Model 12 for trap?

W

Wayne F

Inactive
I inherited a Winchester Model 12 from my father and would like to start shotgunning again. It has been about 15 years since I last fired it. Been sitting in my safe all this time.

So, I have a couple of questions for you all.
1. What can you tell me about the Model 12?

2. What cleaning / inspection should I do before I shoot it? It functioned flawlessly last time it was used.

3. I will be shooting trap at a local range and will be taking a shotgun class at the range the first of next year. All of my previous clay busting has been done informally on dnr land etc. So, will the Model 12 work ok for this? I don't recall how long the barrel is.... seems very long to me though. My only other shotgun is a Mossberg 500 SD 18" barrel.

4. I have not paid much attention to shotgun ammo prices until recently. I was in Wally world the other day and noticed a "value pack" of 12ga. for $16.00 for 100. This would put my cost to shoot at ~ $.32 per shot. .16 for each shell and .16 per shot range fee. I will be reloading rifle and was wondering what the financial benefit of reloading shotgun as well would be?

Thanks
Wayne
 
Man alive, in its day (before autos and O/Us took over) the M12 was the most popular trap and skeet (and hunting, and riot) shotgun on the market.

I do not know the cleaning requirements for M12, being a Remington shooter, but I'm sure somebody will help.

Look at the choke mark on the left rear of your barrel. Full or modified either one will do for trap. You can break them with Imp Cyl, but you have to be quick. Skeet is an open choke game, Imp Cyl, Skeet or straight cylinder.

You can reload good trap loads with hard shot, good wads, and long-lasting hulls (Win AA, Rem STS, Fed Gold Medal) for about half of retail. The savings over discount house stuff is much less, you can't duplicate their low cost, high volume components and large sales volume. If you take up trap as a regular thing you will end up reloading, but it probably would not make a lot of difference unless you get hooked and shoot a LOT.

Look for shells with 1 ounce of shot, or maybe something like the Federal Multi-Purpose with 1 1/8 oz shot, 3 dram equivalent of powder. More is not allowed for trap or skeet. The cheap-o 7/8 oz loads are not much good. GOOD 7/8 oz loads will break targets but you are not getting them at MartMart.
 
Model 12s still take their share of the prizes, even at the Grand, but....

Early 12s were chambered for shells shorter than modern ones, and using a 2 3/4" shell in a 2 9/16" chamber is not a good idea. Also, ANY old shotgun should go to a good smith for a breakdown and inspection before firing. And while he's got it apart, ask him to clean/lube it while he's in there.

If it passes, count your blessings and use it wisely. 12s are famous for reliability and longevity, and I see some that are on their 4th generation of shooter.And, you'll see them on any trap range frequently.

My box price for a trap quality reload runs about $2.56. I do not save any money by reloading, I get more shooting from the same amount of money.

Buying used, I got a MEC single stage press, some components, scale, manual, etc, for less than $100. Payback period was about a month.

That value pack is.Both the Fed and Winchester loads in those packs are good ammo.

HTH....
 
Thanks for the replies. I am fairly competent with hand tools and things mechanical. Are there dissassembly / inspection instructions availabe so I could do this work myself?

Wayne
 
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