doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: Q. about one of the "other" Model 37s....

Does anybody know if the humble Model 37 Winchester single shot shotgun was made with one, two, or three frame sizes? I only have my original 1951 .410, but had a 16 once and seem to remember that it had a larger frame. True? And was that larger frame shared by the 12 and 16, or was there an even larger one for the 12 guage? And if there were several different frame sizes, which ones did the 28 and the 20 use?

Winchester made more 37s than any other shotgun, but since they don't seem "collectible," there isn't a lot of technical information about them around.

A personal observation: for cheap guns, they pattern, point, and function very well!

Mike I don't know the answer to your frame size question but the Wichester model 37s were good guns. Did you know there was a Canadian version of the gun? It was produced by a Winchester subsidiery under the name of a Canadian gunmaker, Cooey:



This one was exported to GB and is stamped with Birmingham proof marks...Geo

I remember reading (in Madis' Winchester Book IIRC) that the 37 was made on 3 different frames. I believe he refered to them as different 'widths' instead of sizes, if that means anything but didn't list gauge/frames match-ups for the 3 different ones.

My very first gun was a Cooey; still have it. A lot were imported into the U.K. in the 50's and 60's. Only ever saw them in 12 bore or .410 and the action size to those was the same. The breech end of the .410 barrel was very thick with an abrupt taper in order to fit.

I've often looked for an original Winchester 37 here but have never come across one. Loads of Cooeys, Harrington & Richardsons and savage singles but no Winchesters. Lagopus.....

If anyone is looking for a good 37, Jaqua's Fine Guns in Ohio as a nice 12 ga in the original box. It was still there a couple of days ago.

The first "real" gun I ever shot was a 16 ga. Winchester Model 37. My friend still owns it.

Cooeys in 12, 20 and .410 are common here in Canada, with the 12 ga. virtually ubiquitous.

Semi-hammerless (first production) 12s and 16s were built on the larger frame. 20s and perhaps 28s shared a medium frame and the .410 was made on the small frame. I don't know if the later 37A followed suit.

Stadt doesn't mention frame sizes, but Madis states "Three widths of receivers were used to accommodate the different barrel gauge widths."

IIRC the Winchester 37 shotgun made in Canada was just a re-badged Cooey....not a "made in USA" Winchester 37 at all. Winchester bought out the old Cooey factory and business in Coburg, Ontario in the 1960s. The Winchester primers of "the day" sold for a bit less than the Remington primers as the Feds likely considered "Winchester Canada" as Canadian company for tax purposes. They even assembled an el-cheapo version of the Winchester Model 70 rifle in Cobourg Ontario, called the Model 71.
My first shotgun was a 20GA Cooey single shot, bought as my 16th birthday gift to me - March 1961 at Art Guilford's gun shop Toronto - on Dufferin just north of Eglinton. I had lots of 'go to' interest from Keith, Cooper, Sell, et al, in Guns & Ammo magazine, but that full choke (and lack of $$$ & instruction) sure held me back for a long time.

The Cooey built Winchester marked gun is NOT identicle to the model 37 Winchester. It is a much cheaper gun, with a birch stock, die cast and painted opening lever, plastic instead of iron on the front wood, and cheaper finish.
Don't confuse the two.

Best,
Ted