But I like the idea of replacing the wooden plug with an equivalent length of lead shot-containing cylinders-- such as empty 20 gauge shells. Shifting the balance forward is for the good because you want the weight out front where it has a longer arm to multiply the momentum force. 

That is something I really noticed about my stubby-barreled Model 21. The 26" barrels plus no receiver length worth mentioning generate no sort of pull when you stop. It is fast to put into motion but there's zero tendency to keep going. 

In truth, my Browning Gold, a gas gun, has more forward weight than this 28" Model 12, or so it seems. The Gold has a rib and the gas plumbing. What it lacks is soul. 

I typo’d it mines a 30’’, 1963 last year.

I just finally got my genuine, made in New Haven, 1958 Standard Grade Model 12, twelve gauge, 28" mod choke, in 99.999% condition. Uncut for a pad, my solution is AA Low recoil 7/8 ounce 990 fs -- and a Browning vest with a pad pocket.

I swear I don't think this shotgun had ever been fired before I shot a round of Skeet with it yesterday.  Mike got it from Cabela's consignment rack some years ago but never shot it. He's already got a Diamond Grade I'd maim for. He put this one up for sale at our TGCA show in April. I went up there and deliberately left my checkbook home to avoid temptation....but Mike extended credit enough for me to carry it home. Dang!

This is the one I wanted in 1966 and Oshman's only could offer me an egregious Model 1200 instead, which I refused..I later learned they are pretty good shotguns but the one I saw had burned-in checkering and aluminum didn't have the heat treatments and alloys available now. (My Browning Double Auto Twelvette is a favorite.) I left the store with an 870 on the advice of the counterman. 

So I finally got my real Model 12. I say real because for years I've been shooting a 1986 Browning/Miroku  Model 12 twenty gauge, an excellent reproduction of Winchester's Deluxe or Skeet Grade. And I'll continue with both. 

Perhaps some things are better after Decades of deprivation. 

Steven Gabrielli said
Nice. I just “stole” a nice one in 12ga for $300. How do you like the flat bottom, is the mfg date 47 to 56 there about?
  

It’s a ‘47.

Bert H. said

steve004 said
I was thinking about what rifle came in the most chamberings - ever?  I suspect it was the Winchester Single-Shot with the Ruger No. 1 coming in second.
  

Your suspicion is correct.  The Winchester Single Shot was (by a very wide margin) factory chambered for the largest number of different cartridges.  For a detailed list, read my article - Winter 2021 (winchestercollector.org)
Bert
  

Bert -  I have read your article a couple of times.  It is an impressive number and variety of chamberings.  It does seem that the Ruger single-shot is slowly catching up.

steve004 said

I was thinking about what rifle came in the most chamberings - ever?  I suspect it was the Winchester Single-Shot with the Ruger No. 1 coming in second.
  

Your suspicion is correct.  The Winchester Single Shot was (by a very wide margin) factory chambered for the largest number of different cartridges.  For a detailed list, read my article - Winter 2021 (winchestercollector.org)

Bert

Bill Ruger was a man of considerable taste and discrimination, in addition to being a brilliant and innovative mechanical designer. His #1 and 77 rifles shocked the industry because they were celebrated and successful - not because they were all that accurate; they weren't, particularly the single shot. They were very handsome compared to the competition, because WBR did something outrageous. He hired a custom gunmaker to design the stocks. Nobody else did that!  And not just any custom stockmaker!  Moreover, Len Brownell trained a group of New England women to hand checker the stocks. Hand checkering was then considered impossible to do at reasonable cost. Wrong again. 

The Ruger 77 was not cheap. The initial list was $149 when the Winchester Model 70 was about $130. A Browning High Power was about $175. Ruger could not build them fast enough.

What does this have to do with Winchester?  A lot because it began to employ outside designers and engineers to consult. Some of you may not care for the new Featherweight but it was and still is a popular and stylish rifle. Ruger kicked Buddha's gong and shocked Winchester and Remington into doing some things differently. 

In my opinion, the 9422 would not have happened if Bill Ruger hadn't succeeded.earlier. Nor would Browning have shown how to make and sell the Model 12 at a profit. 

It is extremely difficult for a subsidiary corporation whose officers answer to a parent board of directors, to allow its product creators the latitude to innovate. While John M. Olin made mistakes and 1964 would not have occurred without his consent, he was also a positive influence and wanted Winchester to make the best -- and best looking -- rifles and shotguns in the World, immediate profits be damned. As long as he had the power to isolate Winchester's gunmaking operation from Wall Street,  he used it. 

Bill Ruger ran his company with an iron hand and Sturm Ruger never borrowed money. WBR and family owned an overwhelming controlling interest in SR and he answered to nobody. As Jim Carmichael reported, the reason Ruger guns were made a  certain way was because "that's the way Bill wants it." 

The positive influence Bill Ruger has had on Winchester products is unmistakable and significant. 

Bo Rich said
Next thing you know.  Somebody will bring up a Ruger!  Oh the humanity!😜
  

Now that you mention it, I have a (JMB-designed!) 1911 built by Ruger but I'll resist participating in the off-topic wanderings. Got a busy morning waiting on me! Y'all have fun!

Mike

I can concede one must be wary of the, "slipper slope."  Ruger followed by Mossberg?

These posts trigger memories for me.  I've not been much of a Ruger guy but in the late 70's I had a M77 in .250-3000 and one in .257 Roberts.  I didn't have one in .30-06, .270, .308 etc.  It was the chamberings that attracted me.  I recall years ago buying a Winchester M54 in .257 Roberts.  The rifle was in very high original condition with exception that the barrel had been cut to 20 inches!  I wouldn't have looked twice at it had it been in 30-06, etc. but the chambering pulled me in - combined that it was in a Winchester M54.

I do have an appreciation for Ruger rifles.  The rifles themselves, but also the very wide array of chamberings in the M77's and No.1's and No. 3's.  Chamberings such as .38-55, .405,.35 Whelan, .348 Winchester, .22 Hornet, .218 Bee... Ruger had us covered.  I appreciate how Ruger was able to carry the past forward. -

I was thinking about what rifle came in the most chamberings - ever?  I suspect it was the Winchester Single-Shot with the Ruger No. 1 coming in second.