Wonderful thread. I just came into a Model 17 field grade made in 1921, four digit serial and no date code. Rather than adopting Lloyd's elegant solution for plugging the magazine, I just cut a piece of 3/8 dowel and dropped it into the magazine tube. The first one was two shells long, and it was too short, allowing three in the magazine. I cut the next one 2 1/2 shells long and all is jake. I'm a sucker for an old American pump, especially if John Browning had something to do with it, and Remington made wonderful stuff back before the war.