winchester model 1300 feild... Help?

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T_PRO_Z

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i have a chance to get a Winchester model 1300 field with 3 chokes for 200 bucks. I am wanting to get this for my little brother to take camping or hunting. I bought him a ruger 1022 and he shoots it more a week then I would have time to in a month lol. I just want to make sure that it is durable enough for him to shoot a lot and generally abuse. it will be a utilitarian gun and he asked for is specifically.

any advise would be awesome!!
 
I would pass on the gun if you expect a lot of use. It has plastic parts that are very hard to find or can not be found.

There is a reason it is so inexpensive.

Go find a used Remington Wingmaster 870, very well made pump gun.
 
My 1300, {Wild Turkey Federation} engraved gun, is known to be a very fast pump shucker. Mine patterns well with Federal loads. Don't forget to pattern yours.
 
The 1200 was the first "new" Winchester pump after the Model 12, and had very poor reliability and a quickly earned bad reputation. It was replaced with the 1300, which did have some improvements. Then came the Speed Pump, and now the FN marketed made in Turkey SXP. Maybe now they have it right.
The Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500 have been virtually unchanged for 60 years. There is a reason for that.
Anytime you ask about a gun, some people will try to give you an objective view. Others, who have one, will always tell you how great theirs is, or their Uncle Bob's is, etc. The point is not that there were never any guns that have not performed well, but that there were too many that did not for us to feel good recommending one to someone who did not already own one.
 
http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/the-model-1300-winchester-defender/

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.
Click to expand...
 
In my opinion, the 1200-1300 Winchesters were too fragile for military or police issue.
Click to expand...

I will second this opinion, though I can only speak about the 1200.

There is another issue with the 1200 not mentioned, and I think its in the 1300 as well, but I'm not certain.

The trigger group housing is aluminum. Not in itself an issue, but AL tends to break rather than bend. I was a Small Arms Repairman when the Army was using the 1200. (Marines used the Rem 870, proving that ALL the jokes about marines being stupid are not true :))

Had 3 1200s come through my shop, one had a broken triggerguard. The guy fell on it. It happens.

The other two had the same problem. A safety problem. Tension on the safety button comes from a spring. The foot of that spring rests in a slot in the trigger housing. The inner wall of the slot is very thin. IF it break (as it did on both of those guns) the safety button loses it tension, and can slide from safe to fire, or fire to safe or even FALL COMPLETELY OUT OF THE GUN if the gun is tilted.

For this reason, alone, I will not recommend the 1200, or anything based on it for anything more than field sporting use. It took some time, but eventually the Army agreed, and they use something else now. ;)
 
I've had a 1200/1300 (can't remember which, exactly) since high school. Mom and Dad bought it at a yard sale for me.

I used the living hell out of it for a number of years, firing probably 20,000 reloads through as well as heavier hunting loads.

I never had a lick of trouble with it at all.

Still have it, just haven't used it much lately. Haven't used much at all much, lately.
 
The Winchester has aluminum receiver (frame). The bolt has rotational multi lugs that lock onto the barrel extension, not the frame, just like in an ar15 rifle. It is a strong and sensible design that has no problem taking on hot loads. The other brands lock the bolts to their steel receiver frames. When the gun develops headspace, they will need to have a new gun, but the Winchester needs a new barrel.

Speedpump is a nice feature, if you get used to it. It doesn't really unlock as soon as the gun fires, no gun does. But the forearm starts to move backward as soon as the hammer drops. There is delay built into the locking mechanism, so that the bolt unlocks when the chamber pressure has gone down.

It is indeed a good gun. Can it have problem if someone manages to break the aluminum frame? What do you think? Is an aluminum frame a good idea? It is if you own an AR.

There were issues when the gun was first introduced to the market. But was in the linkage between the action bars to the bolt carrier. It was fixed long ago. True that parts are getting hard to find (there are plastic bushings in the trigger group), but they are still around.

-TL
 
The issue is not the receiver or the barrel, but the plastic parts. And they do have some critical plastic parts, and many of them have broken, and they are now made of unobtanium. And just about every pump I can think of has the bolt locking into the barrel (extension), not the receiver.
 
The only critical plastic part I know of is the spring support bushings in the trigger group. They are available if you look for them.

There are plenty of pump shotguns with tipping bolts locked into recess in receiver. True that the most mentioned models, Remington 870 and mossberg 500, have tipping bolts locked into single slot in barrel extension. The load bearing surface is less than the multi lugs in a rotating bolt.

-TL
 
The difference between the Winchester and most other pump guns is that the Winchester locks up like a bolt action rifle with multiple lugs that rotate into place instead of a single, large lug that tips or slides into place.

And the bolt doesn't lock up into the barrel extension, it locks up into the barrel itself, fully enclosing the shell into the chamber.

The only currently manufactured shotgun that I can think of that actually locks into the receiver is the Ithaca series of pumps.
 
I have a ton of shotguns, the primary use of this one ( I went ahead and picked it up, along with a 50$ eastfield model 916a) was for my little brother to take out and use for whatever he is hunting. I shot a few slugs through it along with some 6 shot high brass federal loads and it seemed to be a fine little shotgun. I am going to stick with the good ol 1100 for my needs.

I appreciate the help though, I do need help on that eastfield though. I will make a new thread on it but beware, there will be clickbate lol.;)
 
Silly to argue rotary lock up versus a locking block when there are over 21 MILLION 870's and 500's out there, and I have never heard of a single one blowing apart at the bolt. And unless you have a countersunk bolt - rifle or shotgun - all rotating bolts lock into a barrel extension; i.e. extra metal behind the base of the cartridge/shell in the chamber.
 
"Silly to argue rotary lock up versus a locking block..."

I don't think anyone's arguing which is better.

Well, except you, apparently. :D

Certainly no one is claiming that one type is more prone to going 'splody than another.

I have seen one exploded Mossberg 500, which was caused by a critical metal failure in the locking block. Sheared it almost completely off and locked the thing up tighter than a drum. Wasn't an overpressure as there was 0 evidence of it, either in the shell, the gun, or from the shooter.

Our gunsmith finally got it apart, Mossberg wanted the part. Can't remember if they replaced the part or the gun.

Regarding the barrel extension, the way it was defined to me in years past is a tang or lip or whatever, extending off the back of the barrel/chamber proper, that's not cylindrical or full enclosed.

As for plastic parts in the 1200/1300, it's been probably 25 years since I've had mine fully stripped, and the only plastic parts I can remember are the two hammer spring supports.

And those are readily available from a number of sources.

I'll have to drag my 1200 out and take it out to the trap range.
 
There are a couple of things we must remember about Winchester.

First the 1200, 1300, and 1400 series of shotguns are a engineering wonder,
that is a gun made as inexpensive as possible. That's why there are plastic and alloy parts used in the guns. Cost of manufacturing matters when profits come first what goes into the gun comes second.

Also Winchester wasn't like that all the time, the Model 12 was discontinued due to rising costs. At the end of it's life each gun cost more to make than Winchester sold them for. The public just won't pay for a high quality gun. They want a cheap gun that goes bang!!!
 
Plastic spring support bushings. Aluminum frame and trigger guard. What else? Mossberg 500 has the whole trigger group in plastic housing.

Not that it is better necessarily, it is certainly no worse. Fairness.

If you are willing to pay more for quality, there is a marine model made of nickel plated steel. Unfortunately it still has the plastic spring supports.

BTW, win 12 has tilting bolt locked into recess in the frame, not the barrel extension, if that matters at all.

-TL
 
Neither the Model 12 nor the 1897 had barrel extensions per se.

And they, and the Ithaca 37, we're all basic Browning designs.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
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