How could I leave him in the reject rack at the police supply place? I love store brand guns, and they don't get store-brandier than this J C Higgins Model 20 12 gauge pump.







The store only takes police trade ins - either old department issue or evidence guns. This had to be the latter. I gave it a good once over for evidence of blood or brains or hair and none were to be found. Maybe this guy feloniously menaced a public mule or something.

The monstrosity on the end really draws the eye. One of the counter-leaners opined it was a line throwing gun from days of yore. Its big, I'll grant you, but not that big. I knew it to be the remnants of the old Lyman POWerPac (that's how the spelled it.)



There are supposed to be replaceable choke things inside. They have left the building.





The guns was actually built for Sears by High Standard. Some sources say it pre-dated their identical Flite-King model. It looks very Mossbergy to me.





The wood needs some work, but the recoil pad still has plenty of life to it.





The action works great - a little sticky but it probably hasn't been cleaned since Nixon. It holds 5 rounds in the tube, has no disconnector, and is all steel.

I'm going to measure twice and cut once at 18", put a bead on it, refinish the stock, fill that tube with buckshot and stash it somewhere in the house. I'm pretty sure I'll still be under a hundred bucks.

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Rule of law, not a man.

Rusty but trusty

The JC HIGGINS MODEL 20 was manufactured by HIGH STANDARD ITS THERE MODEL 200.

Great buy congrats.

That's what I always say!

Very nice looking find. I think it looks sharp, as is!

Chokes are available. Have one with rib. The brake really reduces recoil. Used it for years for everything from doves to deer. Grouse - well!!!!
My daughter has used it also. Have gone to a little Ithica 20ga O/U that handles most of my problems

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TOMBECK

I have one just like it, but with the rib. Dad bought it new way back in the early 1960s. That monstrous looking front end is a combination muzzle brake, choke tube. I have all three of the screw-in chokes that originally came with it. They are marked as short, medium, and long range. When screwed fully in there is about a 1 " gap between the tube and barrel. That old model 20 always made a BIG boom amd had an interesting muzzle flash! I see them on occasion at auctions and ones in good shape sell for around $150 or so.

John

IF you must cut that barrel stop at 20", which will give you a little room for error if you bugger up the crown.

I am also pretty sure 00 Buckshot looks the same coming at you from a $75 JC Higgins or a $750 Beretta. Excellent find and repurposing of a fine old shotgun.

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No school like the old school.

Those POWerPAC inserts are out there. I bought one of these Model 20's years ago with one insert and picked up the other two on eBay. Clean it up and shoot it, you will love it as it is...

I inherited one of these with the vent rib and all three chokes from my father. I have hunted with it as a young man, and can still shoot it better than most of my other shotguns.

$75 you can't go wrong with that gun. High Standard made some very high quality guns back in their day.
Just make sure if you cut down the barrel it doesn't end up below 18" when finished. Go to jail gun then.

I have one of these. Full choke barrel. Pretty nice shape. I like trap shooting with guns like these. I enjoy shooting them against the multi-thousand dollar guns at the local range.

I think most cut them at 18 1/4". The official measuring tape might be different than yours.

Until recently I was under a misconception that the HS was not a good shotgun. Locnload mentioned his, I did some research. They were and are one fine shotgun. I now own a new clone loaded with # 4 Buck.

For $75.00 you made a great buy.

Nice gun at a great price.

I'd cut it just back of the PowerPac at an even # (26", 24", ect.) Going down to 20" at the lowest. That's plenty short for business and won't get you into a tape measurement argument with the gold badge club.
Plus a 24 or 26 makes a nice field gun yet. Winchester used to offer the Mod 97 pump in a 26" cyl bore as a 'Brush Gun' model.

The JC Higgins M20 actually pre-dates the H/S M200 by several years.

The Mod 20 patent was jointly assigned to both H/S and Sears Roebuck. H/S made the guns and of course they (M20) were sold exclusively thru sears.
(The guns designer (Frank (Fred?) Humeston) was one of the principal designers of the M1 carbine at Winchester. After the War he went over to H/S where he designed this pump shotgun among other things.
It's a simple, straight forward design, and not a copy of the Rem31 as often stated,,though they are very smooth operating.

Supposedly, the PowerPac choke can sometimes be a pain with 'modern' plastic wad shells. These were not in production when the device first came out.
Some brands of plastic wads will apparently strip a petal or piece of a plastic petal off of the wad as it passes thru the choke device, leaving it hanging from the end of the bbl. I've never heard of any problems like a bulged bbl or damaged choke from it but it can't be a good thing.
The old shells had cardboard and fiber filler wads and apparently gave no problems.
I've never seen one damaged but they aren't the most common item around either.
Just thought I'd mention it.

Again,congrats on a nice find.

Cut this one off, and never finished project yet. Was cutting for
slugs, 24". Don't need it now, will recut to 18 1/2" for 00 gun.
I got $20 in this one, was gunked solid & a bit rusty on exterior.
The only thing missing is the cross bolt safety. These made very
accurate slug guns because of solid construction.

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Back in the 1980s I bought a very good condition J.C. Higgins Model 20 12 gauge from a hunting partner for around $100 to $125. It had their plain duck hunting barrel. 17 grains of Red Dot under 1 1/8 ounce of #7 worked on clay birds. Despite it being a good gun it was tough finding a gun show table holder who'd pay $50 for it. As they say, if a gun is being sold or traded you do not want to be on the wrong side of the table. I should have stashed it away.

K-22 been on both sides of the table too. The isle side is the bleeding one.

I don't know why but most LGS owners did not like the HS or Sears version. I was given much incorrect information on the gun. In retrospect it may have been they wanted to steer one into a new gun they had on the shelf.

When young I bought several nice ones in the $50 range and had no issues, but the local LGS owner kept giving me inside info, what is now called saw it on the internet truths. Bad gun, no parts, breaks easy etc.

And since every one I saw was cheap and did sit on shelves for extended periods of time I perhaps gave too much credence to the half truths..

Well thanks to the internet I was able to do research and weigh much information to "smarten" me up. A fine gun and any cheap one is now on my radar.

Awesome ! I just love these store brands and this one with the PowerPac compensator/choke is even more impressive. Not a whole lot of them were seen. I think its cool!
Rub some oil finish on the wood, TLC on the metal ...don't try to make it look brand new.. it's got character , just clean and shine.
Shame you can't keep that wicked looking compensator on it , I think it gives it some pizzazz !

My most cherished shotgun is a 20 gauge , H.S. Flite King , that my Uncle from Texas passed on to me, Looked a whole lot like your 12 gauge when I got it , I cleaned it up, shined it and rubbed a coat of True Oil on the stock.... still hunt with it and wouldn't take blood or money for it.
Gary

The more I think about it, the more I lean towards keeping it. The intimidation effect of that 1.25" blunderbuss muzzle may outweigh the handling benefits of cutting it to 18".

__________________
Rule of law, not a man.

Cut my teeth on one of those that my dad won on a ten-cent raffle ticket during the Kennedy administration. It isn't even a two-bit shotgun, but I'm still shooting it. Whatever you do with it, that will serve you well.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

Could it be mounted on the shortened barrel ? I got to thinking just how wicked that rascal would look !
Gary

I may still have the stuff off the choke, I'll look in junk - if it survived you can have it for postage. I have "saved" some
shotguns that were cut short by putting those chokes on them
to bring to legal length. Chokes are threaded on at factory. After
cutting off choke, I put choke in lathe and carefully turn out
the threads, then turn muzzle for tight fit and silver solder.

Grew up with my Dad hunting with one in 28" FC. Now it is mine. All I have to do is take it out of the safe for the memories to start coming back.

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JOSHUA 1:9

I'd like to get a coach double barrel cut it and leg holster or over the shoulder holster. Just dreaming.

My dream gun would be a right hand and left hand Remington 1100's 12ga shotguns belt fed. Bolted together. Heart breakers, risk takers.

There's 3 different size (diameter) choke tubes for the Lyman PowerPac,,small,,med,,and large.
Each with a different recess at the front (or lack of it) and a different shaped 'seat' behind the threads.
IIRC the med and large were both avail to fit 12ga. But it was generally large/12ga, med/16 and small/20ga.

Tubes are marked on the end with the choke constriction in general terms 'short', 'medium', 'long range'.
Most have the gauge marked on the end also,,but not always!

By the looks of the choke body mounted on the M20 in question,it appears to be the Large one.
A slight recess at the front edge and a shoulder behind the threads IDs it as the Large one.
(The 'Medium' size choke device does not have a recess in front of the threads,,it does have a shoulder behind them but it is a tapered shoulder.)

Thread OD on the large tubes is something like 1.15"/.20".

I see them at shows quite often but not at giveaway prices. They're usually priced at around $30 to $40 /per tube depending on condition.
They came in a box w/a small thin flat wrench to install and remove them.
A couple of tubes could easily set you back more than you have in the gun!

If you do cut it off,,save it and the short section of bbl it's attached to.Put it on Fleabay,,it'll sell.

I paid $150 for a 12 guage Hi Standard back around the 2008 gun buying panic. It seemed a solid gun. I cut it down to 18.5" and also cut it down to be a pistol grip shotgun, fitting a new eye bolt on the cut down stock so that it would take a shoulder strap and painted it camo. I think I sold it for $200 during a later gun buying panic. I had seen a similar looking conversion in a photo of evidence guns somewhere and wanted my own. Chuckle. I did keep the OAL around 29", well beyond the minimum.

Try the Pedersoli Howdah as sold by Cabelas etc, it is a side by side 20 gauge. It is a black powder percussion weapon so not an NFA item and will ship to your door in most states. A hip holster is available as is an optional detachable shoulder stock.

Great buy. I will offer $85 make a quick $10.

Serious hang on to its, a keeper

In the 60's I knew a fella that would buy a gun and sell to buy something else in short order. One day he asked if I wanted to buy a black powder pistol. He said he'd been breaking down low brass shot shells to shoot it as our local Pawn/LGS wouldn't order any Black powder. I do believe it was Italian made. 20 gauge double barrel pistol. A Howda it was . I gave him $20 and killed some squirrels with it. Don't remember what happened to it. It was a very nicely made gun.

So I just happened to see Cabelas Howda on sale for about $798 or so. Well Howda. I thought $20 bucks was a fair price.....

Back in the day, ( 1970 ish) in my pre-LEO life, I worked as a rent-a-cop/security guard. There were, maybe, a dozen of us, working for a couple of small companies, working in the town. We were all cop wanabe types. We would meet up for coffee or just park in some lot and BS about the world/what a cheap *** our bosses were/ where we had applied for a cop job. I had acquired a Steven/Savage Model 67 pump from a guy that I used to work for (found it in the trunk of car he was turning into a stock car). It was cheap, it was rough, it worked. Off to my dad's electrical shop I go. After a little work with a pipe cutter and reamer a drill and tap for a bead. I had me a genUwine police riot gun. I carried it in my security car and showed it off to the other guys. Like I said, we were all wanabes. It lasted less than a week before someone offered me more money that I thought it was worth. With my profit, off to the local gun shop and I buy another cheap pump, either another Savage or JC Higgens/Wards/Western Auto, whatever they had for 50 bucks or less. I repeated that process several times until the market was saturated(or our respective bosses wouldn't let us carry them, I don't remember which) I used the last one that I bought(pre-surgery ) to hunt ducks with on days that I didn't want to take my good shotgun to the ponds. The first PD that I worked for, the issue shotgun was a Hi-Standard. Like my homemade riot guns, they worked but they weren't very good looking.

I think you will be happy with your new shooter!! GB

I recently did the same thing you are about to do. Found a Monkey Wards WesternField M550CD 20 gauge w/C-Lect choke(Mossberg), had to pay about 40 bucks more than you did for yours though. Got it home and promptly whacked off about 10 inches with my trusty hacksaw and smoothed it up with my Dremel. Going to put swivels and a sling on it. I gave it to my wife for Valentines Day, it's going to be her Copperhead gun.

I have a cheap tubing cutter for just this purpose. Gotta go slow (I figured it would be toast after one "application" but still going strong after half a dozen) and when done it's square and not much left for the Dremel to do. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

A long time ago I bought a very good condition 28 gauge Remington Model 11-48 automatic for $50. The catch was the seller handed me the front end of its barrel separate from the gun. I inquired about a replacement barrel, having choke tubes or a variable chock installed etc. Prior to the hack and whack it had been a good sporting gun but no repair made economic sense.

It came with a box and a half of shells. I got a crow with every one of them but it wasn't worth setting up to reload the relatively expensive 28 gauge components. Consequently it went to a young man who said it would make a good riot gun for his sweet young thing to protect herself with in her apartment. I didn't say so but I thought that was a riot.

I've owned a few 28 gauges and did reload for it. The ones I had were too heavy for the gauge and I eventually sold them.

I did not like the expensive hard to find ammo so I kept coming back to the 16 gauge.

I've got a JC Higgins mod 20 just like the one in the OP except it had
the standard 28" plain barrel with a modified choke. I bought it at an
estate auction about 15 yrs ago in excellent condition for $125. Since
I had no need for another 12 ga pump with the generic 28" modified
barrel I cut the barrel to about 18 1/4" with a tubing cutter. As the
above poster says they give a square cut with only deburring left to
do. The mod 20 is a solid gun with it's steel receiver and old style
bolt lockup. They are not highly valued in the marketplace however
which can be good or bad depending on your situation. I have several
short barreled pump guns and they are my favorite type of gun to
hunt rabbits with in thick cover. Lots of fun for a round of Trap also.
Having one handy around the house with a few rounds of double 0 in
the mag tube provides a measure of comfort also. If you want to hone
your reflexes and speed at getting that first shot off try a few rounds
of Trap with a "riot" gun. I bought several old pumps over the last
several years that had various choke devices on the barrel. I have
ended up cutting all of them off. Why? First of all they destroy the
handling characteristics needed for quick handling, second the weight
on the end of the barrel causes the gun to shoot low. Not what you
want for hunting.

After lengthy deliberation, I decided today was hacksaw day.

I tried a pipe cutter, but my 6 dollar Home Depot jobby wasn't having it. It did make a nice mark to go by, though. So I clamped ol' Rusty into the cleaning stand and had at it.

It wasn't pretty. My first effort was decidedly off-kilter. From the side it looked like a guy sticking out his lower lip. But some file work got everything lined up okey dokey.



I know the acid test is the "down the barrel to the bolt face" measurement. I'm good to go at a solid almost 19" there.



But I also figured I'd rather not argue the finer points of law on the side of the road with a thin-blue-liner who measured from the muzzle to to where the barrel meets the receiver. I'm good there at a hair over 18".



Either way, ol' short Rusty isn't much longer than my work 870 with its 14" snout.



I found a snap-on fiber optic thingy in the junk box to hold me until I can put on a proper bead. Or I may just leave it - that thing really is bright.



I swapped the buttstock thing off my work gun since I paid for it and I'm retiring soon anyway. Here is Rusty, ready to guard the homefront:



Counting the 75 bucks I paid, I'm into this gun for a total of 75 bucks.

__________________
Rule of law, not a man.

Looks good.
I've chopped a few beater store models over the years.
My latest was a single shot 16 gauge. It went from 30" or so to about 18 1/2". Went with the same sight you did. My bead work on a Stevens 520 didn't work out so well. It was just slightly off.

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Watch & Pray

I did the same with a Stevens 620 in 16ga a while back. It has become my favorite shotgun, possibly because i like 16ga over 12ga these days(wry smile). I cut mine to 20inch, since I like to shoot slugs and that length made the two halves the same size.

Looks like a winner for sure ! I think it looks great !
I like the front sight thingy, I need a front sight for the old Stevens 77F 12 gauge pump I cut down. I used a pipe cutter on mine , but I bought a good one with a extremely sharp cutter and it did an excellent job...but it still has no front sight , I need to get one of those fiber optic thingy's !
Gary