doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Other Fine Firearms-- Model 12 Winnies??

I love the look and feel of a classic double, but nothing says Made in the USA better to me than the lines of a clean but well-used plain barrel 60 year-old 16 gauge M12 or M37 with a ringed or checkered corncob forend.

Don't forget the poly choke....

--When Vietnam reared its ugly self (Thanks LBJ) our USMC armories had both M12 and M97 12 gauge pumps in riot configuration- not many with the bayonet lug and heat shield that makes riot pumpgun collectors get all wet and sticky I guess. We also had some Ithaca M37 and some Browning-Stevens pumps- forget the model or nomenclature, but they were "humped back" like Browning's great A-5 autoloader.

Stateside base skeet was recreational plus there were some inner-service shoots, as there were for both pistol and rifle. We had mainly 12 gauge M12's with the Cutts Comp-- and also a big reloading set-up-- Enlisted personnel could shoot skeet with a box of 12 gauge reloads for $1.00 per round.

I used a friend's M31 12 gauge once- we were pheasant hunting, and I had one of my 12 gauge field M12's-- he had a good Lab and after we had each taken a rooster cleanly with out own shotty-guns, I asked to try his M31 (his father bought it new in the Depression years- 28" mod, solid rib- sweet handling indeed- but a big smart-#$% Rooster owes his life to the fact that the "go buttons" for the safety and action slide release are different from the M12's I grew up with. I had that big rising loud mouthed cousin to a peacock dead to rights, but I couldn't get the trigger to move in time- C'est La Vie-- I'd take a nice M31 like that, but as with my M12's, it "ain't for sale"__

-- Make that a 12 gauge for me, and I'll stand good for the bourbon and branch water after the shootin's over!!

My Win 42 with the Cutts is one of my favorite skeet guns.
With the 2 1/2 inch ammo it really does the trick.
I also use it at least once a year on doves.

I use a different gun each time I go out for doves and that way the guns do not pick fights in the gun vault.

Mike

How about the Browning Model 12s made in Japan? Are they any good. Those 28 gauge pumps keep calling my name.

Mike, the Browning reproductions have an aggravating safety feature the Winchesters didn't; sometimes the things won't pump after a shot. I'm not mechanic enough to explain the problem. Happened with me when I shot one. It was a 20, but I think the 28 had the same deal..Geo

The Japanese mfg repros are good guns. IMO, for what they bring at auction they are a real deal, especially the 28s. They are about the only way to buy a 28 ga M-12 on anything resembling a budget. Better yet, repro 28s actually work.......(non-conversion 28 ga pre-64s are frequently not so slick).

Repros are excellent candidates for choke tubes. The repro disconnector bothers some, not others. Repro M-12s (Browning or Winchester marketed) typically have lousy trigger pull weight and travel. It can be corrected. I don't care for the Browning-type curved buttplate. That can be changed.

Repro 42s have very nice triggers.

Sam

George, Don't know if this is what you refered to but Japan made M12's have the equivalent of a trigger disconnect to prevent slam firing. With the Japanese guns, if you shoot, and leave your finger depressing the trigger, shuck and try to shoot again without removing your finger from the trigger, it won't fire. You must release trigger between shots. Same with older M37s versus new M37s. My old M12s and M37s can shoot as fast as I can pump if I leave the trigger depressed. Gil

Yeah, Gil that's what I was refering to. Used to be the old model 37s and the model 12s were the ones we could "machinegun" when we were growing up around here. Model 17 and Stevens 520s were probably the same since they all utilized Browning design...Geo