Drop the gun and dent the muzzle end of the barrels? Cut off 3/8" and you are good to go...
Yep, and probably about the minimum amount you could cut off to completely remove any trace of the original hole in the rib for the front bead. Muzzles touching are not always a guarantee that barrels are uncut. You have to look at the whole picture including the quality and appearance (squareness of the ends, hacksaw or file marks, bluing, etc.), length of choke tapers, choke diameters (a 3/8" cut wouldn't change this much at all) presence of fillers or keels (I don't think they were used on Model 21's), and proper location of the bead, centered and the right distance back from the muzzles. Of course, the correct undamaged factory bead offers another clue. A hang-tag, invoice, or factory letter is most conclusive if possible. I'm always suspicious of odd number or fractional inch lengths on American doubles. But I've also found that some sellers just aren't very good with a tape measure.
