Winchester Model 20 — .410 Bore

Winchester Model 20 .410 Bore – Vintage Single-Shot Shotgun

Manufacturer: Winchester
Model: 20
Gauge: .410 Bore
Action: Break-Action Single Shot
Condition: Used / Vintage
Configuration: Single-Barrel Shotgun
Chamber Length: Verify before use

Here we have a Winchester Model 20 chambered in .410 Bore.

And unlike the Crescent-Davis where we had to shrug at the model number and write UNKNOWN, Winchester was kind enough to actually tell us what this one is.

Progress.

The Model 20 is an early Winchester single-shot .410 introduced around 1920 and produced for only a few years.

Winchester originally marketed it as part of its Junior Trap Shooting Outfit, which is a wonderfully polite old-timey way of saying they were getting kids hooked on shotguns early.

It's a simple break-action design.

Open gun.

Insert shell.

Close gun.

Shoot.

There is no detachable magazine.

No gas system.

No recoil spring.

No optic mount.

No app.

Nobody needs to watch a 43-minute YouTube video titled “WINCHESTER MODEL 20 COMPLETE BEGINNER'S GUIDE.”

It's a single-shot .410.

You'll figure it out.

BigRed's Take

Old Winchester shotguns have a different feel to them.

This isn't a modern budget single-shot somebody stamped out last Tuesday.

The Model 20 comes from the period when Winchester was building guns that were expected to be used, handed down, used some more, shoved into closets, forgotten about for 30 years, rediscovered, and eventually end up sitting on my counter while I try to explain to Google why somebody needs a century-old .410.

And apparently they built this one well enough that we're still talking about it.

The .410 also fits these little old single shots perfectly.

They're light.

They're handy.

They're simple.

And they somehow make grown adults immediately start telling stories about squirrels, rabbits, farms, grandparents, and the first shotgun they ever fired.

Every damn time.

Someone will pick this thing up and say:

“My grandfather had one just like this.”

Maybe.

Considering when these were made, your great-grandfather might've had one too.

The Model 20 was produced in relatively modest numbers compared with Winchester's major repeating shotguns, which makes surviving examples considerably more interesting than the generic old single-shot hiding in the corner of every rural gun cabinet.

Igor's Official Assessment

I explained to Igor that this Winchester dates from around 1920.

He thought about that for a second and said:

Igor respects his elders.

Moving on.

Condition

This Winchester Model 20 is being sold as a used vintage firearm.

Expect normal age-related cosmetic wear, including scratches, handling marks, finish wear, discoloration, wood wear, and whatever other evidence comes from surviving approximately a century without being accidentally thrown away during somebody's estate cleanout.

We're not going to polish history off it.

We're not refinishing the stock.

We're not dipping the metal in something shiny and announcing that we've “restored” it.

Old guns are allowed to look old.

Please inspect all photographs carefully.

The actual shotgun pictured is the shotgun you're buying.

Every scratch included.

Every worn spot included.

The previous 100-ish years are complimentary.

Important .410 Chamber Note

Don't assume an old .410 automatically accepts every modern .410 shell sitting on the shelf.

Most Winchester Model 20s are documented with 2½-inch chambers, although some later examples have been reported with 3-inch chambers.

Chamber length should be positively verified on the individual shotgun before ammunition is selected.

In other words:

Read the gun, measure if necessary, and don't shove a 3-inch shell into something because “it looked like it fit.”

We shouldn't have to say that.

Experience suggests otherwise.

A Shotgun From a Different Era

The Model 20 is almost comically simple by modern standards.

That's part of the charm.

There isn't much here that doesn't need to be here.

Barrel.

Stock.

Action.

Trigger.

One .410 shell.

Done.

It comes from an era when apparently nobody felt compelled to attach six pounds of accessories to a shotgun before shooting a rabbit.

And somehow it worked.

For somebody collecting early Winchester firearms, looking for a vintage .410, building a collection of old American sporting guns, or simply wanting something with considerably more history than another plastic shotgun in a cardboard box, this one deserves a look.

Looking for a Winchester Model 20 in Pennsylvania?

If you've been searching for a Winchester Model 20 for sale in Pennsylvania, vintage Winchester .410 shotgun, old Winchester single-shot shotgun, collectible .410 Bore shotgun, early Winchester shotgun, or vintage sporting firearm in Northeast Pennsylvania, this one is available at Frontiersmen Firearms in Palmerton, PA.

Frontiersmen Firearms serves customers throughout Palmerton, Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, Walnutport, Slatington, Carbon County, Northampton County, Monroe County, the Lehigh Valley, and surrounding Northeast Pennsylvania communities.

If you're local, come look at it.

Old firearms are better in person.

Look at the wood.

Look at the markings.

Look at the action.

Then tell me about the Winchester your grandfather bought for $12.

Yes.

We know.

Everything used to cost twelve dollars.

You also used to be able to buy a house for approximately the current price of a used pickup truck.

None of this information is helping us.

Not From Pennsylvania?

Maybe you searched for a Winchester Model 20 .410 for sale.

Maybe Google sent you here.

Maybe AI has decided that your collection lacks sufficient representation from the Woodrow Wilson administration.

Whatever happened, welcome.

Frontiersmen Firearms ships firearms nationwide wherever legal, to an appropriate receiving FFL and subject to applicable federal, state, and local laws.

We'll package it properly, send it to your receiving dealer, keep you informed, and do our best to make the process painless.

Whether you're five minutes down the road or halfway across the country looking at a century-old .410 and thinking, “Yeah, I kinda need that,” we appreciate you finding us.

Questions about the shotgun, markings, condition, or chamber?

Ask.

We'll tell you what we know.

We'll tell you what we don't know.

And we're not going to invent a story about it being carried by somebody's great-grandfather through three wars because an old shotgun deserves better than bullshit provenance.

Old Winchester. One shell. Still here.

Hard to argue with that.