn that “Trap Grade” didn’t necessarily mean tight chokes and stocked to shoot high to win national trap shoots. Yours is a perfect example. It was obviously built as a high grade upland bird gun. Before the War, the sixteen was “Queen of the Uplands” instead of the twenty, at least according to my late father, who grew up in the Twenties and early Thirties in the South.
My 1947 twelve gauge is stamped “Skeet” on its trigger plate. The Cody letter confirms it has 26″ barrels choked WS1 and WS2 and “Skeet Finish”, which I believe refers to the high luster finish on higher than field grade wood. Winchester catalogued the “Skeet Grade” as more of a purpose built gun, with those exact specifications plus a checkered butt — no buttplate, just checkered wood, which the Cody letter confirms this one had when it left New Haven. You could choose a straight or pistol grip and the beavertail forearm was standard.
So we both have non-factory recoil pads. The one on my gun is a brown Pachmayr “Classic” model mercifully without a white line or ventilations. I suspect it doesn’t work as well as yours but my idea of a great 12 gauge upland load is an ounce of shot over 3 drams. I don’t mourn the absence of a hard checkered wood butt and think only a moron would try to shoot competitive Skeet so equipped. To each their own.
I always wanted a Skeet Gun and would have preferred one in sixteen or twenty gauge for lightness of weight. However, the price for one like mine in the same condition but in a smaller gauge was double to three times what I paid, which wasn’t happening. I could have a Model 21 and shoot powder puff loads like I do in my other twelve gauge guns — or I could watch other people shoot their small bore Model 21s and whistle.
Incidentally, I have seen any number of Model 21s in North Texas over the last 50 years, almost every one a twelve gauge, and every one I can remember had a Pachmayr White Line pad just like yours. It may be that Texans are simply found of max dram equivalent loads and want serious protection but your gun would be roundly admired at the Dallas Gun Club (which is too rich for my blood.) Tell any who object that you want a pad as strong and efficient as the gun itself. (I personally think it looks fine the way it is right now but I’m old enough to be nostalgic about Whiteline pads on sporterized 1903 Springfields.)
- 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.
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