This is my Winchester Model 12 Standard, 12ga pump, 2 3/4 chamber and full choke. This one was made in 1953. Someone commented to me that I shouldn't put steel shot through it, is this true and if so, why not?
Honestly I'm not much of a shotgun buff but I decided to buy one and figured I'd go find an old one. This was the only nice older one in my favorite local shop. My shotgun experience amounts to rabbit hunting with a 20ga as a teen and some trap and skeet with my dads Belgian Browning 16ga. Is there anything I should know about this gun before I go full potato with it at the range?
Steel shot can damage the barrels of older shotguns. They are made to shoot lead.
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Ah...A 1960's duck gun when we didn't worry about lead shot. Excellent. Don't try to shoot skeet with it unless you are really good. Really nice shotgun.
I have two Model 12s. One in 12 ga. and one in 20 ga. both are excellent shooters but the 20 is my favorite. The 12 ga. is one of the ones used by the Army Air Force to teach gunners to shoot a moving target from a moving vehicle. I inherited it from an uncle that was a SeaBee in WWII.
My '12 is a Trench gun that had it's stock cut down to the pistol grip for use as a ruck gun by a soldier who served in Vietnam. One of the best pump shotguns ever made, only the Model 97 do I like better.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
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Yeah the fun thing about shooting skeet with a full choke is the fact that the clay targets tend to become a puff of smoke, if you can hit them. I would not shoot steel in it, I think you need to stick to lead.
millman wrote:Steel shot can damage the barrels of older shotguns. They are made to shoot lead.
Also steel shot shouldn't be shot through any older fixed choke full at all. It will score the barrel, as the constriction is too tight, and steel doesn't deform like lead.
Nice model 12. I've personally never owned one, but have shot many over the years. My favorite was the trap club president's Trap Model, with a Simmons rib. Even though it was a bit short for me, I always shot good with it.
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A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an
invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, conn a ship, write a
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I have 2 Model 12 12 gauges, 3 in 16 gauge (two of those are model 1912s) and a 20 ga. The barrel steel isn't the problem as much as the full choke. The Model 12 and Model 1912 full choke is tight and you'll likely bulge the barrel if you shoot steel through it. I'm not a waterfowl hunter but if I was, I'd buy another gun to shoot steel through and save the M12 for other things. If you ever have the opportunity to pick up an older Model 12 or the Model 1912, which were the first ones to be produced, in 16 or 20 gauge, take a moment to pick it up and swing it. Or don't because then you'll buy it.
MeatMarket wrote:Thanks for all your input. I didn't know all this so that's why I ask. I haven't shot the thing yet so now that I know, I'll stick with lead shot.
That's a nice looking Model 12. Hands down my favorite shotgun of all time.
Did you know that it was a numbers mismatch when you bought it?
1 1947 basic 12. Has that police car look. I had to put a firing pin in it snafu. Put 2 rifled slugs in one wide hole @35 yd., caused my cousin to buy a 870, a Ithaca deerslayer and a
" There are two kinds of people, the good people and the ones that aggravate the hell out of the good people"
As an avid hunter and owner of some Mod 12's I wouldn't shoot steel in it. You'd probably be ok with 4, 5 or 6 shot but with a full choke your pattern will be even tighter than with lead. Steel essentially shoots a pattern level tighter than lead. For example, with steel and shooting a modified choke it will be like shooting lead in a full choke. To me the mod 12's are like a sacred gun and I teat them that way. I suggest you buy a Remington or Mossberg pump with removable chokes if you want to hunt waterfowl. That's what I did and I normally use an improved cylinder choke with #3 steel shot and pretty much everything from teal to mallards falls graveyard dead if I hit them. If you didn't care about the gun you could have the choke bored out to modified or improved cylinder but that would be your decision. I would never touch the choke on a mod 12 personally. You could search the internet and see if you could find a used barrel for it somewhere and take the old used barrel and have it bored to modified or improved cylinder.....I've done that with another gun that I didn't want to mess up my original barrel for.
I have a 1956 model 12, 3" magnum heavy duck that I got from my grandfather after he passed. The last time it was fired was 1959 until I got it. I've put a few boxes through it since. Full choke of course, being the duck gun.
I don't shoot anything other than lead and I avoid 00 buck, though 00 has not hurt it yet. My attitude is "why risk it?" with such a nice gun. If you had some piece of junk shotgun in poor shape, then I'd say go for it and see what happens, but not with a nice old Winnie 12. It could be fine, or it could slowly ruin it over time. "Winchester Proof Steel" was really good stuff, but it's not worth the risk.
I have the same attitude about slugs and cut shells through an old full choke Winchester: it could be fine, or it could not, but I'm sure as hell not about to find out with my gun.
I'm just here for the free coffee mug and tee shirt.
Smart man. Nice gun. I got two of my grandfather's shotguns. A Winchester 1300 that my Dad bought for him when he said he wanted to take me pheasant hunting when I was 9, and his original pheasant gun he bought as a teenager out in No. Dak., when he ran away, and worked for some cattle rustlers, keeping their Model T running. It is a 16 ga. H&R single shot. Somewhere along the line he did some trigger work on it, because it has a hair trigger! My oldest son gets that one someday. I made sure he had that same opportunity to pheasant hunt with his grandfather when Dad was up here visiting.
This was several years ago -he'll be 24 soon.....
"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." -Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Murphy was an optimist.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an
invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, conn a ship, write a
sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the
dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve an
equation, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a
computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects - Robert A. Heinlien
I would not shoot steel in it, I think you need to stick to lead.
snafu. Put 2 rifled slugs in one wide hole @35 yd., caused my cousin to buy a 870, a Ithaca deerslayer and a 
My oldest son gets that one someday. I made sure he had that same opportunity to pheasant hunt with his grandfather when Dad was up here visiting. 
