Model 12 Super Grade.

[Dean Romig]

Well, that is anything but "painfully plain wood". Very, very nice!

[Grantham Forester]

I have my Great-Grandfather's 20 gauge Winchester pump-- but it is stamped Model 1912. It is a field gun with a 25" long barrel with matted solid rib and a Modified choke. He shot doves and quail with it in GA before WW2- When did Winchester replace the Model 1912 with the Model 12. My gunsmith said the Model 1912's had shorter chambers in the 16 & 20 gauge guns, and when Winchester re-designed it into the Model 12, they made the chambers a std. 2.75" long for the more modern shells-

[edgarspencer]

Madis wrote an entire book on the Model 12, but in "The Winchester Book", he includes only basic information. It seems the Model 1912 became the Mod 12, and Model 12 about 1918.
The 20 gauge chamber was lengthened from 2 1/2" to 2 3/4" in 1925, and the 16 gauges was lengthened from 2 9/16" to 2 3/4" in 1927.
I found a nice 16 ga. in a shop that had modest freckling on the left side, and chambered in 2 9/16" but it had a more fancy checkering pattern, and despite the Poly Choke, it paid the $300 asking price. The little gun is such a sweetheart to shoot, I'll never 'restore' it.