Winchester 101 Diamond Grade Parts

I was about to buy a Win 101 Diamond Grade last week and a shooting pal had me put on the brakes. He said parts are impossible to get. Any truth to that?

 

If you like 101's you can buy 2. Use one for parts. They sell far less than they should. Probably due to parts availability. Dont break a cocking rod!

 

Parts are available google them. Roger C.

 

Yeah go ahead and google "cocking rod win 101" or "hammer win 101" tell me how that works out.

 

This is a schematic from Midwest gunworks. It seems they have pretty much all parts and pieces.

Nuline has them as well, I believe.

 

A little over a year ago a dear friend passed and left me an early Diamond Grade Unsingle Trap. A cocking hammer broke, a firing pin needed replaced, I had Roger Eubanks tighten things up. The gun is 50 years old (???) and functions perfectly. I put about 1000 rounds a month through the gun. There seem to be no records on serial numbers any more to determine age for sure but there is a newspaper picture of the original owner in an ATA competition in the late 60's using this gun. Midwest Gunworks is an excellent source, EBay has parts, make a few calls and you would find anything you might need. I have not found parts availability to be a problem....... Larry

 

If you are buying any used parts from Nuline better call and talk to someone who knows something. (if possible)

I bought some M12 parts some years back, thinking I could beat new parts prices, and got a bunch of junk.

Beware.

Regards....Gerald

 

I have never tried NuLine, I have purchased new WinChoke's from "jerry's attic" new firing pins and springs from Midwest and the ejector hammer, spring and guide I got from Jerry's Attic were new...... Whether shotgun or rifle, new or old, caution must be used when ordering parts. In any segment of parts ordering, cars, lawn mowers, guns it is imperative you know what you are doing as so many folks on the other end just hit a keyboard and have no actual knowledge of the product being ordered. It seems we do not have specialists any more, only generalists........ Larry

 

Larry,

The diamond grades I do believe cam out in the early 70's. I shot a combo that Sandy Woods ask me to shoot. I went through two combo sets over 100,000 rounds. Never had any problems with them. Roger C.

 

Next time I am in Wallowa I will check the newspaper date for sure...... I have seen several sources that indicate they were discontinued in the mid 80's. It would be interesting to know when it was built, they had their own serial number sequence, starting with DG. I am guessing the Japanese manufacturers threw away the records when they quit building them. The internal machining is first rate and after all these years none of the pieces even show indications of wear. I had Roger tighten it up because the release lever was almost to center and I will be passing the gun on to my son. Larry

 

Larry, They were really discontinued. Sandy told me he received a call, you had better get over here and get your tooling out of the factory. We are going to bull dose it right after Dec. 25. They have not been paying their taxes. He went and they dosed the factory per Sandy.

They were good guns, mine never kicked me, as I made sure they fit properly. They also had a very crisp trigger, a little free play but crisp on the let off. Never had to have it worked on. As far as the cocking bar if you did not open the gun fully, it sometimes did not cock. Not a major problem once you realized what was happening. A lot of shooters did not know W.W. could supply the gun with cast on or off stocks. Many of them were high quality wood. Roger C.

 

I guess they told you !!!!!!!

 

Smokintom....there are a lot of I told you so's in the future for the guy that thinks a schematic equals parts availability and not "used" parts availability. If you are buying a 101 you better have some money for later.

 

The providing of information based on experience is not an "I told you so" or even anything remotely close to that. If one has any desire to see availability for the old Diamond Grades just take a quick look at Midwest. There may be many reasons not to buy any of the older guns..... Parts is usually not one of them. As far as used parts are concerned I have rebuilt and restored numerous rifles and shotguns predating the 1900's. A good number of the "used parts" from that day and age are superior in material and workmanship to current production. Blanket statements do cover a lot of ground but specifics usually do more good........ Larry