That date would overlap the "pistol style" rear sight models which I speculate were manufactured between 1953-1957. '69_317 changed back to solid end one piece bolts One piece solid probe on the 317 would put it at or later, according to my notes.ġ951- _ 317 had one piece hollow(flow thru) end bolts It is my belief it was done on the fly while a more efficient bluing technique was developed & to save $ on the more expensive silver & black silver bluing of previous models. It is also a transition model in that the blueing, if you can call it that was the worst of all Benjamins and appears to flake off with relative ease.
I call it the gun with the rear sight that is better suited for a short gun. There are quite a few out there but finding one in decent shape is tough. I will try to tie it all together once I locate a good candidate. There is one gun missing from the collection that I mentioned in post #8. The MW with the wrong safety is a 317 & the other 2 are 312's. The rear sight was also replaced although it is factory & the correct sight.Īll 3 have the caliber stamped on the tubes end cap. It would have had the same button type safety as the other one. The guy I purchased it from didn't realize it until I mentioned it to him. Good spot, the later tang safety is an add on & not correct one for this model (mentioned in post #51). Maybe 1951?Īnother question.Are any of the three stamped with the Caliber? That fact alone strongly suggests the tube used on this one is really old stock. Overall this rifle appears to be an earlier transition than the other MW. Funny thing is, I have leather pump seal examples with "MADE IN USA" on them. The baffling part is the lack of "MADE IN USA" on the tube. The high location of the "Benjamin Franklin" stamp is interesting, then again the older rifles seem to be stamped in random places. Both being transition changes after 1950, it also makes sense. The pump handle is pinned on and it has the one piece bolt. It has an early button style safety(which makes sense if it were a very early 50's rifle before the transition to the tang safety). The top MW rifle in photo has some interesting traits.
The bottom Montgomery Ward rifle in your photo is also stamped "MADE IN USA", has the later tang safety, pinned pump handle, and one piece bolt.(Makes sense and fits in the early 50's transition spot.)Late 1951-'52?ģ. (Makes sense and fits into your chronological placement )ģ. The standard 1950 model is stamped "MADE IN USA", also has an early button style safety, the pump handle is screwed on and has the two piece bolt.