16 gauge Remington 870SD (1953) questions

[16gauge]

I've recently inherited a 16 gauge Remington 870SD, I've called Remington giving them the S/N of the gun and all they can tell me is that it was made in 1953 and it's a 16 gauge bore. Awesome, thanks for the help Remington (heavy on the sarcasm here.) When trying to look up the value of the gun in the blue book I really can not find a listing that matches well. I understand that there were around 15 different types of 870's offered in the early 50's, this one being one of the more rare I believe; but the Blue Book of guns does not seem to itemize them out. According to a short writeup on this site about the history of the 870, this gun cost $325 brand new when they came out. My gun has decorative engraving on the receiver, trigger guard, and barrel. It has a ribbed and vented 16 gauge barrel choked for "skeet" and a checkered walnut stock and pump (not the corncob style that came standard on the standard wingmasters.) My grandfather was a gunsmith himself and cared well for his firearms; it has no rust or corrosion, a clean perfect barrel, (inside and out), some very light scratches on the stock, and also a few light scratches on the receiver. I do have a second barrel that is choked differently, but has some corrosion along the rib. I've had it disassembled cleaned and cared for by a local gunsmith and have recently put it into service, shooting only lead an bismuth. My questions are as follows:

How do I properly find the value of this gun in the blue book of guns? Or could someone tell me the range of values I'm looking at?
(I have no intention of selling it, but I may choose to hunt with something else so I may preserve this as a family gun to pass along)

How many of these "Skeet Tournament Grade" guns were produced?

Would I devalue the gun if I had a Briley thin choke system installed in the barrel of my gun so that I may change chokes and shoot steel shot without damaging the barrel?

Thanks in advance for any information given in return and thank you for taking the time to read my long-winded post.

~Newbie

[Virginian]

I hate to tell you but it is probably not worth what you think it is. Why do you think Remington should have any more information on an almost 60 year old production shotgun that they aren't looking at selling or buying? Is a verifiable Skeet D, and was the engraving done new by Remington? The only way to find out what is really worth is to put it up for auction on GunBroker. You are unlikely to find anymore specifics for free. I mean there are 10,000,000 plus examples out there. Very few are in the truly collectible category - mainly 'F' grade guns.
I do not have a catalog, but that "new" price sounds wrong. I know for a brand new 1100 Skeet A in 1963 the suggested retail was under $200, but an engraved D may be another matter all together.
If I am wrong and it is collectible, choke tubes would detract, but on a shooter they actually enhance it a little if done well by a reputable source like Briley, and you keep receipts. Yes, you could get the right tubes to shoot about anything safely.

[Researcher]

That may well be the rarest Remington Model 870 possible!! An 870 16-gauge Skeet is rare enough, but a 16-gauge 870SD "Tournament" grade may well be unique. The only way to really know what such an unusual gun is worth, would be to put it up for auction at one of the major houses such as James Julia. Such rare guns change hands so seldom, there is no way the Blue Book could have a clue.

I don't have any Remington price lists from the 1950s, but in 1962 the list price of a Model 870SD was $521.45 and by then the Skeets were no longer offered in 16-gauge.

P.S. We'd love to see some pictures of this gun.

[16gauge]

Thank you fellas for the responses!

I will take some photos of my 870SD tomorrow and post them and let you guys take a look. I have no interest in "testing the market" at an auction site, as I have no interest in selling the gun that my grandfather passed along to me.

Virginian: I am pretty certain of this retail price, I have included a link to the Remington Society Journal that seems to have all of the suggested retail prices for the 1950 models released. All this info tells me is that the premiere grade guns were most expensive ($575-678) and the tournament grade guns were 2nd most expensive ($295-388), which is usually an indication of quantities produced. Hence my question regarding production qtys of said model and gauge.

http://www.remingtonsociety.com/rsa/journals/870/?na=5

As far as Remington themselves having minimal information, that did not surprise me one bit. Remington is in business to sell quality firearms and make a profit doing it. They aren't here to tell us which ones are worth the most 50 years later. That didn't bother me at all, sometimes you have to dig the most to find info on more rare items.

Below is a link to a 12ga version of what my gun looks like ALMOST to the tee... the only difference is that the bolt on my gun has no engraving. I suspect that this may be a subtle model year difference like the gold triggers featured on other guns I've looked at.

http://www.auctionarms.com/closed/displ ... =5465333.0

Thanks again for your input, I'm excited about my Remington!

[16gauge]

Here are some pictures i just took.

They should be viewable, I don't want to mess with re-sizing on this site.

http://s396.photobucket.com/albums/pp50/luedtkec/

[Researcher]

Great shotgun! Thank you for sharing.

[Virginian]

That certainly looks like the real deal all right. You are extremely fortunate. Guard it well.

[16gauge]

Thanks fellas, I think I've decided based on the collectability of this gun that I won't be putting an aftermarket thin-choke in the alternate barrel.

The actual value of the gun doesn't really matter to me, but the values I've been told lead me avoid bringing it into the field and hunting with the gun anymore.

This still leaves one question unanswered... can someone give me any ballpark of production quantities of the 870SD? I know this is a long shot, but maybe someone has some sort of info?