Winchester M21 Age

[John Dallas]

Have a 12 gauge M21 serial number 26111. I assumed I could research the age of the gun by going through Schwing's book, but I don't see an aging chart. Anyone have a guess on #26111? I've had the gun for 15-20 years, and it is as clean as can be.

Thx

[Dave Noreen]

A letter from Cody is likely the only way to know.

https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/winchester/

[David Noble]

I'm not sure how accurate this is but https://winchestercollector.org/dates/ says it was made in 1949.

[Dave Noreen]

I'm not sure how accurate this is but https://winchestercollector.org/dates/ says it was made in 1949.

I checked the two Model 21s that I've lettered and they are both two years off from the above system.

[Frank Srebro]

I checked the two Model 21s that I've lettered and they are both two years off from the above system.

I agree with Dave, Cody shows all three of my 21's are off by 1-3 years. An alternate besides a Letter is to become a supporting member of Cody and you get 5 gratis lookups via an email return. While not an "Cody Letter" the info provided is the same as what a Letter would be based on. The lookups I've gotten for Winchesters, Ithacas, LC Smiths were received within 1-2 working days of request. A H Fox Graded and Sterlingworths available too. Last cost I've seen the fee for a supporting membership is $200. for a one year period from start date. $40. per gun lookup.

[John Dallas]

Thx. I have a Cody letter on a 20 Ga. M21. Will dig it out and see how the dates compare

[Arthur Shaffer]

I agree with Dave, Cody shows all three of my 21's are off by 1-3 years. An alternate besides a Letter is to become a supporting member of Cody and you get 5 gratis lookups via an email return. While not an "Cody Letter" the info provided is the same as what a Letter would be based on. The lookups I've gotten for Winchesters, Ithacas, LC Smiths were received within 1-2 working days of request. A H Fox Graded and Sterlingworths available too. Last cost I've seen for signing as a supporting member is $200. for a one year period from start date.

According to their web site, they built this data base as a tool for their collectors based on reported known #'s and dates and then made estimates of numbers between the known dates. This is a common method other collector groups have used. It is not exact but is much better than a "no idea". with enough known data points it is a useful tool. Such lists are available for a lot of different makes. Cody has a section on their website that gives the available numbers ranges. In that section that says the numbers are not complete (same as the Parker records) and they vary as to whether they have just numbers and dates or complete records. They suggested calling or emailing before ordering a letter. Knowing within a couple of years may be enough to satisfy most people unless there is a particular feature you want to research.

[John Dallas]

I don't need super precision. My S-I-L ( a Class A Clays shooter), had never shot a S x S until Yesterday. He was flummoxed by the sighting plane but managed to break most of the targets he shot at. Wanted to know how old the gun was. I took at guess at the 50's. Not as old as I am, but...

[Bill Murphy]

Your guess is pretty good. To show you how far off anyone's chart is, I had letters on two 21s, ten thousand numbers apart, two years apart, 1948 and 1950. At that point, ten thousand would have been almost half of the Model 21 production from the beginning of production in 1930. The letter is the only way to know for sure.