Same Model 12 that I baptized on 11/11 in the mud and muck- 25 years ago, I hunted with a retired MI State Vet (large animal) who had it's twin- 30" Full solid rib field gun made in 1937- std 2& 3/4" not a 3" Mag. Bob had been bird hunting the day before our morning in a good blind on Long Lake- flight birds were in, and geese were also in residence. or some reason, he wore his Filson bird hunting coat, as from the previous day's bird hunt, with his "pet" LeFever Nitro Special 16 gauge. Back then, Remington field 12 and 16 loads were both green plastic- and he had left a few 16 upland No. 8 shot loads in the right hand pocket-
Shooting light came, we loaded up, my Black Lab "Dixie" whined in eager anticipation of birds to retrieve- and Holy Moley- 3 big Canadas were winging right straight into the front of our blind, right into the wind, lifting up like a Corsair F4-U off a USN carrier in the Pacific in 1944- "Take 'em" I shouted and I swung through the bird on my side of the two-man blind we used, Boom, the bird crumpled in the morning air and fog, and I hear a "Pop" and the other two birds on Bob's side flew on, unscathed--
Bob said: "My Model 12 is jammed, can you fix it?" Dixie had the dead goose in hand, back to the blind and the ramp we had built for her, so I unloaded my M12, and looked at Bob's gun. Sure enough, the action was jammed shut tighter than Dick's hatband.I was able to remove the two green Remington hulls from the magazine, after I removed the machine screw at the rear of the trigger housing, and dropped it out with the shell carrier, which was binding on the brass head of one of the shells in the magazine tube- Yes, I carry a basic cleaning and field armorer's tool kit in my shell bag, along with a spray can of WD-40 and spare shells and calls-- good habit, IMO.
When I looked at the two green Remington plastic hulls, I realized that Bob had loaded his M12 with 16 gauge hulls- and when he shot at his bird, the undersized 16 hull fired, but not being fully contained 360% in the chamber, it went "poof" instead of BANG.
I gave Bob my M12 to use while I overhauled his- after I had him dump out all the shells in his Filson-both pockets, and stash them in his shell bag- I loaded my M12 myself, red WRA 12 gauge plastic No. 4 express (pre-steel shot era)--
In order to extract the swollen 16 gauge hull from the chamber and the chamber ring, which held the swollen brass casing, I had to do the old Herb Parsons Model 12 betting trick-- I removed the barrel/magazine group from thereceiver, and this left the plastic tube of the swollen 16 gauge hull exposed- However, the brass had swollen from the detonation and was tight into the ID of the chamber ring- more later RWTF-- OK, dinner is over, football on TV- so I'll give this a wrap. took me almost and hour with my tool kit and a sharp knife to cut and peel away the plastic hull and free up the brass -Bob watched me work, shot at one mallard with my M12 and missed- once I had his gun back in order, we swapped back and finished out the morning with 3 mallards and 5 scaup- Gene Hill once wrote about having a hunting coat-vest for each shotgun gauge he owned and used--maybe not a bad idea--
Last edited by Run With The Fox; 11/12/16 07:45 PM.
