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August 25, 2009
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Snowy day here so i stayed in the house and cleaned guns.
Pulled this out and it got me to wondering what it really started as.
Ser 1009451 Riffle says February of1943.
Bbl is a mail order replacement.
Butt stock looks original to the gun. No cartouch that i can find.
More pics if needed.
Doug
June 26, 2013
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Nice looking model 12 Doug. I don’t know enough about Martially marked shotguns to keep me out of trouble since there are so many fakes out there! What is the choke on your model 12?
Don
August 25, 2009
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Don
It is full choke but like i said it is a mail order bbl (circleP)
Just waxing on what this left the factory as???
Doug
April 15, 2005
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The odds are high that it originally was a Military contract Riot Gun.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
August 25, 2009
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Bert
I have heard stories that there were shotguns used in training to teach anti antiaircraft gunning.
It also mentions this in Dave Riffles book on model 12s.
Likely no records on this but like I said it was built in Feb of 1943. So some military application to be sure.
Doug
April 15, 2005
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DEEREHART said
BertI have heard stories that there were shotguns used in training to teach anti antiaircraft gunning.
It also mentions this in Dave Riffles book on model 12s.
Likely no records on this but like I said it was built in Feb of 1943. So some military application to be sure.
Doug
Doug,
The stories about Winchester shotguns used to teach anti-aircraft gunnery are true… but it was not the Model 12 that was used by the military for that purpose. Instead, it was the Model 1897 during WW I.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
December 25, 2016
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Thanks Bert. I most always learn something from your posts. I too had accepted the use of M 12’s for gunnery practice. Good to know that was not the case.
April 15, 2005
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I am not willing (at this point) to definitely state that the Model 12 was “never” used for aerial gunnery training, but to this point, I have not found any verifiable evidence or proof. There is proof that the Model 1897 was used for that purpose. Keeping in mind that aerial gunnery was a brand new warfare skill during WW I (and it was old hat by the time WW II began), it does make considerably more logical sense that the U.S. Army Air Corp would use the much more common (at that time) Model 1897 shotgun for training purposes.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
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