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Winchester 1200 Police Stainless Model

torizus

torizus

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Anyone familiar with this model shotgun and it's availability ?

I know they were manufactured mid 60's into 70's as the 1200 with both Police and Marine designations , 2 3/4" & 3" chamber, 18" barrel, in stainless with steel receivers until the 1300 came out.

Briefly used in Nam and Coast Guard during that time but I cannot find any available in whole or parts.
 

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The 1200 series is known for its reliability, and the fact that it's stainless makes it a real gem. Nobody that I know of makes shotguns out of stainless steel anymore, they just plate their "marine" versions in nickel, chrome, or cerakote.
 
The M-1200 suffered by comparison with the prior Model 12 and most didn't think it was as pretty as the Remington M-870, so sales were slow.

I knew David W. Arnold, a senior cop in Rhodesia. David was South African, but immigrated to the USA, where he edited, Petersen's Handguns.

He was a Colt man, but very knowledgeable about guns. He liked his M-1200, so I guess it worked well.

I'm not sure the receiver is stainless. May be plated aluminum.
 
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I had read somewhere that there was some discrepancy regarding wether the receivers were alloy as opposed to steel.

This one held a magnet so it peaked my interest but all I can surmise from the limited info out there is that they may have made it both, probably initially steel and later alloy.
Sights are really nice for a shotgun, front is a raised brass bead dovetailed into an elevated ramp and the rear is a flip up U with an up arrow/half diaoind and adjust for elevation with marked graduations.
 
When I was a young man, my grandfather had one that was carried on his off-shore fishing boat 'To repel boarders', and I had always admired it. I recently inherited it.

I found another at a local gun shop, they didn't know what it was, or how to price it. It came home with me as well.

Here is a quick shot of my grandfathers standing next to a Marlin 1894FG 41 Magnum.

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Not a Model 1200, but I do have a Model 1300 Stainless Marine. I have posted this before, but it was my Duty Shotgun and gifted to me upon retirement. They sure are nice looking shotguns! Mine has the outstanding rifle sights and the same stamping on the barrel stating, “Winchester Proof Stainless Steel.” I believe the barrel is only Stainless on this Model and the rest is plated, but I may be incorrect on that.
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There was also a military 1200. The USAF had some, perhaps other services did also. Those I have seen had the alloy receiver and carbon steel barrels, blued.

The 1200 is a much better design than most give it credit for. I used a Skeet grade 12 gauge for many years, used it for Skeet all through the 1980s and 1990s, and I still have it. Also had a full choke longer barrel for it for Trap shooting. It has a beautifully grained walnut stock and slide, but messed up with pressed checkering. I have put a huge number of shells through it with nary a problem. I am not sure what the difference is between the 1200 and 1300, if any.
 
I have a 1300 Defender in blue with the factory 18" barrel. The receiver
is alloy of course. I think one difference in the 1200 and 1300 is the
thicker and possibly harder steel in the barrel for dealing with steel shot.
There are probably other differences as well to improve durability but I
can't say for sure.
 
I got a 1200 for Christmas in 1963. I actually got it prior to the start of pheasant season, but it was my Christmas.

I had some trouble with it early on. The shell carrier would come up too soon or too late and jam things up. Winchester fixed it. I took it to South Dakota a few years ago and it was good to hunt with it again. I keep thinking I need to take it back for one last hunt together. I am thinking of having the barrel cut from 28 down to 24 or so.

At MP school in 69, we fired a few OO rounds through some plain Jane 1200's.
 
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Back sometime in the 1960s, Winchester had an idea to start up a chain of franchised trap and skeet clubs around the country, and actually opened some, mainly on the east coast and in the midwest. It never caught on and didn't last very long. I don't know the reason why the clubs failed, but likely because they couldn't attract enough shooters to keep the lights on. Part of the business plan was that the Winchester clubs would have shotguns for rental, Winchester shotguns of course, and you could also buy Winchester guns and ammo there. Many, if not most, of the rental guns were Model 1200 pumps and Model 1400 semiautos, but there were probably others available for rental or sale.

Maybe someone reading this knows more about the Winchester gun clubs and can provide more details about them, as I know no more than what I have already stated.

The Model 1200 12 Gauge I have was purpose-designed as a Skeet gun (22" Skeet choked ribbed barrel, with a pretty good drop in the stock heel), and it had been one of those Winchester gun club rental shotguns. There were also Model 1200 Trap guns and I saw one of those once. I got mine from my wife's cousin in New Jersey, who picked it up when the Winchester club near him went out of business. I imagine it saw considerable use before I got it. That was sometime in the early 1970s, but I don't remember exactly when. I am not sure how much those 1200 Skeet guns sell for these days, but I have seen only one other, plus one 1200 Trap gun. I imagine they don't bring much of a premium price.
 
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Both the 1200 and the 1300 are very good looking shotguns in my opinion, especially with the wooden stock and fore stock. I was surfing around a gun board and found this one for sale in Arizona. It's a 1300 Alaska State Police trade in. I feel fortunate in getting it during the current gun buying frenzy. I saw it not long after it was posted and was able to call and put my name on it. Unfortunately it took longer to ship from AZ to NC than I liked and as fortune has it my LGS is closed to walk in customers and will not open until mid April. As I was giving the fellow my CC info, he made the comment he had never been so busy and could have sold 50 of these if he had them in stock. I'm not sure if it's marked with ASP or not and I don't have anything but this computer screen photo taken from the dealers web site to show it off. So here it is.
 
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I lusted after a Winchester 1200 or 1300 in stainless for a long time. Could not find one for love nor money. I still think a stainless pump action shotgun makes for a great outdoors/harsh environment shotgun.
 
My only all-weather variant pump-gun is a Remington 870 'Marine Magnum', but know that it is not SS, but apparently electroless satin nickeled.
It, like most all 870's runs 100% and since I grew up with an 870, and carried an issued one for so many years, it feels like an old friend.

A unique pump-gun I JUST missed out on some years back - an Ithaca M37 Riot Gun, walnut stock, satin nickeled all over with 'NAGS HEAD PD' in a large stamp on the port side of the receiver. If you're unaware Nags Head is a small coastal community on our NC Outer Banks, of which I live on the Southern terminus of.
That was their idea of providing something that would hold up in the salt-air environment. Hate I missed out on it.
 
Old Corp said:
My only all-weather variant pump-gun is a Remington 870 'Marine Magnum', but know that it is not SS, but apparently electroless satin nickeled.
It, like most all 870's runs 100% and since I grew up with an 870, and carried an issued one for so many years, it feels like an old friend.

A unique pump-gun I JUST missed out on some years back - an Ithaca M37 Riot Gun, walnut stock, satin nickeled all over with 'NAGS HEAD PD' in a large stamp on the port side of the receiver. If you're unaware Nags Head is a small coastal community on our NC Outer Banks, of which I live on the Southern terminus of.
That was their idea of providing something that would hold up in the salt-air environment. Hate I missed out on it.
Click to expand...

Well aware of that as I was raised in Hertford- not far away. I would love to have had a chance at one of those!!
 
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