My father owned a field grade Winchester Model 12. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only gun he ever owned. It was his small game, big game and defense shotgun all rolled into one. He bought it in 1960 I believe.
A thread about rust today got me to thinking that it's been a couple of months since I wiped it down. Now that shotgun has it's share of dings and dents in the stock, and the bluing has it's share of honest wear. But every time I break that gun down and separate the threaded barrel from the threaded steel receiver, I have to marvel at the quality of the engineering and the machine work that went into that shotgun. When those two halves mate together, even with only a single action bar, it's amazing how they and the fore end both lock up so precisely.
My next two wipe downs were a couple of Mossberg 500's. Now I love Mossberg 500's. And my 870 Remington. I'm not really a shotgun guy as much as I am a handgun and rifle enthusiast. But Lord, Winchester sure built a shotgun back in my father's heyday. Pop is long gone now, but he left me a lot of memories, and a treasure of a fine old shotgun.
A thread about rust today got me to thinking that it's been a couple of months since I wiped it down. Now that shotgun has it's share of dings and dents in the stock, and the bluing has it's share of honest wear. But every time I break that gun down and separate the threaded barrel from the threaded steel receiver, I have to marvel at the quality of the engineering and the machine work that went into that shotgun. When those two halves mate together, even with only a single action bar, it's amazing how they and the fore end both lock up so precisely.
My next two wipe downs were a couple of Mossberg 500's. Now I love Mossberg 500's. And my 870 Remington. I'm not really a shotgun guy as much as I am a handgun and rifle enthusiast. But Lord, Winchester sure built a shotgun back in my father's heyday. Pop is long gone now, but he left me a lot of memories, and a treasure of a fine old shotgun.
. Of the 12.
