I had one. I had nothing but problems with FTF and FTE. Ok...might have just had a M 12 with "issues". I currently have one now that got worked over by a gunsmith. No cycling problems but I just can't warm up to the corncob forend and don't like the sighting plane. I know it's supposed to be the "perfect repeater", forever and ever, amen. My apologies to Thomas Crosley Johnson. You created a wonderful shotgun, just not my shotgun. I feel far more comfortable with a Mossberg 500, Maverick 88, or Remington 870 than with any Model 12 I have ever handled. And I grew up with a Winchester 1200 and a Springfield 67C.Am I being a shotgun heathen or have some kind of "condition"? LOL
Lord, please forgive me (concerning the Model 12)
- Thread starter Showman
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Ironicaintit
Member
Pearls before swine....
Just kidding! I kid.
I love the model 12 in 16ga, and I have a 1300 12ga I’m nearly as tickled with.
We’re pretty lucky to have so many options though, so we can pretty easily find what suits us.
Just kidding! I kid.
I love the model 12 in 16ga, and I have a 1300 12ga I’m nearly as tickled with.
We’re pretty lucky to have so many options though, so we can pretty easily find what suits us.
Armored farmer
Member
I think you're mod 12 has minor issues. Probably timing or headspace.
However, I also prefer the simplicity of an 870.
However, I also prefer the simplicity of an 870.
redneck2
Member
If everyone liked the same gun there wouldn’t be hundreds of different ones at the LGS. What fun would that be?
Izzy77
Member
I had a Model 12, loved it...just one problem... a previous owner ground down the little tab that hold in the shells on the end of the magazine tube...so somtimes the shells would spill out under recoil. I sold it back to the FFL I bought it from and lost no money. Maybe I should have had a new tab brazed on instead?
In any case realize these are old models, and any one could have messed with it in the last 50+ years.
In any case realize these are old models, and any one could have messed with it in the last 50+ years.
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I have one Win M12, it is a trap gun. I have one Win 1897, it has a polychoke on the end and ugly looking enough I didn't want to like it, but I can shoot it like a magic wand and one of my favorites. I have about 8 rem 870's in assorted gauges, only one is an Express, the rest are Wingmasters. Four Rem 1100's, several single shots, my Beretta 682 target gun, an Ithaca Mag10 semi-auto. A half dozen others in the safe also that I shoot occasionally. Had many other brand names and varieties that I did like but they moved on for something better or a price I couldn't turn down.
About the only one I never liked or felt good to me was the Mossberg 500. Never took a shine to it or how it felt and shot, oh and someone's Benelli they let me shoot a few rounds with, didn't care for that one either. To each his own. I like Browning shotguns, but not how they fit me, but I can still shoot them well but I don't own one. Any brand is bound to have a lemon that someone gets and it puts them off that brand for life.
About the only one I never liked or felt good to me was the Mossberg 500. Never took a shine to it or how it felt and shot, oh and someone's Benelli they let me shoot a few rounds with, didn't care for that one either. To each his own. I like Browning shotguns, but not how they fit me, but I can still shoot them well but I don't own one. Any brand is bound to have a lemon that someone gets and it puts them off that brand for life.
D.B. Cooper
Member
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- 4,394
You sacrilegious blasphemer!! You should be pressed under a heavy stone until you expire; then, your body should be burned at the stake. All your property shall be confiscated and given to the Cody Firearms Museum. Your name shall be stricken from every public record, and you shall be cursed forever.
Steve Milbocker
Member
If there was an FFL on this island I’d gladly buy you a Mossberg 500 and trade you even up
I know a lot of shotgunners. They are mostly 870's, then 500's, then benellis's double barrels, full on antiques, and no Winchesters. A few people tried them, they just didn't hold up to use well. When fixed, they broke again. just like Colt revolvers, Colt black powder clones, and European cars. Lots of "mine has been working great for 400 years" "experience" on the internet, but I have seen enough that don't work to again have to ask, -are all bad winchester shotguns in my area? or are most people lying about their 100,000 trouble free rounds? Either way, they make good decorations. I use an 1187.
Edit to add, I'm actually picturing the winchester 1200, don't have much experience with the 12. I tried one a few rounds, and it worked. It was eventually stolen from a friends house.
Edit to add, I'm actually picturing the winchester 1200, don't have much experience with the 12. I tried one a few rounds, and it worked. It was eventually stolen from a friends house.
To each their own.
I went the other way. Started with 870s, which I liked, provided I could lay hands on a Police or an older Wingmaster. I never warmed up to the Mossbergs, though I a bare-bones model I keep in case an acquaintance wants to learn to shoot. The Winchester 1200/1300 aren't bad. Somehow I have a couple of those. The Winchester 97 was the early favorite. Too many parts by half, though, and lately the Ithaca 37 gives it a hard run for the money.
I'm up to four Models 12...I think.
When I'm of a mind to shoot one, this particular animal usually follows me to the range:
I went the other way. Started with 870s, which I liked, provided I could lay hands on a Police or an older Wingmaster. I never warmed up to the Mossbergs, though I a bare-bones model I keep in case an acquaintance wants to learn to shoot. The Winchester 1200/1300 aren't bad. Somehow I have a couple of those. The Winchester 97 was the early favorite. Too many parts by half, though, and lately the Ithaca 37 gives it a hard run for the money.
I'm up to four Models 12...I think.
When I'm of a mind to shoot one, this particular animal usually follows me to the range:
MacAR
Member
I have a M12, 16 gauge field grade. In my mind there is no better repeating shotgun, and I'd not swap mine for a dozen Mossbergs. And before anyone says anything, I have a 500 20 gauge. Its a nice gun, but it certainly is not a Winchester.
Mac
Mac
22250Rem
Member
Never owned one, but have been an admirer of them for years. They're a true classic IMHO. But no matter how well a gun is designed it will never satisfy everyone. But the M12 sure made a very high percentage of us happy.
eastbank
Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2009
- Messages
- 5,020
in over 60 years of shooting all types of shotguns the only problems i have had with the many win md 12,s i have owned was a few broken fireing pins( three) and to be truthfull i don,t know how many rounds had been thru them before i bought them. i now own three md 12,s a 12ga-16ga-20ga all came from the same man who bought them new in the early 50,s, all in next to new. i think the md 12 you have-had was messed with some time in its life.
Amen! I got a good laugh out of that!
Wow! That thing looks like a wartime trench broom...from WW1 or2...but it looks mint. Terrific.
My dad used to hunt quail with an old gentleman who fancied one of those M 12 sixteen gauge guns.
Good for you all. I hope they continue to do so.
The Rattler
Member
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- May 19, 2018
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- 8
I prefer Ithaca Model37.
SwampWolf
Member
Yes-and you need to get to a confessional booth as fast as possible and hope that a sincere repentance will save you from a Remington/Mossberg purgatory.
entropy
Member
I just bought this one-
I'm going through it with a fine toothed comb over the next couple months so it's ready for some Vintage Trap Shoots this summer. Model 12's are the third kind of shotgun I learned to work on as a teenager, with the 1100 1st and 870 2nd.
I'm going through it with a fine toothed comb over the next couple months so it's ready for some Vintage Trap Shoots this summer. Model 12's are the third kind of shotgun I learned to work on as a teenager, with the 1100 1st and 870 2nd.
entropy
Member
Yes, you mean the 1200. Apples and Oranges. The Model 12 is the '53 Buick of pump shotguns; sleek, smooth as velvet, and built like a tank. The 1200 is the Pinto.
yes... your right, I would have deleted my post if I realized I was talking about the 12, not the 1200, but kept it up in case others referenced it. The only 12 I handled, I didn't get to know well.... consequence of quality. But the few 1200's I have encountered screamed bad engineering. not relevant here, but reality. I do disagree with your analogy. As an old Buick owner, and BOP person, I think of the 12 as you said. Good description. I think of the 1200 as an "deleted" (four letter German car that starts with "A")_... Junky, heavy, unreliable, expensive, cheaply made. The pinto had some nice features.
entropy
Member
Trabant doesn't start with an 'A'.
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