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March 23, 2010
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Just wondering if any one knows the length of the magazine plug for a 28 gauge Winchester Model 12 ?
January 20, 2023
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The “fired” length of the modern 28 gauge shell is the same as the 12, 16, and 20 – 2.75 inches. The unfired length is 2.250″ to 2.375″
The magazine of the Model 12 is designed to hold five shells. Its capacity needs to be reduced to hold two shells.
The plug should therefore take up the equivalent of three unfired shells, the combined approximate minimum length of which is 6.75 inches. The magazine will hold a minimum total of 11.25 inches [5 × 2.25 = 11.25] and a maximum of 11.875 inches. [ 5 x 2.375 = 11.875.]
Two unfired shells will require between 4.5 inches and 4.75 inches.
11.875 – 4.75 = 7.125 using MAX
11.25 – 4.5 = 6.75 using MIN
These calculations are rough. In order to assure there will be enough capacity remaining for two shells, the plug should be about 6.5 inches long, which will still not permit the full length of a third shell to enter the magazine. 
11.875 – (6.5 + 4.75) = 0.625 MAX
11.250 – (6.5 + 4.5) = .250 MIN
I would try a 6.5 inch plug and make sure two will clear the stop but not three, to accommodate Murphy. If shell #2 won’t clear the stop, note by how much, add a hair more and cut back accordingly. Obviously, don’t round and finish until you’re happy with function.
At the risk of telling you what you already likely know, the plug is installed inside the magazine spring. Winchester used Oak or Walnut stock. A 3/8″ diameter Oak dowel is perfect. Round the ends to avoid hangups between coils. I think Winchester sealed theirs with lacquer or shellac. I brushed on a sealer coat of shellac and applied a couple of coats of paste wax, before installing. The one in my son’s Browning Light Twenty has been there almost 40 years. Others I’ve installed in Model 12s went down the road with the guns.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
December 25, 2016
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I like to use that space to add weight. The M12 is pretty light for trap duty, yet really easy to add weight to. I fill a good once fired hull with shot and crimp it well, I add a little epoxy to the crimp, just because. So far no leakers over extended shooting. Weighting both the mag tube and the stock bolt hole can make an M12 heavier than you would like. The heavy M12 led to a Super X1 for less recoil yet. That was a pretty easy switch.
November 7, 2015
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I once met a Texas Game Warden who could eyeball it and cut a plug from fenceline scrub to the appropriate length. Only took a little longer to fill out the ticket. Further details not forthcoming.
Mike
January 20, 2023
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Decades ago, an employee of a friend of ours had taken up with a handsome but irresponsible boyfriend, who borrowed money from her. She was smitten but not stupid and required collateral – a set of high dollar golf clubs and a 95% Miroku- built, Browning Auto Five 20 gauge, 28″ VR full choke barrel.
When Handsome became Seldom and then Invisible, employee asks my friend how to liquidate collateral. Friend pays her fair value for the clubs, generously exceeding the loaned amount, and offers the Auto-5 to me for $500, which was about right at the time. So employee’s hurt feelings were soothed by an application of crinkle money and my son got a nice shotgun.
Larry polished the choke out to Improved Cylinder and fitted a Pachmayr Sorbothane pad. After some hand thrown clays we went out to a lease between Anson and Roby for doves.
In the middle of a sunflower patch, young son calls to me. “Hey, Dad. This thing will take three shells in the magazine!” Actually, it would hold five. Oops. I just forgot to check. Handsome had removed the plug. For why? Maybe he was a quail hunter…
And that was my first plug making/installing job, after we got home. Son finished the hunt with my Browning Model 12 20 gauge and I birddogged the fallen.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
March 31, 2009
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TXGunNut said
I once met a Texas Game Warden who could eyeball it and cut a plug from fenceline scrub to the appropriate length. Only took a little longer to fill out the ticket. Further details not forthcoming.
Mike
That made me smile. No explanation needed. 
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