[JNewell]

...very pretty. Looked to be an original early 1960s with the hangtag still intact, nearly virgin magazine tube, a few itsy bitsy handling marks on the stock from storage. IC VR barrel. Hangtag said "Special Edition" or "Special Model" or something like that. Nice wood but nothing outrageous. Dunno if the box is still with it. Wanna guess the price? :cool: It was under a grand...

[kudu]

Lets see, maybe $850 for it.

Love to have a nice 20ga M12, but it's not in the forseeable budget.:( The price on good M12's just keep going up, it might be a good one to grab hold of.

[JNewell]

Bingo, $849. Seemed like a good price, since it was (as far as I could tell) new and unfired since it left New Haven, but it's not in my budget right now, either, unfortunately. I'm wishing I'd written down the s/n and hangtag info, just for kicks. It had the extended forearm, rather than the corncob one that I thought went with the field grade guns. I think the skeet guns were discontinued long before this gun would have been made. Wish I'd saved more of those old catalogs! :rolleyes:

[PJR]

Check the hanging tag again. If it said "Limited Edition" what you have is a Japanese reproduction similar to the Browning Model 12. The IC choke and vent rib were also part of the package. If it is a Grade V with machine engraving and some gold inlays (dogs, birds, etc.), the serial number should have the prefix WMT. This gun was a limited production run of 1000 guns and is the the Model 12 made by Miroku under the Winchester label. It was produced in the early 90's. Look on the right side of the barrel it should say "Made in Japan" and "Imported to New Haven CT. USA." Under $1,000 is not a bad price for a Grade V but is a little steep for a standard grade.

Nice enough gun (I own one) but not an original Model 12.

Paul

[JNewell]

Hmm, that's interesting. The hangtag looked like a dead-ringer for the old '60s tags -- is USRAC/Browning doing that? There were a couple of Browning/Win repros in the rack, so that might be possible. I looked at the address on the tag and when it said 275 Winchester Ave or whatever I assued it was new old stock. But, the condition, etc. are more consistent with it being a repro.

[JNewell]

OK, thanks for the pointer here! I got it. 'Twas the hangtag that threw me (way!) off.

Found this closed auction & pic http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=5228694
that shows the identical hangtag. According to another similar (closed) auction these go back about a dozen years -- but NOS Winchester it ain't! Boy do I feel sheepish! :rolleyes: Reminds me of another recent thread -- the Browning/USRAC repros are nice, but they ain't originals!