Researching the Winchester Model 53, need help

[28 gauge]

I do believe there are a couple of 53's around here IIRC but will half to check, it's been years and they might be 65's. There is a 218 that got scorched in a fire and the owner had it refinished to remove the rust

I know a guy as well who has a Model 65.He had to have his refinised as well.Just forget why but I think it had laid somewhere and the down side had gotten damp and the bluing and some of the finish came off.

 

[Win Shooter]

I hear you Kirk. I am a shooting enthusiast of the Winchester calibers; so, in gathering these guns I accidentally became a collector, which wasn't my intention. When the collection approached 100 pieces I realized that I had way more than what I would need to carry out my shooting hobby. The style of gun that I like to shoot is a solid frame, standard length, full mag, crescent butt and preferable octagon (it's just not a Winchester without the octagon barrel ).
So everything of added value I got rid of (carbine, takedown, 1/2 mag, shotgun butt, extra length barrel, set trigger(save one for it had the better barrel), etc.). I even got rid of the '66 I had because I couldn't shoot it. I'd much rather have four $2500 guns than one $10,000 gun - this is where I am in complete agreement with mooncoon, I'd prefer a gun that I can't hurt or wipe $100 off every time I cleaned it. This is another reason the models (53, 55, etc) never appealed to me for the short mag aspect.
I know what you mean by the value of the 53's being way less than what they should be, for I have two Bullards and they only made 4,000 in all calibers and frame sizes but for some reason you can brand a pile of $hit with the Winchester moniker and people will go gaga.
I'll dig into this more but can't promise anything.