I don't remember who, but someone fairly famous in the shooting world once said something to the effect that "no matter what company you find yourself in, there is no need to be ashamed of having a Winchester Model 12 or a Winchester Model 70." And he is right. If I were invited (fat chance) to go grouse hunting in Scotland with the British Royal Family, I wouldn't hesitate to take along one of my Model 12s. The death of the Model 12 was caused purely by the economics of production - It was simply too costly to manufacture and couldn't compete in the marketplace with the other pump shotguns which appeared in the 1950s and 60s which were far cheaper to manufacture. Much the same was true of the entire Winchester product line. So Winchester prostituted itself in 1963 and lost much of what market it had. However I will say that what Winchester came up with as a successor to the Model 12, the Model 1200, is a superb shotgun design. I used one (in Skeet grade) in 12 gauge for many years of skeet shooting, and it never let me down. And it was considerably lighter in weight than either the Model 12 or the Model 870. I still have it and it will probably be the last shotgun I sell before I die. Also, the "New" Winchester Model 70 was a far better rifle than it was given credit for - It just wasn't traditional and "pretty" enough for many hunters. Some of the worst complaints about it were addressed within a few years, but the damage had already been done.
Thanks for your review of the Model 1200.
That's the first charitable review of it that I've seen.
A friend in then-Rhodesia had a Model 1200, in part because the UN embargo made it hard to find good new guns. He liked it, and he was not just a hunter. He was a serious gun buff, and he and his father were both Colt collectors.
A New Zealand hunter on one of the Ruger boards has a Model 1300, the successor to the M-1200. He likes it. And this guy has CZ and Ruger rifles; he isn't just a casual gun owner. He likes Puma brand knives, too. He recently posted a nice photo of his Model 1300 with a big cock pheasant that it killed. Their pheasants are the same ringneck species that we hunt here. I think he also hunts deer and tahr, but with a rifle, of course.
Apart from the fact that it replaced the venerated Model 12, the 1200 had a hard, uphill road to travel. It had a light alloy receiver, where the Remington 870 not only looked sleeker; it has a steel receiver. The stock design and the way the wood was impressed checkered and inletted left many traditional shotgunners cold. To top that off, the brand in general was reviled for what happened to the M-70 and the M-94. It wasn't until 1972 that Winchester made a good Model 70, and it was still compared to the old one. Not until the M-70 Classic came out, with traditional controlled round feeding, did Winchester again capture the hearts of shooting enthusiasts.
The Model 12 is a good gun, but the comment about it being suitable to use in a shoot with the British Royal family at some estate like Sandringham is silly. It would probably not be allowed, and the crude American guest would be offered a double gun or a pair, if "loaders" were in attendance to load the second gun as the "gun" fires the other double at driven game. I know a lady on the Net who was raised on a large estate and who was left a pair of Purdeys by her father. She treasures them but usually shoots a high grade Beretta double now. She tells me a bit about their hunts, and although I don't think she's shot with the Royals, she does know several, and has met the Queen at garden parties at Buckingham Palace. She is a friend of the daughter of a noted Member of Parliament, whose name I probably shouldn't mention here. I believe that he was knighted in this year's Honours List. He is a descendent of Sir Winston Churchill, KG.
I have also met a Scots fellow, a Maj. Ramsay, at the auction of the remaining guns when Churchill, Atkin, Grant, and Lang folded. This was at Abercrombie & Fitch when the store was still a gun and tackle outfit for the wealthy, not yet bought by The Limited and turned into a lady's clothing store. He was pretty adamant that American "guns" hunting on the estate that he managed not bring rifles of "excessive" power to kill red deer. The meat goes to market and he didn't want it being too bloodshot. He thought that the .275 Rigby/7X57mm was about right. This guy was in kilt and my daughter was fascinated...
Seriously, British shooting traditions are pretty rigid, and I don't know of anyone allowed to shoot a repeating shotgun on the highfalutin hunts of the rarified Royals and other senior gentry. The more average Briton allowed a shotgun license may indeed use a repeater on waterfowl and clays. But they don't usually get to go on those hunts for pheasant, woodcock, and grouse in company with their "betters." They can often shoot red and roe deer, especially the latter, and this is one of the better reasons to apply for a rifle license. BTW, "shooting" there means "hunting " to Americans. "Hunting" means riding horses after foxes, which my acquaintance also does.
Princes William and Harry and Princess Kate are rather open, easygoing folk...for Royals. But I think that even they'd be surprised and disapproving if one invited to hunt with them showed up with a Model 12, even a high grade gun with fine checkering and gold inlay. I shudder to think what the acerbic Prince Phillip might say! And he'd say it, too. HRH is not known for keeping his feelings to himself if he disapproves.
The Model 70 rifle would be acceptable on a stag hunt in Scotland, but should be a Super Grade or a custom rifle on a M-70 action. The norm is a custom rifle on a Mauser action or sometimes still, an old Mannlicher-Schoenauer. At a less celestial level, hunters use any good bolt action, although I suppose a Ruger No. 1 or an old Farquharson (sp?) single shot or a fine double gun would do nicely. That splendid Westley Richards .303 double pictured here recently by our Capt. Curl was probably bought for such things, if not to hunt smaller buck in Africa or India. Gentlemen who could afford Westley Richards rifles probably could afford safari or shikar.
The average American reading this who has to struggle to buy even a higher grade Model 12 cannot fathom the degree of wealth and tradition that is involved in a Royal shoot for game in the UK.
And when Jack O'Connor shot with Prince Abdorezza (Jack's spelling) of Iran before the fall of the Shah, the Prince used Best quality British guns or custom made American rifles from the sort of makers that Jack favored. Model 70 actions were sometimes used, otherwise Mausers. I suspect that shotguns were either fancy Model 21's like Jack's or Best British guns from H&H or Purdey. The Peacock Throne dated back some 2500 years and the Shah's palace(s) was/were opulent. Did any of you see the big feature in, "Life" when the Shah hosted a 2500th anniversary party of his line? Pretty lavish!
