doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Value of 1934 Skeet Model 21

mY M 21 12 ga with SK 1 and SK 2 chokes
is stamped Skeet
Trap
on the floorplate

Researcher has it right there never was a skeet grade. It was a type of gun. Before 1940 you could get a standard skeet, a tournament grade, a trap grade and a custom built grade. After 1940 the trap and custom were discontinued, the tournament had been dropped in 1936.In 1940 the deluxe grade replaced the trap grade and the custom grade. During the 1940's and 50's trap, skeet, duck and field guns were types of guns and could be had in the deluxe grade also. It was discontinued in 1950 and the custom grade was reintroduced. As far as Ned's book goes its wonderful but it is wrong when it calls skeet and duck as a grade,
they were types. AWC

Compare to the confusion created by the loose designation of the 2nd version of the Ithaca NID as a "star grade". Not a grade at all, just a version of the same model gun...Geo

My 16 ga. Model 21, #12,4xx is marked Skeet on the trigger plate.

Those guns stamped SKEET on the trigger plate are Model 21 Skeet Guns in Tournament Grade 1932 to 1935 or Standard Grade 1936-onwards. Those stamped SKEET over TRAP are Skeet Guns made in Trap Grade during the 1930s.

It is just the terminology Winchester used. They didn't call it a Skeet Grade. It was a Skeet Gun.

I'm still confused.
What purpose was then served by stamping SKEET on the floorplate like they did Tournament or Trap?

To let you know it is a "Skeet Gun". Trap Grade, Deluxe Grade, Custom Built Grade, all had embellishments of finish and checkering pattern above the field grade. Skeet, Duck, and Field guns were of similar finish. Some better than others, but similar.

I'm going from memory here but I believe I've seen guns marked SKEET with field or tighter chokes??

Why don't we ask gun "guru?" Steve Bodio- according to his book "Best Guns" the Model 21 came out in 1941- so all this wrangling about 1932 versus 1936 Skeet grading is BS-- go figure that!!

Researcher and eightbore:

Schwing deliberately refers to "Skeet Grade". Under "Skeet Grade" headings he devotes most of 3 pages to describing the grade's characteristic barrels and ribs, and 3 pages in another chapter to the grade's characteristic stocks and forearms. His table of contents lists the following grades: Standard Grade, Skeet Grade, Duck/Magnum Grade, Tournament Grade, and Trap Grade.

Quoting Schwing on page 108:

"Introduced earlier in the Tournament and Trap Grades as a sub-grade, 1936 was the first year for the Skeet Grade as a grade unto itself."

Am I right to understand you're saying he's confused and mistaken?

Jay