As per Stadt's book: "Thirty-three or so Model 50 20 gauge featherweight actions were used for experiments. Serial number 0001 was a roll engraved and gold washed receiver that was not made up into a gun, perhaps because it went down Winchester Avenue in a private vehicle. Serial number EXP 33 was a 20 gauge skeet with roll engraving. Serial number EXP 5 and EXP 26 were 20 gauge gun without engraving and with fiberglass barrels. Number EXP 26B had a 20 gauge steel barrel and a lightweight receiver. Serial number EXP24B and more than a few others were 14 gauge guns with 26 inch fiberglass barrels with Versalite chokes and no markings. It and eleven or so others were used to test 14 gauge aluminum shotshells. Some of the first experimental guns had integral compensators, i.e., porting. Fourteen gauge guns examined had Versalite chokes. Magazine tubes and forearms were much shorter than on standard 20 gauge guns.
A friend of mine(Stadt's friend) fired 100,000 round of test ammunition into a dirt bank with these guns. He submitted that only four or five 14 gauge and two 20 gauge guns can be extant. I look this to mean that all others were destroyed - some because they had been broken or badly worn. These guns might best be called 50/59 because they obviously have Model 50 actions and experimental barrels much like Model 59 barrels. Winchester test reports called them Model X. The 14 gauge barrels were, in fact, 14 gauge. But, the chambers were 20 gauge and so were the shells - even though headstamped "14 GA".
Testing was performed at Nilo Farms and New Haven. Guns and ammunition functioned satisfactorily. However, the matter was not pursued because of likely reluctance of gunners and the trade, and because aluminum shells cost more than paper."
