I plan on placing this review on my site, with illustrations. While my server is down, I'd like to get feedback. Did I cover everything of interest? Suggestions?
People buy shotguns for a variety of purposes: hunting, self-defense, sports such as skeep or trap. I wanted a shotgun as a learning tool. Since pump shotguns are such common weapons, especially in police hands, I reasoned that it would be useful to know how to operate one.
My prior experience with shotguns had been limited. I've fired 12 gauge pumps (Mossberg 500, 590) and autoloaders (Remington 11), found the recoil harsh. I've also witnessed an accidental discharge with a Remington 870 which stemmed from the placement of the slide release button (right in front of the trigger guard). With that in mind, I decided that I wanted a 20 gauge shotgun or some model other than an 870.
Winchester Defender seemed like a good fit. For $270, I got a weapon with an 18.5" barrel, seven-shot tube magazine and synthetic furniture. Fiberoptic front sight was already installed. Slide release button was located behind the trigger guard. For comparison, the lowest grade of Remington 870 in 20ga retailed for $290 and came with only a plain bead sight and a four-shot tube, dimpled to prevent extension.
1300 has a non-glare aluminum receiver. It is rust-proof and light. Some people prefer the steel receiver of the 870 without realizing that the Remington bolt locks into a recess in the receiver. In the Winchester, the bolt locks into the barrel extension, similarly to the AR15. The receiver is not subjected to much stress. The rotating bolt unlocks on recoil. That makes the gun very fast to sycle and reduces the kick. However, it also makes firing from a bench awkward and works poorly with whimpy promotional loads. With very light charges, the bolt doesn't always fully unlock, requiring the use of the slide release button.
Take-down and cleaning on the 1300 are fairly simple. In general, the gun requires very little maintenance inside: the action stays quite clean. The barrel, on the contrary, is prone to developing surface rust when exposed to dampness and should be oiled for storage.
Although the cost of ammunition in 20ga is similar to 12ga, the variety is definitely lacking. For the purpose of experimentation, I bought a variety of inexpensive shot and slug loads. All ammunition except for Winchester Super Speed (promotional) shot worked fine. The white-box promotional loads sometimes failed to extract due to the very light charge and poorly made casings (the extractor would occasionally tear through the rims).
Accuracy with basic rifled slugs (Sluggers, Federal Classics) was suprisingly good. All brands would produce touching holes at 25m. Recoil with slugs was brisk due to the light weight of the gun but not painful. The front-heavy balance of the Defender keeps muzzle rise down to a minimum.
Cylinder bore turned out to be ill-suited for most purposes. Except for Winchester promotional ammo which patterned very poorly, all other brands worked reasonable well but produced very open patterns. With buckshot, plated or unplated, the pattern opened up to a torso width at 10-12m. In trap shooting, close shots were easy but far shots often failed due to the poor pattern density. My scored improved by about 20% with the use of a IC choke 12ga. I've shot numerous rounds of trap with this shotgun and took two defensive courses. I found it to be a handy weapon.
Reliability has been excellent: I've fired a hundred rounds of trap rapidly yet the 1300 worked fine. The barrel got so hot that I've seriously considered adding a ventilated shroud to it.
The fiberoptic sight is a very singificant plus: easy to see under all light conditions and suprisingly robust. Unlike brass beads, the sight doesn't have a bright highlight which alters the sight pisture depending on the angle of the light source.
The main down sides have to do with the manufacture of the stock and the machining of the receiver. In my extensive use of the gun, I found every sharp spot on the gun (stock moulding seams, stock/receiver bundary, area next to the loading gate) and those abraded my fingers. I tried to smooth the plastic using sandpaper but was only partly successful. Several people complained about the smooth, recessed nature of the slide release. I have not had any problems with it.
The other limitation has to do with the terminal ballistics of available defense loads. Birdshot has no penetration at 25m and insufficient at 12m (the furthest distance at which the pattern is no wider than a human torso). #3 buck, the most common 20ga load delivers twenty quarter-inch pellets. Penetration is adequate at 12m and insufficient at 25m. Unlike 00 buck, none of the shot loads for 20ga penetrate any cover reliably. In short, the only defense load in which I would have much confidence at ranges exceeding in-house distances would be slugs. It appears that inexpensive ammunition works as well as the high-priced varieties.
Winchester calls this model "Lady Defender". It is a mis-nomer. For one, every lady I know uses a 12ga shotgun. For another, if this weapon was intended for women, it should have had a short stock. The existing stock is fine for me (6'1") but likely too long for many women. A shorter stock with option pads to make up the length would have been better.
For in-house handling, the gun is compact enough and may be fired with one hand without injury to the user. However, an M1 carbine is appreciably more handy in confined spaces. Recoil is relatively heavy for a 20ga (due to the light weight) but muzzle rise is tame and that's a great improvement from most 12ga shotguns. Ammunition is lighter than 12ga but most ammunition cariers with loop are made for 12ga and don't hold 20ga securely.
At this time, I have fired at least 1500 rounds of birdshot, 200 rounds of buckshot and 100 slugs through the gun. None of the parts broke. I recommend it for people who wish to have a light, easily portable 20 gauge shotgun. It is a good learning tool, so long as you are aware of its limitations for long-distance work with shot loads.
People buy shotguns for a variety of purposes: hunting, self-defense, sports such as skeep or trap. I wanted a shotgun as a learning tool. Since pump shotguns are such common weapons, especially in police hands, I reasoned that it would be useful to know how to operate one.
My prior experience with shotguns had been limited. I've fired 12 gauge pumps (Mossberg 500, 590) and autoloaders (Remington 11), found the recoil harsh. I've also witnessed an accidental discharge with a Remington 870 which stemmed from the placement of the slide release button (right in front of the trigger guard). With that in mind, I decided that I wanted a 20 gauge shotgun or some model other than an 870.
Winchester Defender seemed like a good fit. For $270, I got a weapon with an 18.5" barrel, seven-shot tube magazine and synthetic furniture. Fiberoptic front sight was already installed. Slide release button was located behind the trigger guard. For comparison, the lowest grade of Remington 870 in 20ga retailed for $290 and came with only a plain bead sight and a four-shot tube, dimpled to prevent extension.
1300 has a non-glare aluminum receiver. It is rust-proof and light. Some people prefer the steel receiver of the 870 without realizing that the Remington bolt locks into a recess in the receiver. In the Winchester, the bolt locks into the barrel extension, similarly to the AR15. The receiver is not subjected to much stress. The rotating bolt unlocks on recoil. That makes the gun very fast to sycle and reduces the kick. However, it also makes firing from a bench awkward and works poorly with whimpy promotional loads. With very light charges, the bolt doesn't always fully unlock, requiring the use of the slide release button.
Take-down and cleaning on the 1300 are fairly simple. In general, the gun requires very little maintenance inside: the action stays quite clean. The barrel, on the contrary, is prone to developing surface rust when exposed to dampness and should be oiled for storage.
Although the cost of ammunition in 20ga is similar to 12ga, the variety is definitely lacking. For the purpose of experimentation, I bought a variety of inexpensive shot and slug loads. All ammunition except for Winchester Super Speed (promotional) shot worked fine. The white-box promotional loads sometimes failed to extract due to the very light charge and poorly made casings (the extractor would occasionally tear through the rims).
Accuracy with basic rifled slugs (Sluggers, Federal Classics) was suprisingly good. All brands would produce touching holes at 25m. Recoil with slugs was brisk due to the light weight of the gun but not painful. The front-heavy balance of the Defender keeps muzzle rise down to a minimum.
Cylinder bore turned out to be ill-suited for most purposes. Except for Winchester promotional ammo which patterned very poorly, all other brands worked reasonable well but produced very open patterns. With buckshot, plated or unplated, the pattern opened up to a torso width at 10-12m. In trap shooting, close shots were easy but far shots often failed due to the poor pattern density. My scored improved by about 20% with the use of a IC choke 12ga. I've shot numerous rounds of trap with this shotgun and took two defensive courses. I found it to be a handy weapon.
Reliability has been excellent: I've fired a hundred rounds of trap rapidly yet the 1300 worked fine. The barrel got so hot that I've seriously considered adding a ventilated shroud to it.
The fiberoptic sight is a very singificant plus: easy to see under all light conditions and suprisingly robust. Unlike brass beads, the sight doesn't have a bright highlight which alters the sight pisture depending on the angle of the light source.
The main down sides have to do with the manufacture of the stock and the machining of the receiver. In my extensive use of the gun, I found every sharp spot on the gun (stock moulding seams, stock/receiver bundary, area next to the loading gate) and those abraded my fingers. I tried to smooth the plastic using sandpaper but was only partly successful. Several people complained about the smooth, recessed nature of the slide release. I have not had any problems with it.
The other limitation has to do with the terminal ballistics of available defense loads. Birdshot has no penetration at 25m and insufficient at 12m (the furthest distance at which the pattern is no wider than a human torso). #3 buck, the most common 20ga load delivers twenty quarter-inch pellets. Penetration is adequate at 12m and insufficient at 25m. Unlike 00 buck, none of the shot loads for 20ga penetrate any cover reliably. In short, the only defense load in which I would have much confidence at ranges exceeding in-house distances would be slugs. It appears that inexpensive ammunition works as well as the high-priced varieties.
Winchester calls this model "Lady Defender". It is a mis-nomer. For one, every lady I know uses a 12ga shotgun. For another, if this weapon was intended for women, it should have had a short stock. The existing stock is fine for me (6'1") but likely too long for many women. A shorter stock with option pads to make up the length would have been better.
For in-house handling, the gun is compact enough and may be fired with one hand without injury to the user. However, an M1 carbine is appreciably more handy in confined spaces. Recoil is relatively heavy for a 20ga (due to the light weight) but muzzle rise is tame and that's a great improvement from most 12ga shotguns. Ammunition is lighter than 12ga but most ammunition cariers with loop are made for 12ga and don't hold 20ga securely.
At this time, I have fired at least 1500 rounds of birdshot, 200 rounds of buckshot and 100 slugs through the gun. None of the parts broke. I recommend it for people who wish to have a light, easily portable 20 gauge shotgun. It is a good learning tool, so long as you are aware of its limitations for long-distance work with shot loads.