My Model 21 Skeet: Good news and bad news|Winchester Shotguns|Forum|Winchester Collector

Chuck,

Yeah, and I’ve done a lot of glueups but somebody has to disassemble this piece first and then know how much clamp pressure will close the gap and not crack the piece into two pieces…. and then spot refinish and reassemble without buggering the screws. 

I don’t mind admitting I paid more for this gun than for any other I own.  Pass. 

I’ll post pics of the repair when I get it back. And that’s the last 3.25 dram ammunition it will get fed during my custody. The gun would easily handle it but it counts on me to hang onto it. 

Bill

Zebulon said:    …….. Now the bad news. When I unsafed the gun to measure its checkering, I saw the crack in the forearm wood emanating from the rear forearm iron mounting screw hole. This is new; wasn’t there when I bought the gun last year. 
I suspect this occurred the first and only time I shot it. The very first shot left the forearm wood in my left hand and the gun high in recoil.  My guess is I hadn’t secured the latch properly and the screw shaft was forced into the wood. 
So, off to my gunsmith it goes. ………..
  

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 UPDATE 

I took the Model 21 to Ron Gervase this morning. It took Ron all of about 15 seconds to diagnose the problem.  He put an educated finger on the iron inside the inletting and traced the joint line of the iron with the Walnut, all around. The iron was badly inletted at the factory in such a way that, under repeated recoil, the iron would eventually gain running room and then eventually cause a split in  the wood, which it did. 

It was a relief to realize I had not improperly assembled the forearm to the barrels, which I’d worried I’d done. Ron confirmed I’d fitted the tip of the flat tensioning spring into the correct angle of the barrel hook. 

Because my first shot separated the barrels from the forearm, I’d thought I’d not properly attached it. I now believe the separation was caused by the impact of the moving iron on the forward wood face of its inletting, under recoil.

I don’t know the round count of the gun or whether it was used in competition. From the condition of its bluing and checkering, I doubt it and believe it was more likely somebody’s lightly used quail gun, as many Skeet models were. As evidence it had been carried a lot more than shot, the only bluing wear is at the carry point. 

Perhaps my use of 3.25 dram equivalent, 1500 f/s shells was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But it would eventually have happened anyway.

 SOLUTION AND CONCLUSION

I’m surprised Winchester’s stock fitter messed up the inletting — there can be no question about it, once you see it. He did not achieve enough contact between the rear end edge of the iron with the mating face of the wood to stand up to repeated impact;  the wood surface that was in contact was insufficient and eventually crushed, allowing a gap that became a channel for the iron end to batter the backset inletting face and split the wood.

Repairing the crack would not have solved the underlying problem, which would have recurred. The solution is to glass bed the iron and then repair the crack, which will solve the problem permanently. That will entail undercutting and removing additional wood below the visible surface of the forearm, to allow sufficient thickness of glass reinforced epoxy to which the iron can be bolted and immobilized in place.  

All in all, it could have been a lot worse. The forearm is a really magnificent piece of colorful, flame-grained American Walnut. I shudder to think what it would cost to have a stockmaker match it. 

I suppose an argument could be made that I should display the gun only rather than alter the flawed artistry of the “factory original” work. However, Schwing made the point that even collectors buy the Model 21 to shoot because it is so robust.  If Winchester Repeating Arms Company still existed as a division of Olin Industries, I’d ask them to fix the gun and even pay them if they refused to admit faulty workmanship. However, the gun has outlived its maker. 

Ron has repaired so many high-end English, Belgian and Italian doubles for enough Dallas hardgrabbers for long enough without getting shot or Infamous, that I trust him to do better than whoever at New Haven couldn’t find his [toolbox] with both hands. 

I will display Ron’s work when I get the gun back. It will be awhile. 

I will show you the work as soon as I get it back and, as usual with Ron, he and I will have gone over materials and technique when he shows me the finished forearm. 

I do not expect the crack line to be invisible, either inside or outside the checkering panel.  I think it can be diminished. The first three photos show the forearm as I bought the gun in September of last year. The fourth and last photos are closeups of the crack. 

Chuck, when you see this, take a look at the earlier “pix” labeled photos. When enlarged, i think I can see a stress line where the crack later occurred.