I traded for a decent Remington 12 .22 pump yesterday. Does anyone know anything about these rifles? It is in pretty good condition, 85% or so, with a good bore and a tight action. The serial number is 5136xx. It has a round barrel and shoots shorts, longs, or long rifles. The trade was with my brother who said it shot well and was pretty accurate. He also said that he got it a year or so back from a friend who bought an old gunsmith's shop from his family after he died. I had been looking for an old Winchester .22 pump in decent condition but this rifle looks like it might fit the bill nicely.

Old..but excellent rifles. A favorite of my father.

I own a 12C..the fancy one with octagon barrel..crescent buttplate and pistol gripped stock.

Get an extra firingpin for your rifle..they tend to break. Although I replaced the pin in mine..and have had no issues with it.

Quite a few parts are offered for the old Model 12 rifles..and they share many pieces with later model 121 rifles.

removed PC

Great rifles! I too own a take-down octogan barrel 12C NRA target model I inherited from my dad. Lyman tang sight and hooded Lyman front flip sight. Sleek and still very accurate. Mine is ser. 490xxx and is from Nov. 1928. There should be a date code on the bottom of the bbl. I don't have the site but you can google it.

Found it:Remington Dates of Manufacture

Don't dry fire it, thats when firing pins break on rimfires.

Designed by Petersen, a man John Browning declared the most gifted gun designer ever. The unusual feature of these if the fact the entire magazine tube mechanism moves when the action is cycled, unlike other pumps that simply has a stationary magazine tube that has a cartridge cuttoff that trips when the action is cycled. Having owned and studied quite a few of these over the decades, I firmly believe these to be on of the top repeaters ever built. Resist the urge to disassemble it often. I have seen quite a few ruined by excessive, unnessasary disassembly.

I'm a huge fan of these rifles, ever since a cousin of mine let me shoot our uncles model 12 in the backyard years ago.
I currently own two, one is a rusty mess on the outside that I intend to refinish, but inside its PERFECT! And shoots like a laser!
Rifle number 2 was bored smooth by a country gunsmith who knew what he was doing, and it's my backyard vermin exterminator. It throws a decent pattern out to about 15 yards!
These are damn good rifles that deserve to be put back to work. Dale

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"Long live the S&W 3rd. Gen.!"

I have a 12C as well -- excellent little rifles. Mine's DOB is 1916. I believe they went out of production in the mid 1930s.

Good little rifles. Not alot that goes wrong with them.
Same lockup & slide action principle used on the centerfire Model 25 and the large frame Model14.
Butt stocks from the M12 fit the M25 IIRC.

Model 12 firing pins get work hardened and break especially if they are a bit too long and are hitting the edge of the chamber on dry fire. They should just clear that by a few .000".
Even then, dry firing these and most .22's is not a good idea.

The M12 firing pin is also it's ejector.
It gets a hit from both directions with each shot and ejection. The shape of the part is not all that great for the job it's directed to do. Fragile design ? We're looking at rifles that are close to 100 y/o. Things do break down!

Field strip as far as removing the bolt itself is about the extent you normally want to take that exercise.

If you do decide to remove the slide action bar/assembly out of the rifle,,the cartridge retainer is a separate piece that will fall free once the action bar is pulled out of the frame (to the rear).

Many of these Model12's have that little part (cartridge retainer) missing from such takedowns by prior owners.
It can be seen (or not, if it's missing) with the rifle assembled, but it's not something that jumps out at you.

If the loaded rifle wants to feed more than one cartridge out of the magazine and onto the carrier, jamming it,,first thing to look for is if the cart. retainer is in the gun.

I bought two Model 12C rifles from a shop that closed down in the late 80's. $35 a piece. My brother still has one and wouldn't part with it. I sold the other. Shoulda' Kept It!

I've had several over the years. My current one is a fancy CS model that shoots .22 Remington Specials (WRF).

Find an extra firing pin and keep it handy. Unless you're really good with gunsmithing, it'll need to be fitted by an expert when your current one breaks.

Great guns.

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You are what you learn.

It is kind of growing on me. I think it will be a keeper. For some reason I seem to be accumulating a lot of .22s lately. Does anyone have, or know where I can get, either a Lyman R12 or Marbles R7 peep sight? I think these were the ones originally available for these rifles. If there are other sighting options I would be interested in hearing about them as well. Unfortunately my eyes don't work as well as they used to on open sights.

I used to own a Remington 12. About 10 or 12 years ago I sold all my guns. I regret selling that Remington more than any of the others. I loved it. I'll replace it some day.

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Misty

I have a 12A. What is the difference in the A and the C? Thanks

The A has a 22" bbl (could be round or octagonal) and plain stock. The C is 24" octagonal bbl and pistol grip stock.

removed PC

Mine is marked 12A with a serial number of 500XXX. It does have a round barrel and a plain smooth pistol grip stock. By the chart it was made in November of 1923. It is still a good shooter.

I was told that the "RW" means Remington Works. Mine is also marked that way. I guess that is how they referred to their factory.

To me the Remington 12's were every bit as good as a Winchester 61 and a heck of a lot cheaper to own.

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Vaya con Dios

Those sights are hard to find and expensive when you do. They're currently going for about $200-$300 depending on condition.

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You are what you learn.

I wouldnt go THAT far but the Remington is a dang fine design. I have owned quite a few of both models and my all time favorite is a model 12 C. But being objective I think the model 61 is a tad bit better built.