Aftermarket Engraving

[budrichard]

Many Model 21's surface with aftermarket engraving especially from the 'Production Era'.
I suspect the main reason is monetray as it was cheaper to have an outside source rather than Winchester do the work.
50 year later the value of the guns is lower than a non-engraved gun (at least to me) and in most cases, the gun is not even considered for purchase because of the quality of the work and the fact that these guns are a hard sell.
The follwing pictures are from such a gun. The prospective purchaser inquired and hoped I think that it was factory but after a review of the pictures, it was an easy determineation that the gun was non-factory engraved. The grip cap especially gives it away. Over the years Winchester did not use a lot of engravers and during the 'Custom Shop Era' there were only three engravers working so its not hard from experience to make a judgement. Most factory engraved guns were not signed either and there is no record of who engraved what that I can find.
I have seen many such guns over the years and its sad from this vantage point in time as to what was done to these guns.
A factory letter from Cody confirmed the fact that the gun was a stock Field Grade gun when it left Winchester.-Dick

[budrichard]

This is the fax from Cody on the above Model 21.
Consensus is that the work is aftermarket but may have been done by Nick Kusmit. If anyone has contact information for Nick Kusmit, could they please let me know. Thanks-Dick

[budrichard]

From further investigation it appears that Nink Kusmits initials are indeed on this M21 which would make it a desirable aftermarket M21. A factory M21 would not have any initials but Nick Kusmits records are supposed to be at Cody. I will follow this up and verify.-Dick

[budrichard]

Information straight from Nick Kusmit is that this is indeed engraved by Nick after he left Winchester.
A desirable Model 21 in any event whether engraved by Nick while he worked at Winchester or later!-Dick