yard sale find,winchester md. 50 light weight in 12 ga.

[eastbank]

I stop at local yard sales on Saturdays and this morning there were several rifles-shotguns at one, most were fairly modern and of no interest to me. but this winchester model 50 light weight 12 ga(1955) with a 28" modified choke barrel came home with me. I have never owned one and it was in pretty good condition(wood-metal), but very dirty as if not cleaned in years. I have just finished cleaning it. not a total take down, but removing the forend, barrel(no pits) and floating chamber and using gun scrubber to get most of the crud out.

 

[Bwana John]

Make sure the chamber plunger and spring are still present as they are easily lost.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/232700

I have seen more than one Model 50 with a nail substituted for a plunger.

The true "lightweight" was the Model 59, just like the Model 50 but with a fiberglass barrel.

 

[Palolosj]

The model 59 is very underrated Winchester semi-auto. I like the ones with vented choke tubes (muzzle looks like end of ISU-152 gun barrel). It's one of few old semi-autos worth $400.

 

[entropy]

They are a great pheasant gun.( Both the 50 and 59) A guy at the Trap club brought his Model 50, his first shotgun, out and shot his average with it.

 

[Palolosj]

The 50 is butt heavy, but the 59 makes for a nice upland bird gun.

 

[eastbank]

this is a light weight action and not to bad. we have a shoot in the afternoon and I,ll shoot a few shots out of it.

 

[huntsman]

I’ve been toting dad’s Md50 since I was 12.

now mostly it’s a turkey gun with the 30” full barrel, after season it wears 28” mod barrel for backup SD.

 

[22250Rem]

Interesting gun. Years ago a buddy had one briefly from his wheeling & dealing but sold it quickly. Can't recall the last time I've seen one. Can we get a report after your shoot ? IIRC the action itself was a pretty unique design.

 

[PapaG]

Did it have the original choke tube machining. This is the gun that started it all, WinChokes

 

[Bwana John]

Did it have the original choke tube machining. This is the gun that started it all, WinChokes

WinChokes?
I though the first screw in was the Model 59, and it wasnt until the M-1200 that the WinChoke was introduced.

I had one with a Cutts Compensator with screw on constricting tubes, I originally assumed it was aftermarket but saw other Model 50s with the same thing (a biga$$ Panzer looking thing).

 

[PapaG]

The idea of screw ins is what I was referring to. Sorry. I'm a Cutts almost expert having owned, installed, machined, and used them for forty years. Only one in the stable now, a Win mod 12 Skeet. I won a bunch of card shoots, killed several turkies, and more than a few ducks with a 97 and a full set of tubes. Missing the tightest one right now. I even made a non finned body once to quiet it down but it blew patterns.

 

[Bwana John]

The idea of screw ins is what I was referring to. Sorry. I'm a Cutts almost expert having owned, installed, machined, and used them for forty years. Only one in the stable now, a Win mod 12 Skeet. I won a bunch of card shoots, killed several turkies, and more than a few ducks with a 97 and a full set of tubes. Missing the tightest one right now. I even made a non finned body once to quiet it down but it blew patterns.

Was the Cutts ever a factory option for the Win M- 50?

 

[eastbank]

i shot it today and was not disappointed, it fed and fired and ejected 10 reloads all trap and skeet loads(1 oz and1-1/8 oz). mild in the recoil department, but it does eject them pretty far compared to a rem 1100 with the same shells. I think it will make a decent small game shotgun. plain 28" barrel with a fixed modified choke.

 

[PapaG]

Was the Cutts ever a factory option for the Win M- 50?

I think so. It definitely was for the M12.

 

[1MoreFord]

My uncle had one that was Very ammo selective. My have been a singular example problem but it was real for him.

 

[Jim Watson]

Years ago, there was a guy who would bring his Model 50 Trap to the local pawn n gun and hock it for a modest amount.
I was shooting a lot of Trap at the time and was waiting with bated breath for him to let the loan run out and it be sold, but he always redeemed it.

 

[huntsman]

Don’t know about the aluminum model but my steel is a soft recoil gun, even with baby magnums.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Winchester Model 50 was one of David Marshall Williams' designs.
In addition to having the reputation being a good field hunting gun , it is a pretty cool piece of gun design history.