Engraving the Model '21

[rperlichek]

Here are a few pictures of 12ga. gun S/N 28168. This gun is 30.0" vent rib with Briley thin wall choke tubes. The stock is Winchester but not original to the gun. The forearm is not Win., however a pretty good copy.
The gun is a wonderful shooter.

Any comments on the engraving? Any idea who did the engraving?
Thanks -- R. Perlichek, Albuquerque, NM.

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[budrichard]

Very nice Model 21. You might want to pickup a copy of Pachymar at your local library for comparison. Simmons also had engravers I believe in that era but without a signature or another Model 21 for comparison, it's a 'shot in the dark' unfortuneately.
Since the 'TRAP' designation is not straight but in an arc, I think that semeone took a 12 gauge gun and built a TRAP gun out of it. Have you obtained the original configuration from Cody?-Dick

[Ken Hurst]

This gun was engraved by a German or Austrian engraver --- there is a most definite finger print to the style of scroll. The piece could have been sent to Europe or done out of house by an engraver trained in Europe. I have never seen any Win. factory engravers usingthis pattern or style of scroll. FWIW, Ken

[rperlichek]

Thank you for the comments. Good observation on the "trap" being in the form of an arc.

I sure don't like the nickel-plated trigger. I don't know why some former owner would want that - makes it look like an SKB ! (no offense to SKB owners).

I would like someday to have a blued trigger with gold-plated barrel selector in the gun.

Has anyone had experience with removing nickel plating and re-bluing a '21 trigger?

I think that some of the early deluxe guns looked exceptionally nice with the blued trigger - such as the Dwight D. Eisenhower or Wiley Post '21's.

[rperlichek]

Dick: What has been your experience in getting a letter from Cody describing original configuration? How do you go about doing that ? About how much does it cost?

Regards: Bob

[budrichard]

One can pay on a one time basis or if your join the Cody Museum,
http://www.bbhc.org/membership/membership.cfm?cat_id=3
depending on the membership, you get so many letters. Dealers can actually join and get info faxed to them. I have a dealer that obtains information I need by fax for me.
One also has to remember that Winchester record keeping was basically a hand ledger, so not all information is 100% correct and there are Model 21's without any record. These are not the 'Urban Legend' 'Lunch Box' guns but just lapses in manual record keeping.-Dick