Winchester 1200?

[BoneDigger]

I received a 1200 as part of a trade and I am presently working on refinishing the stocks. The gun has a 20 inch barrel for home defense with a cylinder bore. I realize the 1200 was replaced by the 1300 and many parts interchange, but is there anything inherently WRONG with the 1200? Would it serve as an adequate home defense gun?

Todd

 

[Dave McCracken]

Nothing's wrong with the 1200. It's limited to 2 3/4" shells and needs a bit of TLC. IOW, some PM.

Do the Ayoob Test. Run 200 rounds of duty ammo through it. If it glitches, fix it or trade it. Otherwise, use it.

HTH

 

[rbernie]

I have a couple of 1200s. I really like the smooth action, and I shoot them OK. Mine have been flawless thru close to 1000 rounds between them since I got them. My gunsmith tells me that the most common issues revolve around the plastic magazine tube guide thingee; they can break/crack and cause feed issues. According to him, parts are readily available and they're simple to fix.

I'm certainly no expert, but I'm happy with mine.

 

[evan price]

Dave, my 1200 takes 3" shells. It's a stainless Police model with 18.5" barrel.

The trigger group is a cinch to remove. I prefer the cross-bolt safety on these. Nice, smooth action. What's not to like?

 

[Dave McCracken]

I stand corrected. Here's my take on the 1200...

Back in the day, Procurement at the Md House Of Correction bought some 1200s for use in the towers. Bad idea. They didn't hold up like Model 97s, 12s and 870s did.

Lack of cleaning and lube was part of the problem. So was misuse by some of our overly glandular line gorillas.

Civilian 1200s I've run across have been universally reliable, slick and usable. The difference is PM and maybe better operators.

 

[BoneDigger]

What does PM mean?

My 1200 is a 2 3/4 inch only shotgun and appears to be in good shape, although it did need a bit of lubing and cleaning. I am re-finishing the stocks and they are looking really good. I'll run some ammo through it before making a decision on quality or reliability.

My primary questions regard durability and reliability in general. It sounds like it should be just fine.

Todd

 

[Pete409]

Preventive Maintenance.

 

[XavierBreath]

It's my understanding that the 1200 and the 1300 differ only in the chambering for 2&3/4 vs 3 inch shells. Perhaps evan's shotgun has a 1300 barrel on it, or maybe the police could get them with 3 inch chamberings.......

I have a Winchester 1200 that I bought at a pawn shop to convert to a HD gun. The 2&3/4 chambering did not bother me since I use 2&3/4 low recoil ammo in the HD guns anyway.

My old pawn shop beater Winchester 1200 has been extremely reliable. A stock, forend and sidesaddle for a 1300 bolted right on.

 

[Lovesbeer99]

I have a Sears&Roebuck that is basically a model 1200 with a different forend and recoil pad and I kind of like it. It's very smooth.

 

[rbernie]

Civilian 1200s I've run across have been universally reliable, slick and usable. The difference is PM and maybe better operators.

I have to believe that the plastic bits in the 1200/1300/1400 simply won't be as durable as, say, an 870 or 97 or 37. But for a field gun that won't be abused like a duty shotgun and that isn't quite as mission-critical, I figure that the Winchesters will do me OK.

It's my understanding that the 1200 and the 1300 differ only in the chambering for 2&3/4 vs 3 inch shells. Perhaps evan's shotgun has a 1300 barrel on it, or maybe the police could get them with 3 inch chamberings.......

Local gunshop has a 1200 20ga in 3". Dunno if the 20ga were different than the 12s.