Some great performance from old Flite King

[mp510]

I was using my High Standard K1200 Flite King Brush. Rifle sights, cylinder bore.

I was shooting 1 oz rifled slugs at the bullseye target. The low shot was mad prior to a sight adjustment. Range was 40 yards.

I shot a box of Remington OO buck at the Q target. The first 3 shots were taken at the torso at 20 yards. I then fired a shot at the upper right hand side of the torso at 13 yards.I advanced about 2 more yards and fired a final buckshot round into the head. 41 of 45 pellets ended up in the Q zone. The other 4 ended up just outside the Q zone. The left-right overall spread was 14 inches. The head shot spread about 6-7 inches. I threw a couple of 7.5 1 1/8 oz birdshot down at 20 yards well. For a CYL bore, I thought they patterened very well.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Good work. Now,try different slugs and see what happens. You may be able to halve that group size.

Same with buck. I can double pattern size or halve it by switching brands.

I've never been a fan of HS shotguns, based on one example from the 70s. I may have been too critical....

 

[mp510]

It's actually a very slick gun, and the action is a lot smoother than any Mossberg clone or the the 870 Express. Loading is very easy, even military style I bought this shotgun used for $105. It did have one problem with it shortly after purchasing it back around Memorial Day- the lock ring on the pump came loose after 8 rounds and needed some Loc-Tite. I haven't had any problems since. This particular model was made between 1962 and 1964. The stock is walnut. I prefer the added weight from the steel reciever. From what I know about this particular shotgun, I believe it was probably made in 62 or 63. I like plinking with Remington shells because they are cheap as can be- $2 a box. This gun does perform better than any other smoothbore I have shot slugs out of , especially with the sluggers. I do have some other bargain rifled slugs to try too- we'll see how that goes. I think I 'll buy a box of other buckshot, but for SD distances (the longest shot in my home would be about 10 meters, but for practical purposes, it would be less in reality due to the layout. I think even the Remington should work for that if necessary- but maybe I will try one of the specialty buck loads and give it a try. Also, I should mention that the shots were all taken offhand.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Dave,

I've been playing with the JC Higgins marked equivalent (28" MOD barrel) of the Flite King I brought home the other day (one more gold star on my PETP membership card 8^). The only drawback to the overall design I can see is that the barrel is not detachable for more compact transport, cleaning, easy replacement with a different length/style etc. This one has to be a pre-1968 gun, as it has no serial number. It seems to have been well used from the wear marks but decently maintained, I field stripped it and it was pretty clean inside, plus the bore is immaculate and the chamber is good too.

This is the design Mossberg set out to improve on, as near as I can tell. But the effort fell short IMHO. The steel receiver gives the gun a solid heft, and since the rear of the tipping bolt locks up into a recess milled into the top of the receiver like a Winchester Model 12, steel is definitely necessary in this design.

The action is the slickest of any pumpgun I have used so far bar none. And that is saying something in my book. Point the muzzle up, hit the action release and the action will pop open. It feels like a shorter than usual pump stroke- yes, it's a 2 3/4" chamber, but it feels like a shorter stroke. Could be I've just gotten used to something else, and it isn't really shorter. But it sure feels quick.

I bought it with "cheap house gun" in mind, and it will need to be shortened on both ends for that job. But so far this gun has done everything right, and absolutely nothing wrong- not bad for a specimen that is at least 40 years old and counting. I like this old timer and will not hesitate to add others to the stable here if I find them in good shape at good prices.

Our friend Black Talon has long had a soft spot for the old Flite King riot guns- I can see why ( http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=2340347&postcount=30 ).

lpl

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, Lee. My memories have faded a bit, but I recall that the thing felt tinny, there were glitches in the shuck and compared to my 870, it fell short.

Pop bought it for $60, almost new.

This was a 20 gauge, 28" barrel and vent rib.

 

[mp510]

I have a scan of an ad from when these were new in 1963 and 1964. The Brush model was sold $86.95. That was not too much less than the comparable Wingmaster varient. The grip actually feels more significant in my hand than the current 870 Express grips, but that could be a personal preference thing. I'm yet to feel any glitches in the shuck- though- I know that the Flite King design saw several changes over the years.

 

[Virginian]

High Standard built one of the best pumps, and one of the worst semi-autos, ever seen in this country. The old Flite Kings don't have the 'name' recognition, but guys in the know from back then (all 13 of us) remember them well.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Dave,

Your memory may be perfectly accurate.

In looking at various sources for more info and spare parts availability on the HS guns, I saw that the 20 gauge (28 and .410 too) was made to a different design than the 12 and 16 gauges. The smaller bore guns had a locking pin assembly that held the bolt closed and were not the same tilting bolt design of the larger gauges. The exploded drawings I saw are in V. 2 of my copy of the #12 Jack First catalog.

http://www.histandard.info/manuals/hpashotguns/ may have info too, they're too big to easily download on slow dialup so I haven't looked at them.

lpl

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, Lee.

It looks to me like I condemned the platform on insufficient and incorrect data. Thanks for helping me learn.

Again.

I do recall the thing shot Rottweil Brenekkes well. I took a meat doe and finished off a cripple one season. The OA lack led me to buy that Mossberg Bolt action featured in "The Ugliest Shotgun...".