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| Above, the 1919 Winchester Model 1912 I bought last year. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Last year, I was looking for a 12 gauge shotgun more suitable for skeet shooting than my Remington Model 870 Express. I am a member of several Winchester Facebook pages and members in each were raving about the Winchester Model 12 (or Model 1912). So I started looking around for one.
I found one at Guns.com that was made in 1919. Most of the bluing was worn away, but there's no evidence of pitting or rust on it. Plus, the price was right: $349.99. So I bought it. As it was made in 1919, it was a definite antique and was called the Model 1912 until after 1919.
Shooting it in our community shooting area was fun and I found it to be nicely accurate.
The NRA's American Rifleman website posted an article on the Model 12 in 2017.
Here's a snippet:
The Model 12—as it became known after 1919—was made from the finest steel alloys of the time. Parts were forged and required extensive, and often complicated, machining to produce them. Winchester’s marketing guys immediately christened it the “Perfect Repeater,” and like a lot of those old Winchester nicknames, it struck a chord with the shooting public and became common in usage. All of this came at a price, of course. The Model 12 was about 40 percent more expensive than the ’97, yet it consistently outsold its older brother during the 45-year-span they shared in the Winchester catalog.
When it was introduced, the Model 12 was only available in 20 gauge, 12- and 16-gauge Model 12s became available in late 1913. A 28-gauge Model 12 was brought out in 1934. Sadly, this is the rarest of Model 12s, probably as a result of The Depression and the fact that the 28 gauge—as wonderful as it is—was the prerogative of those with a fair amount of discretionary cash, something sorely lacking during The Depression and World War II. In 1933 a completely scaled down version of the Model 12—the Model 42—came out in .410 bore.
To read the full article, go here.
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