Dad's Model 12 Is Ready For Turkeys

[ACP230]

I took Dad's old full-choke Winchester Model 12 to the range the other day.
Before going I printed out seven turkey head targets and rounded up a couple different 12 gauge loads.
The Model 12 shot well at the range, beating another more modern shotgun easily again. I think I could kill a turkey with it at 50 yards, but plan on calling one closer, of course.

The only problem I had was that the old 12 was stiff. Dad bought it in the 1930s so it's older than I am. And I groan and complain most mornings as I stagger toward the tea cup and the aspirin bottle. I've been storing it for him, and neither of us has paid it a lot of attention lately.

I haven't hunted turkeys for several years, and don't use Dad's Model 12 for grouse or rabbits. (I have an Italian over and under 20 for that.)
Today I sat down with the Model 12, a bottle of Break Free and some swabs. After spreading some Break Free around, I worked the action 15 or 20 times. It still isn't as slick as when it was new, but it is much better.

The old 12 took geese and ducks for Dad when he was a young man. It got me interested in shotguns when I watched Dad shoot fruit bats (flying foxes) on an island off of New Guinea when I was five.
It's ready for turkeys now, and I'm glad I'm getting to use it again.

The turkeys may not cooperate, but it will be fun to hunt with the Model 12 anyway.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for posting this, I like hearing about family guns. Chances are that 12 has a lot of hunts left in it.

Fruit bats? Sounds sporty. How do you cook them?

 

[M Jager]

ACP,
You had me scaried man, I read the title and images of someone hacking the barrel and spray painting a classic model twelve. Gave me the shivers. Sorry, shoulda had more faith.

On the stiffness, take it apart (be carefull to remember how the parts came out and in what order) and give her a rightous cleaning. Bet it slicks right up.

Good luck on the turkeys.
Matt

 

[ACP230]

M. Jager: Dad's Model 12 got a bit rusted on one of the the non-Posh sea voyages it made from the American Northwest to the South Pacific. (Or maybe on the voyage home.) He took the rust off with some kind of abrasive and reblued it using cold blue out of a bottle. It didn't look too bad when he was done, but the bottle blue is mostly gone now. The 12 isn't a collectors gun and is showing its age. I like it the way it is and have no plans to change it.

Dave: The New Guineans that worked for Dad ate the bats. They made a big bonfire and my guess is they just pitched them in and pulled them out when done.

The turkeys cooperated, but not fully. We heard toms all around us the first morning, and some even seemed to come in for a while. Then they drifted away. Maybe they already had hens with them. Maybe it was something I said? My oldest son jumped a turkey while checking out a field. It flew off like an overweight grouse and he couldn't see if it was a hen or a jake.
We heard some more turkeys the second day. I thought I had one on the way past my sons who were out ahead of me. But he went off somewhere else too. This morning it rained hard and we stayed at my oldest son's apartment. We might get out again one more time before the season closes.

The gun was still a little stiff, but did everything I asked it to do well.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Fruit bats flambe? Why not?

Sounds like the old recipe for moose nose.

Throw nose in fire. When skin chars, remove from fire, peel and eat.

That 12 needs some exercise to limber up, like older men. Take it to the range sometime....

 

[rick_reno]

M12

I still have the M12 my father gave me in 1963. Great shotgun.

 

[ACP230]

On the way to hunt turkeys I saw a Model 12 in 20 gauge.
It was well-used and had a Cutts Compensator on the end of the barrel. I've always liked those old Cutts
It felt a bit more lively than my 12 in 16 gauge. If it was $50 bucks cheaper, or had a little more blue I'd probably own it too.

 

[ruger357]

A fine gun with fine memories.

 

[ACP230]

Gun dealers are conspiring to bankrupt me!

Over the weekend, while listening to Gun Talk, I browsed on an internet site run by one of the major sporting goods retailers.
There were a lot of neat guns there. The one that really got my attention was a Browning repro of the Winchester Model 12 in 28 gauge. It is more money than I want to spend, but less than the side by side or over and under 28 gauges I've been eyeing.

What to do? What to do?

 

[Dave McCracken]

Buy it and get it out of your system....

 

[TrapperReady]

ACP230 - Get two. They're small.