It was made by mossberg or savage for montgomery ward. I'm guessing the m means it was made by mossberg and if it doesn't have a serial number it is pre 1968 because mossberg didn't put serial numbers on their long guns pre that date.
Yes
Not currently
Mossberg DID make the western field m172a. Western field is just a hardware store brand name, the same as Sears had alot of firearms made by Winchester, High Standard, Mossberg etc.... under the name of Ted Williams, JC Higgins, etc...
YES
Wester Field did not make guns, they sold guns manufactured by Marlin, Winchester, Hi Standard, and others through the 1970's.
No. There never was a Western Field company. That was a trade name owned by Montgomery Wards and the guns were made by a variety of manufacturers including Stevens/Savage, Winchester, Mossberg, and others.
For a couple of years in the late 1980's Savage marketed a combination gun made by Marocchi of Italy which was chambered in 12ga over .222 Remington and 12ga over .308 Winchester. The gun was designated as their Model 389.
Ithaca did not make any Wards Western Field Shotguns. Most were made by Stevens/Savage or Mossberg.Western Field, the Montgomery Ward brand name, should not be confused with Western Arms Company, a division of Ithaca that made shotguns that appear identical to Ithaca's Lefever Nitro Special from 1929 to 1946.
Not without more information.
I would start with a Gun Values book and try to match the gun to the pictures and figure out what the gun really is (since Western Field didn't make any guns, but bought them from several different manufacturers). Once I knew what the gun was, it is an easier task to determine the years in which that gun was manufactured. You will likely not be able to determine the exact year of manufacture unless you can access the Western Field data base.
Several companies made shotguns and rifles for Montgomery Wards, marking them with the Western Field brand. Maker depends on the model. Find the model number, then go to gunpartscorp.com. Scroll down to the cross reference tab, and find your make/model IF it is listed.
You can make the western border in just over 500 miles, but the eastern border is another 280 miles away.