The first advertisement for the Winchester Model 53 (photo)

[KirkD]

A friend loaned me an original September 1924 National Sportsman magazine. Upon opening the cover page, lo and behold!!!! ... an advertisement for the Winchester Model 53!! The entire magazine was in black and white except for the inside and outside of the front and back cover, which was colour.

The first Winchester Model 53 was serialized on June 18, 1924 with a total of 40 serialized by the end of that first month. By the beginning of September, when this National Sportsman issue came out, a total of just 661 Model 53 rifles had been serialized. Since that was the very first step in building a rifle, the actual number completed may have been slightly less. I think we can safely say that this advertisement was the very first official layout design for advertising the Model 53.

The big question in my mind is, what month did Winchester start running this ad in the National Sportsman? Chances are, with a total production of no more than 661 rifles by September 1st, this was the first month they started advertising and shipping. However, if anyone here has earlier copies from 1924, I would be very grateful if you could check to see if this advert appeared before the September issue.

[Pete44ru]

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JMO, but I would think a 3-month lead time for submitting an ad is about the print industry standard.

If that was the case back then, it translates to Winchester submitting the ad sometime in April 1924.

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[KirkD]

JMO, but I would think a 3-month lead time for submitting an ad is about the print industry standard.

If that was the case back then, it translates to Winchester submitting the ad sometime in April 1924.

That is possible, and by today's standards might be fine. I'm a canon user, and follow their release announcements vs availability dates very closely. For Canon, it is 2 to 3 months from the time the lens or camera is unveiled to product showing up in retail stores. However, this is the 1920's. I'm not sure the culture had the same mentality back then, though I could be mistaken. Anyway, the hunt is on for earlier 1924 copies of the National Sportsman to see when Winchester began to announce the Model 53.

[65bee]

Note that there is no mention of it being offered in a take-down version? That was a popular option with this model.

[KirkD]

Note that there is no mention of it being offered in a take-down version? That was a popular option with this model.

The takedown version is mentioned in the second column of the write-up, about 2/3rds of the way down. According to my ongoing survey, exactly 1/3 of all Model 53's were built as takedowns.

[TraderVic]

Very cool advertisement from yesteryear. What we all would give to step back in time and purchase one of these rifles.

Thanks for sharing this Kirk.

[Tanqueray]

That is a cool advert. I wonder why they dropped the 38-40 from the 1892? To me that has much more appeal than the 25-20 or 32-20.

[KirkD]

That is a cool advert. I wonder why they dropped the 38-40 from the 1892? To me that has much more appeal than the 25-20 or 32-20.

My guess is that it was due to very low sales in their Model 92 line. It is the only reason I can think of.