Besides the obvious, mis matched serial nos., wrong butt plate etc. I know what I look for to decide if a gun is "wrong". What do you look for? There are so many fakes out there that I think the more that is written on the subject of what to look for the more it will help up and coming collectors.

Before we lay down our hard earned money, we need to be knowlegeable on what we're buying. Do our homework and learn all we can about the particular firearms were're investing in. Learn the time frames of manufacture, what's correct for these time frames and we'll soon begin to know what's correct and what are fakes.

The old saying . . "what's too good to be true, can sometimes be just that", is worth reminding ourselves when commiting to an impulse purchse. It's seems the more we all learn how to spot the fakeries the better the fakers get at attempting to cheat us. They learn right along with us but to stay one step ahead is the key. For example: the Winchester Model 42. There seems to be more high end Skeet Grades showing up with vented ribs than were ever thought of let alone built. This also goes for pre-64 Model 70 Supergrades. I'm beginning to suspect there's as many fakes out there as there are the real deals. The first clue should be the number of supergrade floorplates advertised on ebay. I'd be very suspicious of the lettering talents of some of these supergrade floorplates.

Anyways, to keep it relatively short . . what can help to prevent a shadey seller from hanging one on us, is to learn all we can and proceed with caution, especially on the higher price models.

Rod

I agree. The market has also been flooded with "new in the box" M61, 62, 63s in the last few years. Many of these are very good fakes. I even saw one in a collection a guy was showing off on another forum. Everyone was oohing and aahing over it. It was a "new in the box" pigeon grade. Pigeon grade. Can you believe that? Didn't anyone looking realize that they didn't make M63 pigeon grades? Nope. Probably because it was stamped on the end label on the box. Goes back to your statement about doing your homework.

Very sound advice. Just recently, I ran across a Model 12 that was obviously faked and had a price tag miles higher than what would be normal for a genuine NIB Model 12 field grade. So yes, absolutely, do your research and buy with caution.

Caveat emptor ... ( Let the buyer beware ) !!

Always in the back of my mind...no matter what I'm buying !

I haven’t knowingly bought anything fake, but I learned the hard way with Model 12s to break it down before you buy it. One I purchased looked nice enough but someone who had no idea of what they were doing had attempted to break it down in the past and messed things up. It took a trip to Wrights to fix that, which when added to the already too high price….made it really too high. Not really the sellers fault in this case; it was just a good lesson for me.

I wouldn’t even look at a model 42 without finding someone a lot more knowledgeable than myself.