Bill, you still seem not to understand what I'm saying. I don't claim that Winchester offered a gun they called Skeet Grade -- I have repeatedly acknowledged this and have no doubt you're right about that. I don't understand why you treat this as a matter of argument and conflict.
I'm simply interested in understanding what Schwing meant in describing as "Skeet Grade" the particular wood and barrel treatments he says Winchester associated with the Skeet designation beginning in 1936. You've seen "Skeet Finish" instead of "Skeet Gun" on Cody letters, right? I'd be interested to know if the term begins to appear in 1936. To the extent consistently defined "finish" is a characteristic of M-21 grades, can we accept that by "Skeet Grade" Schwing means that from 1936 on guns marked as SKEET have the finish characteristics he stated -- rather than being skeet-purposed guns in other finishes/grades? Is there something subversive in understanding or explaining Schwing this way?
I don't see harm in speculating to reconcile apparent inconsistencies -- such as defining the "Skeet Gun" as a gun in any grade that's purposed for skeet ... except when it's not at all suitable for shooting skeet and may have finish characteristics that differ from recognized grades.
It's just a fun speculative discussion for me, and I can't imagine my speculation carries enough weight with anyone else to enter "the bank of collector information"! If it inexplicably does, I hope it's in fact what I've written in trying to understand Schwing's contribution to "the bank" rather than the mistaken way you've characterized it.
Jay
P.S. If you misconstrue harmless discussion as a challenge to your authority as guardian of "the bank of collector information", then yeah, you really should get over yourself.
