Plug for mag of win 1300 . . .

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Prof Young

New member
Shooters:
I needed to put a plug in the magazine of my Winchester 1300 12 ga to make it legal to hunt deer with in Illinois. After doing some internet research I opened up the mag, slid a half inch dowel cut to the right length down the middle of the magazine spring and put it all back together. Seems to work just fine.

Anything I'm missing here or should be concerned about?

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
Used a piece of tree branch one time when I got off hunting with the plug left at home. Don't imagine Illinois' CO's would even look to see what keeps that third slug out of the mag tube.
 
I suggest you make/buy a plug with some kind of wide part at the end. The commercial ones have a "ring" at one end that is the size of the inside diameter of the magazine. You install the plug so the spring bears on the wide part and pushes it forward, while the narrow part fits inside the spring. That way the spring retains the plug and keeps it from rattling around, which a single diameter dowel will do.

Jim
 
Be sure to bevel the edges of the dowel somewhat. I once had the factory dowel in a Mossberg 500 entangle itself in the mag spring, which turned my pump repeater into a single shot. Fortunately, the turkey was already on the ground when it happened.
 
If the plug is made right, it won't be possible for it to get tangled with the spring, because there won't be enough room for the spring to get between it and the inside wall of the magazine tube.

FWIW, another way to run the railroad is to simply cut a piece of metal or plastic to the right size disc and tack or screw it to the end of the dowel.

Jim
 
It is according to how the gun is made, internally, in the magazine tube, but I think a dowel will work on a 1300, as long as you put about a 1/8" bevel on each end. The bevel keeps the end from hanging up on the spring or the follower.

The Winchester Model 97 and Model 12 came from the factory with wooden dowels for plugs, and all they did was put a bevel of about 45 degrees on each end in a lathe, or just used a belt sander. To make it fancy, they put a Winchester sticker on it.
 
When I was a little boy, my father said he had a plug inside his shotgun to reduce the number of rounds it would take.
I could tip the shotgun and hear it fall inside.
Years went by.
I imagined a finely made factory part with special cuts.

The gun was disassembled and I saw it.
It was a small stick that was hand whittled, crudely.
I was shocked.
 
Just a plain dowel with the ends tapered will work fine to reduce magazine capacity. My suggestions are only to keep it from rattling around, which some users find annoying.

Jim
 
Plain wood dowels absorb moisture and can cause rust issues. I would use plastic like Delrin or nylon to avoid that possibility. Many times the plugs absorbs moisture and folks forget to remove it after hunting and issues develop.
 
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