Gremlins…
The 1300 Series has some. Winchester advertised the 1300 as the ‘Speed Pump’ because its rotary bolt essentially unlocks on firing and if you’re holding back on the forearm a little, the action will open and the fired shell will eject. The temptation is to slam it forward; but if haven’t pulled the forend to its rear limit, you will short-stroke closed on an empty chamber. Forget the ad hype and run the 1300 like any other pump shotgun.
Another 1300 gremlin manifested itself in this shotgun- double-feeds. Should this misfortune find you, put the gun on safe, point it in a safe direction and punch out the pin that secures the trigger assembly. Remove it and clear the action from the bottom. Double-feeds occur when the primary shell stop has released a shell onto the carrier and the secondary shell stop fails to control shells remaining in the magazine. This is pretty easily remedied by tweaking the hook on the secondary stop toward the center of the shotgun; and it worked fine on this one. Why Winchester elected to bolt these onto the trigger assembly, instead of encasing them in receiver slots (870, 500) is beyond me. It was a recipe for failure, with icing provided by the next gremlin.
Remington brazes the magazine tube into the receiver of the 870 and I have long hated them for this. Mossberg gets it right by simply threading them into the receiver. On the 1300, Winchester used a plastic ‘magazine throat’ insert, pressed into the the receiver. When the 1300 was introduced, plastics were not nearly as advanced as they became 10-12 years later. So the 1300’s magazine throats are fragile. They also house the critical front end of the shell stops mentioned above; so a fracture in the magazine throat becomes a big deal. I must also mention Winchester hasn’t made the 1300 for 10 years and they aren’t making replacement parts. If you get in a bind and need parts, Midwest Gunworks is a factory recommended supplier who also has magazine throats. I may order one just to have it on hand.
Epilogue
In my opinion, the 1200-1300 Winchesters were too fragile for military or police issue. This certainly does not disqualify them as hunting or home defense shotguns. They are light, they handle well and they have very slick actions. I particularly like they way they are stocked. For me, they are very comfortable to shoot and operate. This 1300 threw excellent patterns for a duty/defense shotguns and despite its Spartan sights, it is downright deadly with slugs. It it needs a little TLC, I can do that. I like it and expect it has found a home here.