I have my Dad's model 12 MFG. 1919 Black diamond he shot pigeon and clay birds with for years!! I still shoot it. Wonderful gun. Thanks for the vid. Stay safe, stay free, stay armed.
Great presentation! I wanted a Model 12 for years because of its durability but never got around to it. If I ever get a chance at a nice field gun at a decent price, I'd still love to have one.
Have a Heavy Duck and a 16 gauge. Even with the factory weighted buttstock the Heavy Duck recoils rather briskly! The 16 gauge is a dream to carry and fire.
Great presentation! Appreciate you making the effort to put out high quality, informative content. Agree with your assessment that these are some of the best pump action shotguns ever made. We have a number of them in 12, 16 & 20 gauge that I’m sure will last to be enjoyed by the next generation or two if properly maintained. Prefer the 16 myself. Hard to find anything this well designed and constructed today. And a pleasure to use in the field. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
The vaunted and venerable Model 12. The only shotgun that would make me think twice before picking up my Remington Model 31. I'm still looking for an old Winchester that isn't priced in the stratosphere.
Loved the 870 and this on the Model 12. Outstanding videos. Are you going to do one on the Ithaca 37? Really nice job on all your videos they are excellent!
Excellent video, thank you. I think the Model 12 (I have several different field guns, Model 42s, too) is the acme of slide action shotguns. (Perhaps in a future video you can mention the existence of the Model 25, which seems to get very little acknowledgement these days (I know it wasn't a popular derivative of the Model 12, but is still an interesting chapter in the story of Winchester slide action shotguns)).
I own one model 12 field in 12-bore and the barrel is stamped Nickel Steel and shows no chamber length marking however measures to be a 2¾-inch gun. By the serial number, it was made in 1935. I restocked and hand polished it to remove all the ripples in both receiver and barrel. It was a project gun done in Pennsylvania Gunsmith School. The stock and forend are Turkish Walnut and the forend is shaped the same as skeet model gun. What is most interesting is there are no pins showing on the receiver making it look different from other pump action shotguns. It is a modified choke 28-inch barrel and patterns shot well. I have saw some of high-grade models and also believe the Model 12 is the best-designed Pump action shotgun ever made to my tastes. With modern machinery used now, I see no reason it could not be made once more. It only takes the desire for Winchester to do it like they have done in the past for other models already done. 🤔👍
Great guns I’m lucky I ha 34:39 ve all gauges the field grade including the 410 model 410. As A kid that was my dream to have them all the 28 gauge is a Browning. But if I wanted one that’s all I could fine.
Excellent review Andrew. When you make your upcoming Model 12 " Y " video can you also include the later made 12-1 ? I picked one up and there is little information out there that I can find other than Winchester had these offerings for some type of Collectors association / program ??? Mine is a 20 gauge , 26" vent rib , IC with Japan on the barrel with no mention of Miroku. I've dated it to 2006 which is the last year of production as I understand. Just looking for more information on this and the quality appears to be excellent.
Andrew, this is Richard from Baker City, Oregon. I should have stated that Baker City is two hours west of Boise, Idaho not east. Just arrived home from a long day of chukar hunting and my mind is a bit weary tonight.
My Dad had a 12 ga. Model 25, the non-takedown variant. I’m guessing they only chambered it in 12 ga. as it was obviously aimed at the budget minded Model 12 buyer who didn’t care about takedown. Dad traded away the Model 25 because it was heavy and we walked the hills. It was heavy! I never warmed to the action feel. To me it had too many “walls” where camming surfaces began and the bolt lock stalled me sometimes. Seems to me all Browning design pump and lever guns were begging to get smoothed up, but were obviously anvil tough and reliable.
Do you have an email I could send you some pictures of one of the model 12s I have? My dad bought it back in the seventies I think. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's anything super special, but it's an odd duck for sure. I've watched hundreds of model 12s go for sale on GunBroker, looked at every model 12 I can find at gun shows and shops and I've never seen a fore-end like this one. Some odd beaver tail looking thing. Someone put a Herter's vari-choke on it which was the popular thing at the time of course. It has a vent rib but not like anything you've showcased here. The shop my dad bought it from told him it was originally a riot gun but it's not marked as such. Anyway... Any perspectives would be great!! My dad always says he bought it and he'll still never understand why because it's so ugly with that vari-choke on it! But it's always been one of my favorites from the time I was a kid! Many many pheasants and quail and even geese harvested with this old model 12!
My uncle has my granddad's model 12 trenchgun. It used to sit in the corner of his office, and I thought the barrel shroud was the coolest thing ever.
870 last week, 12 today. Outstanding videos!!
I have my Dad's model 12 MFG. 1919 Black diamond he shot pigeon and clay birds with for years!! I still shoot it. Wonderful gun. Thanks for the vid. Stay safe, stay free, stay armed.
I have a model 12 Heavy Duck in 3" super speed. It also has the Simmons rib and deluxe wood. Thank you for shedding some light on it.
Great presentation! I wanted a Model 12 for years because of its durability but never got around to it. If I ever get a chance at a nice field gun at a decent price, I'd still love to have one.
Great video, thank you!! I have a 1956 , 28” modified 12 that was my Dad’s. Great shotgun. Have a great day everyone.
Great content 👍👍
Very good video and knowledge on the model 12. Thanks so much for your help
Have a Heavy Duck and a 16 gauge. Even with the factory weighted buttstock the Heavy Duck recoils rather briskly! The 16 gauge is a dream to carry and fire.
Great presentation! Appreciate you making the effort to put out high quality, informative content. Agree with your assessment that these are some of the best pump action shotguns ever made. We have a number of them in 12, 16 & 20 gauge that I’m sure will last to be enjoyed by the next generation or two if properly maintained. Prefer the 16 myself. Hard to find anything this well designed and constructed today. And a pleasure to use in the field. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Another great video. Thank you.
Thanks for the review enjoyed it very informative
Great info and video. Thank you.
The vaunted and venerable Model 12. The only shotgun that would make me think twice before picking up my Remington Model 31. I'm still looking for an old Winchester that isn't priced in the stratosphere.
Loved the 870 and this on the Model 12. Outstanding videos. Are you going to do one on the Ithaca 37? Really nice job on all your videos they are excellent!
Absolutely. As soon as we get a decent representative Model 37 in the shop.
Excellent video, thank you. I think the Model 12 (I have several different field guns, Model 42s, too) is the acme of slide action shotguns. (Perhaps in a future video you can mention the existence of the Model 25, which seems to get very little acknowledgement these days (I know it wasn't a popular derivative of the Model 12, but is still an interesting chapter in the story of Winchester slide action shotguns)).
I do have a Model 25 in that last purchase we may do a video on it also the 12 featherweight
Great info👌
I own one model 12 field in 12-bore and the barrel is stamped Nickel Steel and shows no chamber length marking however measures to be a 2¾-inch gun. By the serial number, it was made in 1935. I restocked and hand polished it to remove all the ripples in both receiver and barrel. It was a project gun done in Pennsylvania Gunsmith School.
The stock and forend are Turkish Walnut and the forend is shaped the same as skeet model gun. What is most interesting is there are no pins showing on the receiver making it look different from other pump action shotguns. It is a modified choke 28-inch barrel and patterns shot well. I have saw some of high-grade models and also believe the Model 12 is the best-designed Pump action shotgun ever made to my tastes. With modern machinery used now, I see no reason it could not be made once more. It only takes the desire for Winchester to do it like they have done in the past for other models already done. 🤔👍
Was the poly choke guns a different manufacture? Or sent somewhere to get added?
Nice 28ga
Great guns I’m lucky I ha 34:39 ve all gauges the field grade including the 410 model 410. As A kid that was my dream to have them all the 28 gauge is a Browning. But if I wanted one that’s all I could fine.
Excellent review Andrew. When you make your upcoming Model 12 " Y " video can you also include the later made 12-1 ? I picked one up and there is little information out there that I can find other than Winchester had these offerings for some type of Collectors association / program ??? Mine is a 20 gauge , 26" vent rib , IC with Japan on the barrel with no mention of Miroku. I've dated it to 2006 which is the last year of production as I understand. Just looking for more information on this and the quality appears to be excellent.
Andrew, this is Richard from Baker City, Oregon. I should have stated that Baker City is two hours west of Boise, Idaho not east. Just arrived home from a long day of chukar hunting and my mind is a bit weary tonight.
It is obvious that you know your stuff. I just found the channel a month or so back, so please keep making videos. I enjoy the content.
My Dad had a 12 ga. Model 25, the non-takedown variant. I’m guessing they only chambered it in 12 ga. as it was obviously aimed at the budget minded Model 12 buyer who didn’t care about takedown. Dad traded away the Model 25 because it was heavy and we walked the hills. It was heavy! I never warmed to the action feel. To me it had too many “walls” where camming surfaces began and the bolt lock stalled me sometimes. Seems to me all Browning design pump and lever guns were begging to get smoothed up, but were obviously anvil tough and reliable.
👍🏻
Can we please work on room lighting and back drop color so we can see star of the show, the guns ! Thank u
Other then that love the show!!@!!
I own a 1941 field grade 12 gauge with a factory solid rib. How much does the factory solid rib add to the value over a plain barrel ?
It can add quite a bit depending upon overall condition. Possibly 20 to 30%
Ithaca model 37?
Do you have an email I could send you some pictures of one of the model 12s I have? My dad bought it back in the seventies I think. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's anything super special, but it's an odd duck for sure. I've watched hundreds of model 12s go for sale on GunBroker, looked at every model 12 I can find at gun shows and shops and I've never seen a fore-end like this one. Some odd beaver tail looking thing. Someone put a Herter's vari-choke on it which was the popular thing at the time of course. It has a vent rib but not like anything you've showcased here. The shop my dad bought it from told him it was originally a riot gun but it's not marked as such. Anyway... Any perspectives would be great!!
My dad always says he bought it and he'll still never understand why because it's so ugly with that vari-choke on it! But it's always been one of my favorites from the time I was a kid! Many many pheasants and quail and even geese harvested with this old model 12!
We will do our best. andrew@bto-range.com