Winchester Model 12 Featherweight 12 gauge

[Steve McCarty]

Just left the gunstore. Looked at a bunch of shotguns. They had a like new, but used Winny Feather weight. I own a couple of older Model 12s and like them. This little gun is kind of weird. Anyone out there got one? If so what do you think?
Someone owned and didn't like this gun because it looks new. It does feel lighter. Has a different barrel changing system than the classic Model 12. It also feels slimmer. Has modern steel. It's a full, so if it becomes mine I'll have it opened to Mod. Will not install choke tubes. I'm not going to do that anymore.

New price is quoted as $1600. Used $450! Wow.

[Lloyd McKissick]

I went through an M12 period of interest a few years ago. The "featherweights" never were IMHO. The lightest M12s were the earlier nickel steel guns (all the 16s were on 20-gauge frames) and I still have a 1927 16 gauge that has been modified to better eject 2 3/4 shells. It was a 28-inch full choke gun originally, but someone shot steel in it on ducks (in the late 1970s/early 80s) and cracked the muzzle. I put it back in service (it was in non-functional pieces when I got it) by cleaning it up, throwing a few minor parts at it, and then bobbing the cracked barrel back to 26 1/2 inches (& resetting the bead). It's now a shocklingly-decent ~6-lb IC upland "loner" gun that I still occasionally cary for grouse (I grew up with pumps). I even installed a Williams "big head" safety on it (to help with my left-handedness) and it works just fine. If I ever had to use just one gun...

[Dave Noreen]

Winchester made two attempts to make a "Model 12" to compete pricewise with Remington's Model 870. The first was the Model 25 which could be called a solid frame Model 12 from 1950 to 54 --

135535

and then the Model 12 Featherweight from 1959 to 62 --

135534

Neither took the market by storm.

[Dave Noreen]

Duplicate post

[Lloyd McKissick]

http://i.imgur.com/VY7tg8Yh.jpg (https://imgur.com/VY7tg8Y)

My '27 M12 isn't exactly pretty but it is quite functional.

[Steve McCarty]

I went through an M12 period of interest a few years ago. The "featherweights" never were IMHO. The lightest M12s were the earlier nickel steel guns (all the 16s were on 20-gauge frames) and I still have a 1927 16 gauge that has been modified to better eject 2 3/4 shells. It was a 28-inch full choke gun originally, but someone shot steel in it on ducks (in the late 1970s/early 80s) and cracked the muzzle. I put it back in service (it was in non-functional pieces when I got it) by cleaning it up, throwing a few minor parts at it, and then bobbing the cracked barrel back to 26 1/2 inches (& resetting the bead). It's now a shocklingly-decent ~6-lb IC upland "loner" gun that I still occasionally cary for grouse (I grew up with pumps). I even installed a Williams "big head" safety on it (to help with my left-handedness) and it works just fine. If I ever had to use just one gun...

I was in the Marine Corps years ago. They demanded that we all shoot right handed. At the time weapons were made for right handed shooters.

I too own an old Winny model 12 16. I owned for years a Model 12 20, which was the first Model 12s Winny made. Nice gun. Wish I still owned it.

[Steve McCarty]

I purchased the Winchester Model 12 Feather weight shotgun today. Brought it home with me...passed the background test...again. The gun looks new. Winchester made them from 1958 to '59 and cataloged them for two/three more years. They were advertized as solid frame guns. Mine is 30" full. Made about 52,000 of'em. Mine feels lighter, a bit. Seems to cycle nicely, but I have not shot it yet. Full fixed choke. Nice steel receiver, no scratches looks like it has lived the past half century in a clothes closet.

[Jim Beilke]

Many years ago I bought 2 Model 25 Winnys. My Gunsmith removed the barrels and installed E R Shaw custom rifled slug barrels with a 1 in 34 twist. drilled and tapped the receivers, tuned the triggers and added recoil pads. I installed Luepold 1X4 scopes. These slug guns were capable of 11/2" groups at 100yds from the bench. They were my wife and my deer guns in our slug only part of MN.

[Steve McCarty]

Many years ago I bought 2 Model 25 Winnys. My Gunsmith removed the barrels and installed E R Shaw custom rifled slug barrels with a 1 in 34 twist. drilled and tapped the receivers, tuned the triggers and added recoil pads. I installed Luepold 1X4 scopes. These slug guns were capable of 11/2" groups at 100yds from the bench. They were my wife and my deer guns in our slug only part of MN.

They sound like good hunting shotguns. Now I'll tell you a secret. I have never taken a shot at a deer in my life. I'm a bird hunter. I'm not against deer hunting, but I have never done it.

[Jim Beilke]

Mr McCarty, It looks as though you need to expand your Horizons. There is always room for one more Deer hunter. Give it a try.

[Dave Noreen]

I shot a deer in 1962 and always contended I'd have rather had the two grouse I saw that morning. A few years later I traded my sporterized Remington 03A3 off on my all time favorite bird gun "Meat in the Pot" and never had any desire to go big game hunting again.

[Eddie Kay]

Have a 1918 20ga.Sweet little gun. 2 1/2" chamber ejects old AA Winchesters just fine. https://i.postimg.cc/KzF4F41X/1362713-IMG-6812.jpg

[Scott Janowski]

Only have a few M12’s left.
This one is 1A engraved with B carved wood. It has 11 factory options.
Made in 1952.
It was owned by a Winchester Salesman.

[Scott Janowski]

Only have a few M12’s left.
This one is 1A engraved with 11 factory options.
It was owned by a Winchester Salesman.

[Keith Sirmans]

Only have a few M12’s left.
This one is 1A engraved with B carved wood. It has 11 factory options.
Made in 1952.
It was owned by a Winchester Salesman.

Did that one come from Capt Jon Wilson? He had some very nice ones and his dad was a salesman. Dad would drop him off in the stock room and the old guys would give little Jon a piece of Pine to carve on to keep him occupied

[Bill Murphy]

A really exceptional and original Pigeon Grade with the rare and unusual coarse early 1950s checkering. Wow.

[Scott Janowski]

Keith, Here is the story. I think it was around 2001, this gun was listed on gun broker by Buffalo Bills shooting emporium in Florida. There were several very bad pictures and the gun went through two cycles with no interest.
I thought at first it was an upgrade as we all know there are a ton of them out there.
What I noticed from the pictures was the Winchester name coming through the leather covered pad. I thought if it was upgraded no way would they have used a Winchester pad to cover with leather.
I called and they didn’t know much about it except that the owner lived in the neighborhood and told them his father worked for Winchester as a salesman and this was his gun.
I struck a great deal as they had no interest in it.
You can’t imagine how happy I was when I opened the box!
It is one of my favorite Model 12’s, and I think if you only want one example, this is it.

[Eddie Kay]

16ga Pigeon Skeet engraved by Nick Kusmit. https://i.postimg.cc/HW76JQCm/IMG-1456.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/tCjNYw5d/IMG-1464.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/zGdC2B1p/IMG-1465.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/DzHqFM0X/IMG-1454.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/W3Z04wqf/IMG-1459.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/VvBMqsRq/IMG-1466.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/Hsdbp5YB/IMG-1463.jpg

[Bill Murphy]

And checkered by Winchester wood man, John Durkin. What a great gun.

[Larry Stauch]

[QUOTE=Eddie Kay;434972]16ga Pigeon Skeet engraved by Nick Kusmit.

That's two WOW Model 12s in a row. Or Double WOW!

I bought this little 20 gauge from "The World's Foremost Outfitter" just for the wood. It's a WS-1 Skeet gun and I was going to put the wood on another WS-1 20 gauge Skeet gun I have. However, after I started shooting it I love it. It breaks targets like I can't believe, even though it's hideious looking because of the Cutts Compensator. It's obvoiusly not done correctly, but it is pretty wood.
X
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[Daryl Corona]

Can't see the Cutts but I happen to like them. Wood is gorgeous.

[Jim Beilke]

My Dad use to refer to the Cutts as a Corn Cob on the end of the barrel

[Dave Noreen]

I suppose I'll get flamed for this, but I find that coarse checkering and stippling around the fleur-de-lis on high grade post WW-II Model 12 and 21s pretty poor compared to what our factories were putting out on high grade Parker Bros., Remington, Lefever, etc. doubles sixty years earlier. The checkering on the F-Grade Remington pumps and autos being made concurrently with those Model 12 and 21s was better.

[Larry Stauch]

What is interesting is when Remington wanted to do it, they were the best. Engraving and the checking is second to none. Unfortunately, they decided that they didn’t want to do it moving forward. What a shame. But, thankfully, we have available to us some of their best efforts.

[Keith Sirmans]

Keith, Here is the story. I think it was around 2001, this gun was listed on gun broker by Buffalo Bills shooting emporium in Florida. There were several very bad pictures and the gun went through two cycles with no interest.
I thought at first it was an upgrade as we all know there are a ton of them out there.
What I noticed from the pictures was the Winchester name coming through the leather covered pad. I thought if it was upgraded no way would they have used a Winchester pad to cover with leather.
I called and they didn’t know much about it except that the owner lived in the neighborhood and told them his father worked for Winchester as a salesman and this was his gun.
I struck a great deal as they had no interest in it.
You can’t imagine how happy I was when I opened the box!
It is one of my favorite Model 12’s, and I think if you only want one example, this is it.

I think so now and now I have to ask him.

[Bill Murphy]

Researcher, the coarse around 1950 checkering on Model 12 graded guns is how we identify them as "original". Don't be to hard on them. I don't know why they did that, but they did.

[todd allen]

I suppose I'll get flamed for this, but I find that coarse checkering and stippling around the fleur-de-lis on high grade post WW-II Model 12 and 21s pretty poor compared to what our factories were putting out on high grade Parker Bros., Remington, Lefever, etc. doubles sixty years earlier. The checkering on the F-Grade Remington pumps and autos being made concurrently with those Model 12 and 21s was better.

Yes, but then look at the British Bests, H & H, as an example.

[Steve McCarty]

Mr McCarty, It looks as though you need to expand your Horizons. There is always room for one more Deer hunter. Give it a try.

LOL: Jim, I am 80 years old. Have never popped a cap at a deer or elk. Years ago, I shot most of the cayotes that lived and died in Kansas. I used a Remington Model 99 in .243. It had a tip off scope. Today, I don't know what I'd do with a dead deer. Probably hold a funeral.

[Jim Beilke]

One would eat a dead deer, considered by many as fine dining, especially in this house.

[Scott Janowski]

I think so now and now I have to ask him.
Let me know.

[Eddie Kay]

Don't think there was ever an all steel solidly built pump like the Model 25. No worries of this one shooting loose. I do have Model 12's. https://i.postimg.cc/T3wQhzxH/DSC03202.jpg

[Joe Graziano]

I inherited a M12 featherweight from my father. He bought it at the BX while stationed in Japan, around 1959. He shot the guns for years, as I have. It also has a full choke. I’ve used it for trap and on ducks. It’s really not great at either. Before I knew better, I put lots of hot steel through the full choke. Never had a problem. But, it kicks something fierce. In my opinion, it’s not a great shotgun for anything. But, I love it because it was my father’s.

[Steve McCarty]

I inherited a M12 featherweight from my father. He bought it at the BX while stationed in Japan, around 1959. He shot the guns for years, as I have. It also has a full choke. I’ve used it for trap and on ducks. It’s really not great at either. Before I knew better, I put lots of hot steel through the full choke. Never had a problem. But, it kicks something fierce. In my opinion, it’s not a great shotgun for anything. But, I love it because it was my father’s.

I recently bought a M12 Featherweight. It is like new. 30" full. I have not shot it yet. I won't shoot steel in it. If I want to shoot it at ducks I'll buy bizmuth. The gun feels excellent. It is light and quick. Nice old shotgun.

[William Woods]

What is interesting is when Remington wanted to do it, they were the best. Engraving and the checking is second to none. Unfortunately, they decided that they didn’t want to do it moving forward. What a shame. But, thankfully, we have available to us some of their best efforts.

I am unsure what era you are speaking of, but many years ago I attended the Remington Armorer's School in Illion. I wanted to see the Custom Shop as much as anything else. I was amazed at the beautiful work I saw there. I had purchased a 12 gauge Remington Special Field to hunt with and it had ugly wood. I wanted to upgrade the wood and told the guy in the Custom Shop wood room, Billy was his name, the type wood I was looking for. Our instructor, Bob Lescovar, had just started training students after working in another capacity in the plant. During a break, Bob brought a buttstock and forend over to ask if these pieces would be satisfactory. I told Bob to tell Billy they would be "very satisfactory". "D" grade buttstock and and "F" grade forend. At the time, it was the nicest wood I had ever seen. There was an engraver that was getting read to retire, and Bob had said he wanted the engraver to engrave a trigger guard for him before the engraver left. I do not remember the engravers name, but I watched him do some work while I was there and it was very nice.