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The Model 17 receiver with serial number 55209 was put in work during December 1927. There should be a two-letter date code on the barrel, similar to this --
D = September W = 1928

No. From what I know those 28-gauge shells from 1890 to 1937 were all for use in break-action single- or double-barrel guns. The first repeater made for 28-gauge that I know of was when Winchester added the 28-gauge to their Model 12 pump gun offerings in 1937. As far as I know the first ...

That barrel is from an earlier period than your receiver. The barrels during the Remington Arms - Union Metallic Cartridge Company and The Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Co., Inc. period, 1911-1920, had the serial number stamped to be visible from the right side of the gun.

135268 03.jpg ...

From the old factory ledger your receiver was put in work during August of 1939, so the gun being converted to in September 1941 seems reasonable. Post WW-II the smallbore conversions I know of were done by Simmons, usually so marked and by Claude Purbaugh often not marked. I don't know who might ...

I have seen 16-/20-gauge Remington Model 31s converted to 28-gauge, but this is certainly a first for me.

From the late 1890s the 28-gauge in North America was offered in the "standard" 2 1/2-inch shell and with a bit hotter load in an extra length 2 7/8-inch shell. In 1931 when the North American ...

Without a bunch of good pictures it doesn't exist.

Are you the John Taylor I shot skeet with at Col King's shoots at Andrews AFB in the late 1970s and 1980s?

The 20-gauge Model 11 serial numbers started at 1000000, so the receiver for this gun 1000862 was put in work during late March/early April 1930.

The Improved Model 11 12-gauge with the cross-bolt safety behind the trigger was introduced in the 1928/9 timeframe. The 20-gauge Model 11 was introduced in 1930. By February 22, 1930, the first 132 20-gauge Model 11 receivers had been put in work.

Why are the Remington Arms Co. break-action single barrel shotguns No. 3 and No. 9 referred to as "Rider" all over the internet? Joseph Rider's last patent assigned to E. Remington & Sons was his Patent No, 74,428 granted Feb. 11, 1868. It appears to me that the No. 3 was designed by R.C. Fay ...

How about OB O = July B = 1955. A picture or two of the whole gun will narrow it down.

There were a lot of choke devices marketed from the 1930s into the 60s. The most often seen "comp" types were of course the Cutts Compensator --

Cutts Compensator 1962 Gun Digest.jpeg

Pachmayr's POWer-PAC --

Pachmayr POWer-PAC 1962 Gun Digest.jpeg

and the Weaver Choke --

Weaver Choke, 1956 ...

My 12-gauge The Sportsman has a 1936 Sportsman serial number and a barrel date code PE P = June E = 1936 and is just as you describe The Sportsman on the left side of the receiver and the one-bird roll-stamping.

From the pictures of 20-gauge The Sportsman I've saved, 9869 has the 3-bird roll ...

Just for reference, here is a high original condition A quality gun --

Thanks for the pictures. The gun is the entry-level A-Grade. Is it a 12-gauge or 10-gauge? What is the length of the barrels?

What you are calling "engraving" is the Damascus barrels. The alternating ribbands of iron and steel that went in to making the barrel tubes take the finishing differently ...