Winchester Model 21 28 Gauge for saleGuns America|Winchester Shotguns|Forum|Winchester Collector

28 gauge said
 Thoughts on this Winchester Model 21 28 gauge.A Model 21 28 gauge is probably my holy grail gun.Too much for myself,but always nice to dream.:)
 
https://gunsamerica.com/search?keyword=winchester%20model%2021
  

As I write, I can hear the menacing sounds of a stake being set and firewood and pitch gathered, for the Auto de Fe. A heretic denying the Ultimate Truth needs to go up in smoke as a lesson to …. but I digress. 

In my personal opinion, a 28 gauge Winchester Model 21 — as made in New Haven or to the specifications of those few made there — is an ungainly, heavy and awkward-looking creation. I make the distinction because Connecticut Shotgun Company builds new guns either using an overlarge 20 gauge size receiver like the originals or an inauthentic “baby frame” close in size to the diminuitive Parker 00 originals. Your choice, bring serious plastic. 

This one was built by Galazan (assuredly not a slur, except to collectors)  from parts and work-in-progress created in the Winchester Custom Shop before it was sold intact to CSC in 1991. That means it is built on a 20 gauge frame and the barrels were bored from 20 gauge blanks. These can weigh from 6.75 to 7.5 pounds, whopping for a 28.  A true 00 scale 28 should weigh less than 6 pounds, as little as 5.5. 

I’ve shot Skeet with my 28 gauge Winchester 101 Pigeon Grade Lightweight that has 28″ Winchoke barrels. It is built on the 20 gauge frame and I wish it weren’t. (A few weren’t but they are seldom and now costly.) 

Do I know heavier guns are better for Skeet blah blah? Yes, but the Model 21 28 gauge still fell out of the Ugly Tree and hit every branch all the way to the ground. And lost all the handling characteristics and handiness of a correctly scaled 28 gauge to carry in the field. 

The gun at the end of the link seems to me fairly priced if its condition is real. Galazan will build you a new for around that price, last time I looked, minus the engraving. If that would hold for one on a baby frame, I’d lose the engraving and go for the right-sized gun. If I had a loose twenty grand and had to have a Model 21 28 gauge. But there are better choices for less. 

Don’t confuse the linked gun’s potential value with one of the EIGHT (8) Model 21 Production Era guns. In collections closely held and seldom available, i believe that game starts in the high Seventies, Eighties, and some believe it could exceed a hundred in a knife fight. Nobody knows, except we know what gets trampled when the elephants fight.

There are believed to be 8 to 12 Custom Shop Era guns [ somebody with access to a solid number, please jump in], which trade in the $17,000 to $35,000 range, I’m told. 

Bottom Line:  I like the 12 gauge Model 21 i have and think those in 16 and 20 gauge are the epitome of double gun style and grace.  But there are better options for Winchester 21 fans who are also 28 gauge connoisseurs, at a small fraction of the price.