New Family Member

[Doriangray6]

Just picked up a well worn Winchester model 12 chambered in 20 gauge with a 23.5" barrel that, as far as I can determine, was made in 1923.
It was filthy and had a bit of surface rust along with some nicks and dings as you would expect from a 100+ year old firearm but after a good cleaning and lubing it works smoothly and locks up tight.
I enjoy shooting shotguns but I'm a lousy shot with them, I can hit the broad side of a barn but only if I'm inside it , so primarily I have them for home defense and though I have a 16 gauge model 97 I prefer 20 gauge because it's kinder to my old shoulders.
The Winchester model 12s, like their model 97s, can be slam fired. After I showed my grandson how to use this feature he loved to dump a tube of 16 gauge out of my model 97 into a target.

 

[Shibadog]

Those old pumps were typically the slickest running scatterguns you'd encounter.

 

[Doriangray6]

Since the shotgun doesn't have a chamber length stamped on the barrel I made a gauge to check the depth but it would only go in about 1 1/4" before sticking.
So I checked the chamber with one of my small bore gauges, 10mm-18mm, and found that it is .699" at the loading end and tapers to .868" at a depth of 2 1/4" where the forcing cone begins.
This would make finding ammo for it difficult but fortunately I have some 2.5" all brass shells from Rocky Mountain Cartridge that I can cut down to 2 1/4" and I'm also going to get a 20 gauge roll crimper so that I can cut down and use regular shells too.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

… Winchester model 12s, like their model 97s, can be slam fired. After I showed my grandson how to use this feature he loved to dump a tube of 16 gauge out of my model 97 into a target.

Same thing with the Winchester Model 1906 (a .22 caliber slide-action takedown rifle manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company from 1906-1932)

Grandson broke the tube magazine off during a "tube mag dump". Neat gallery type shooter that served five generations of the same family.

 

[Doriangray6]

Same thing with the Winchester Model 1906 (a .22 caliber slide-action takedown rifle manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company from 1906-1932)

Grandson broke the tube magazine off during a "tube mag dump". Neat gallery type shooter that served five generations of the same family.
View attachment 767457

OUCH!!
The grandson, now in the Air Force, loves to mag dump everything but had never fired my Remington Speedmaster so I took it along for a 22 only range day, loaded up 15 rounds of 22lr in it and told him to pull the trigger as fast as he could.
His grin was so big afterward that I thought his face was going to crack.