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November 14, 2022
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Is anyone shooting a mod 23 in 12ga? Specifically with 3″ steel shells.
Any info welcomed.
November 14, 2022
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Doesn’t seem to be a popular arm in the US,in the UK it’s one of the very few imports that still make good money.
Took it out yesterday for the opener of the duck season just one mallard duck and a pigeon to take home, used eley grand prix steel 30g loads of our 4 shot, I think they are #5 in your shot sizes. So the old girl still hacks it
So do I at 81 years of age.
January 27, 2018
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I did 30 years ago on a sea duck hunt. It performed very well for me. No problems.
Michael
January 20, 2023
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John, some decades ago I bought a (putatively) new Model 23 Pigeon Grade 20 gauge at a local sporting goods store in Dallas. It had 26″ barrels, a selective single trigger, automatic selective electors, and was choked IC and MOD, respectively.
I liked the gun well enough although I thought it was a little heavy for a 20 gauge. It had 3″ chambers and I might have appreciated the weight more had I ever shot the long magnum cartridges.
My gun had two quirks, the second one bothersome.
Firstly, the ejectors seemed very closely fitted, albeit they were engine-turned for appearance and to hold oil. If I didnt keep them very clean and well lubricated, one or the other would misfire. That may have cured itself in time.
The second fault was more serious. The safety button performed two discrete functions – side to side movement selected the barrel; forward and backward selected safe or fire. It was possible by inadvertently pushing a bit diagonally to lock up the mechanism.
Also, I noticed that the automatic safety was not automatic; breaking open the gun and then closing it did not return the gun to safe. Fine by me; I don’t like auto safeties but I began to think the gun had been lightly used and less lightly messed with.
Because double guns, as much as I like them, can have problems that are extremely expensive to fix, I sold that one.
The 23, like the 101, has a giant-headed sear lifter action, a strong design. The 101 was designed by Kodensha of Japan and sold in Europe well before Winchester made a deal to form the Olin-Kodensha joint venture. The 23 is essentially an adaptation of the MANUFRANCE “Robust” model, a side by side double shotgun that was popular in France.
I have owned two 101 Pigeon Grade guns, a 12 gauge I sold and an English stocked 28 gauge I still have. They have given flawless service and are sufficiently close in design to the 23 that I am convinced my particular 23 was the problem and one not caused by its maker
Kodensha also made the Parker Reproduction doubles, which are exquisite and very costly if you can find one.
- 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 sold made in Japan professional equipment for the last 20 years of my career. I’ve a deep and abiding respect for Japanese manufacturing. Dr. Edward Deming was the man. Unlike USA manufacturer’s Japan followed Demings principles of quality manufacturing fully. That shows in the products they manufacture, it truly shines when those products are decades old.
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