Heavy Duck gun on a clays course
 

Wednesday was pretty decent weather-wise and my gang got out to shoot clays for the first time since last year. 20 degrees early on and about 40 when we left. We had 8 shooters in our group = 6 with competition clays guns, one Baker hammer gun, and I shot one of my Winchester M-12 Heavy Duck guns - this one an earlier solid rib 32-incher. I'd dug her out of the safe for ducks a couple of weeks ago but it's been way too cold and iced in, and our quacker season ends tomorrow. These HD's have a sighting plane that's almost 3" longer than a side by side with the same length barrels. Way cool for those tall ones and long crossers over the water but maybe not so good with that Full choke and on a mixed range clays course? Anyway, it must have been a lucky day; this one ended up only 2 ex 100 birds less than our squad's top shooter on Wednesday. :) She’s shown here flanked by a tricked out Beretta gas gun and a Model 12 30-inch Vent Rib Trap.

I have a Model 12 16 gauge and have been severely tempted to get a Heavy Duck

Nice shooting Frank. I also dug my 1940 solid rib, 30" M12 out of the safe and took it out yesterday and shot a few geese with it. The guys I hunt with never know what gun I will show up with so it makes for some interesting conversation until the birds start moving. They all shoot camo auto's.
As a sidebar- I'm really impressed with the new Rio bismuth loads 1 1/8-4's. Last bird of our limit was an honest 50 yard, 1 shot kill. It's been a great season for geese with a few ducks thrown in.

join the club- just pay attention to the chokes :rolleyes:

i find it is not uncommon to find someone opened them, sometimes a lot, for steel shot-

i have sent a couple back that i was assured were righteous

I use my Heavy Duck when I leave the EH 10 at home. I had my HD choke opened up (to .707) and never looked back. It patterns steel BB and BBB beautifully. I only hunt geese. With the original full the only shell it would pattern adequately was 2s and I was crippling more than I found acceptable. I am 74 years old, have cancer and have quit caring about what "value" means (translation don't give a $h1t). It is all about life and enjoying every moment we are given. Someone else can worry. I actually thought about choke tubes (blasphemy) but was enuf of a purist to avoid that temptation. This is for Mills- yield to temptation- get a HD. You will have a great time with it.

The one I was looking at got away. Will keep looking . . . I had pledged not to get any more guns this year, but that resolution is broken

Mills, buy one and you will not regret it. i bought one last summer off the forum and had a lot of fun duck hunting with it this fall. I also shot a few clays with it and you would be amazed at how far out you can cursh one:shock:

choke constriction-HD
 

With all of this talk of opening chokes on HD guns I got out my 1940 30" solid rib gun this morning and measured it. Bore is .730. Choke starts 3" from muzzle and ends with a 3/4" long parallel .693 at the muzzle (.037 constriction). Is that about correct for that era Heavy Duck?
Thanks, Joe

Mine is not a heavy duck Joe but my dimensions are exactly like yours.

I ran steel BBs in mine as well as hevishot BB before I moved over to the dark side and opened it up a bit. It just produced unacceptable patterns except with 2s. I primarily hunt big heavy Canadas. Opening up works super for me. Might not for everyone. I think my choke measured .693 as well. It is a used but not abused 1953 gun. Now I try to use my EH most of the time. It is just too much fun to leave it at home.

I have 3 model 12 full choke guns, a 30" trap & a 28" field both have .730 bore and .035 choke ,a 30" 3" duck's bore is .731& a choke of .031.

Joe,

I have a pre-war M12 HD 32" solid rib. Weighs 8.92 lbs.

.728 bore; .695 at the muzzle .033 choke

Thanks, everybody, for the replies. It is interesting that there is some variance in constriction but a few of ours are quite similar. Frank, that is one beautiful shotgun. I just love the way the early models were configured and finished. I got mine with spring gobbler and Super X lead #4s in mind. Have to get to a pattern board soon.... Joe

Here is mine.

Joe,

Get yourself some 3" Winchester Longbeards XL for this spring. I did testing last year with these with the HD and the patterns are unbelievable.

https://youtu.be/hLwRYMV0K7E

I have been using Winchester longbeard shells for the last 2 Turkey seasons, they pattern better than any load I have ever used. I took a Turkey each year with them.

Joe, those parameters are typical for Model 12 Heavy Duck guns. Winchester put a lot of research effort into boring and chokes and was cautious (as compared with at least two other makers) in advertising 70 to 75% patterns for the Heavy Duck. That was with the 12 ga/3-inch 1-5/8 ounce load that essentially duplicated the heavy progressive 1-5/8 ounce loading in the "Short Ten".

i have a model 12 12 ga with 2 3/4inch chamber with a cutts choke on it really shoots good just don t like the looks of the cutts choke even though it does the job...charlie

Mod 12 HD
 

I owned a solid rib 1955 HD all original I bought 7-8 years ago. Really powdered two big gobblers with it one time who both decided they need to commit to sacrificing themselves one after the other. Also banged a few ducks it was a great long range bomber but due to shoulder problems I readily delt it in a trade last year for a pristine DHE 20 ga original 3" 30" bbls 1925 gun that is a joy to look at and shoot. Was made for a guy that belonged to a San Antonio gun club started in 1910 Blue Wing Hunt Club and is still in existence!!!! Frank thanks for comments on Model 12's I love my other 3 -20, 16 12 skt and 410 all solid ribs.

I would presume that the pre-WWII Model 12 Heavy Ducks through the early 1950s were bored for the 12-gauge 3-inch Magnum 1 5/8 ounce Super-X and Super-Speed loads that were brought out along with the Heavy Duck in 1935. I bought a very late Model 12 HD, in 1974, for duck hunting in Alaska, 1,9xx,xxx serial number range. The shells I had were Western compression formed Super-X, Mark 5, 1 5/8 ounce loads with #4 and #6 shot. I had plenty of time and shot five patterns with each shell and with the #6 my gun averaged 63% and with the #4 just shy of 70%. I've often wondered if these later Model 12 Heavy Ducks were bored for the 1 7/8 ounce 12-gauge 3-inch Magnums brought out in 1954? Since I came back to the lower 48 the next year the Model 12 HD has languished in the back corner of the safe and my old Super-Fox was usually gotten the nod when longer range work might be in order.

I've been a sucker for good Model 12 HD guns ever since I hunted with my first one, many moons ago near Moosonee at the southern tip of Hudson Bay. Some good stories came out of that trip. :cool:

I probably have too many HDs right now but it's so hard to part with one, especially a solid ribber.

Dave commented on the 3-inch/1-7/8 ounce lead shot load. They work OK in HDs and I've shot a lot of them in years past but IME their recoil is a bit too much in these ~ 8-3/4 pound HD guns. They were designed for H.V. 1-5/8 ounce loads and nowadays that's the max lead or non-tox shot load I'll use in a HD for long range work.

Here's another M-12 Heavy Duck, a 30-inch solid rib, straight grip/wood upgrade with somewhat higher and longer stock dimensions than standard. 1947 gun with .729" bore and 34 points of choke. Too nice to hunt with? Naaaah.

Has anyone else heard of (or experienced) a failure to eject when shooting a Heavy Duck gun on straight overhead shots? I understand it's rather common, with no one able to define why the problem occurs. Maybe Brad B. can tell me

I have seen more solid rib Heavy Duck guns than I see non rib guns. Has anyone else noticed this.

I haven't and I've been checking the on-line sites (GB and GI) almost daily for years now. Just subjectively I'd say the proportion is about 5 plain barrel to one solid ribbed.

It maybe that my eyes have been focused on spotting solid rib guns and I tend to pass over the others. I do prefer solid rib to vent ribs and non ribbed guns.

Brett

If you found a cache of solid rib un-messed with HD's

Please send me the link :rotf:

Rick,
There are no links for me to pass on. I just called a gun dealer friend of mine and he just sold the last one I saw over the holidays. I will pass along to you contact information when I see another.

Thanks. I was just funning with ya

We all surf the same sites, that is why it's nice to see something one of us finds that shows up up out of the blue

I stopped in a little out of the way LGS the other day. He normally has a couple m12 field guns. No HD yet. But I keep looking when I go by one of those shops- eventually one will show up when I have mad money in hand

I did look for longer than I should at a very great condition Stevens sidlock hammer gun, those always seem to be mostly used up - this one was a real survivor assuming no one would restore a Stevens

if it had been anything other than a 12 it would have been harder to put it down

Do you Winchester 12 guys have any idea how many Heavy Duck's were made with factory straight stocks? You don't see many for sale in that configuration.

Can't be many, there are no records that I know of, Winchester charged extra for straight grip, $5.00 in 1956 for example. So any straight grip HD was a special order.

its not perfect

but after a long search and getting burned multiple times on "full choke" "unaltered" guns that have had the chokes reamed -or in one case the bore having been honed out 10 thousands -

finally an honest, even if well worn, HD 32" solid rib with .035 chokes, it tips the scales at 8lbs 12 oz

bluing is decent, although worn where you would expect - and for some reason the varnish is flaking off the comb- easy to touch up - the pad is surprising soft for its age

depending on which chart you use it was made at the end of 1938 or the beginning of 1939,

all in all- for what I paid, i am pretty happy with it - Like I said earlier - my first duck hunting mentor was a dedicated M12 guy - I'll hunt it occasionally and think of him each time -

http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=9906

http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...d=9907vhttp://

Very nice, I have a 30" plain barrel one but that's the one on my want list. Hard to beat model 12's.

Rick, congratulations, that is a keeper:) I love the solid rib. In fact, i have a solid rib gun coming next week, my 2nd HD.

Well done Rick! Solid rib 32" pre-war HD M12's are not easy to find.

I love mine. Enjoy!!

Now you have two? How did you get this addiction to pumps all of the sudden?? Model 12's, Remington Model 17's...... :whistle:

Pre-spring fever, after some bad weather my gang got out yesterday to shoot sporting clays. I had the M-12 Heavy Duck, 32-inch solid rib gun that's shown in the first post. We had 6 in the squad, all competition clays guns except for the HD. She's not quite a sporting clays gun at about 8-3/4 pounds and with Full choke but she finished in second place, only 3 ex 100 birds behind the top shooter Allen with his Browning over/under. Here's a couple of pics while on the course. Lots of fun shooting these vintage pump guns! This one was made pre-war and she cranked out 100 shots without a hiccup. Actually one of our guys broke a hammer on his Beretta gas gun and had to put in his spare trigger group. No need to carry spare parts with the Winny M-12. Ha.

Same thing in my blinds. they
call me smoke pole when I bring my doubles

How rare is a 1954 Winchester model 12 Heavy Duck, 30", checkered stock and forearm, with a round post vent rib? I looked at one today and its in great original condition, except for a replacement pad. Please let me know your thoughts, Thanks

not a lot of vent ribs from the factory as i understand it

to tell if it is a factory vent rib- look for the proof marks on the top where the barrel and receiver join- if the rib is factory - there will be a proof mark on the left side of the barrel near the rib- it the barrel left the factory plain - the proof would have been on the center top of the barrel and would have been covered by the add on rib


i did see one on GB a while back - checkered wood and correct marks - they do exist

Thanks for the reply Rick,
It does have the proof mark on the side and choke is still full according to a Brass drop in gauge. The rib is the Special Winchester vent rib with the donut post. Could you place a high low estimate based on the description i have provided with gun in 85%-90% condition.
Thanks, Brett