model 37 .410

[walterm]

I have a winchester model 37 (not 37a or 370) 410. I know they were made over a long time span. on the barrel, it states patent pending. does that give an idea of when it was built? I still have my grandmothers hunting license in the stock of it, it says 1965. although it has nothing to do with the gun, it does tell me it was prior to that. I have no intention of selling it, I'm just trying to get an idea of it's value for insurance purposes. it is in very good condition, fires very well, is solid, has NO rust, and opens and closes smooth.
any help would be appriciated. walter.

 

[agrmsu693]

I got one form my grandpa a few years back and looked forever trying to find stuff about theses gun. I finally found a little info that said it is worth about $150- 200.

 

[walterm]

I do appriciate the info, but I'm more intrested in its age. I was figuring it to be worth about that much, so yoiu did confirm that. how do I find out the year it was made?

 

[JohnBT]

You don't. Sorry. There is a way to sort of narrow it down though. From posts at shotgunworld.com by 'only winchesters'

"The only way to "date" your gun, would be by the style of forarm, and butt plate. If it has what's known as the "Pig Tail" for the lever to break it open, it would be a first year gun. That was the first change Winchester made, going to a solid metal lever.

Regards Dave"

" the first style forearm had a nice round nose, the second style which came out around 47/48, about an inch or two back from the nose it had a slight taper upwards, to the beginning of the round nose. The original butt plates had Winchester Repeating Arms in the circle logo. In 1957, the butt plate just had Winchester spelled out between the two screws. In 1962 they starts using Phillips head screws instead of slotted screws in the butt plate. So you can pretty much date it to a time period. Regards Dave"