Browning (Winchester) 42

[ACP230]

I put my paws on a Browning repro of the Winchester 42 today.
What a neat little pump shotgun!
I am a Winchester Model 12 fan anyway, so it felt familiar.
Even though it is a .410, it looked like a deadly little bird gun. The rib it sported may have something to do with that, I guess.
Nice wood on the buttstock and forend, and it appears the original owner may never have shot the thing.

I told my wife about it, but she isn't going to buy me a gun for Christmas, or any other holiday. Too bad!

 

[JNewell]

I own a couple of the Browning repros (from back when they were marked "Browning") and they're all very nicely made. (I could beef a little about a 1/8" or 3/16" knot in the side of a Model 52 stock, I guess.) I've never heard any complaints about them...there were Model 12s in several guages, the Model 42, Models 1886, 1892, 1895, 71...I'm sure there were others I'm forgetting. Nice guns.

 

[sm]

Neat guns indeed !
Lay-a-way ?

 

[PJR]

I own a Japanese reproduction Winchester Model 12 (not a Browning but one of the limited edition Winchesters) in 20 gauge.

They are not quite in the same league as the originals but excellent guns nonetheless and at a much more reasonable price. I like mine and if I find a .410 in the same grade I will probably bring it home.

Paul

 

[Matthew Courtney]

I have an early Model 42 that my great grandfather taught my dad to shoot with and my dad taught my brothers and I to shoot with. It is an awesome shotgun; a .410 built on a .410 frame with a .410 stock, built on a great design but engineered all the way to be a .410; fast handling and light enough for a kid to carry and handle. I hope it stays in the family for 4 more generations.

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

My brother has custody of our grandfather's Winchester 42. We both learned and honed our earliest squirrel hunting skills with it in the Sabine river bottoms. Fine shotgun; of all the smallbore pumps, I think it's the finest.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 

[Backwoods]

I bought a Browning M42, back when they first made them. I bought it because my dad had an original Winchester M42 back before I turned 12. He was deadly with it and frequently out-scored his 12 ga toting friends on rabbits and close flushing pheasants.

I'm not as good with mine as I remember him being, but I shoot the little gun about as well as I do the larger guns. What more can I ask for?

Sweet little scattergun, but if you use it for small game, I recommend that you also have a good dog to hunt with. I routinely take a second shot on anything that looks as if it might be active enough to escape.

I like #6 or #7 1/2 in 3 inch shells for small game and #9 for what little informal claybird shooting I do. Other people have different preferences but these work for me.

Don in Ohio