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January 5, 2026
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The May 12th Morphy auction lists a 28 gauge Model 12 # 751304 (auction # 1432) with a solid rib and extensive aftermarket engraving with an auction estimate of $4-6,000.
I am not a buyer at auctions as my trust level is inadequate. What may I be missing from this auction item. How would one verify this gun other than by physical examination and disassembly?
jlb
April 15, 2005
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jlb said
How would one verify this gun other than by physical examination and disassembly?
jlb
You answered your own question. Auction descriptions should never be trusted to be accurate, and they seldom if ever provide the requisite photos of the gun in question.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
September 19, 2014
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Don’t you just hate that?!! Add in my seeming inability to note problems from pictures and it gets bad quickly! Tim
January 20, 2023
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Even I know one thing to look for and auction photography should disclose it. When the gun is broken down, the gauge stamp on the face of the receiver should be “28” and, more importantly, the top loop of the “8”should not be higher than the top of the “2”. The less talented fakers merely add a second “O” on top of the zero in “20”. The absence of that anomaly is by no means a guarantee the receiver and a 28 gauge barrel left the factory together but, at least, you could assume the fakery was of a decent grade.
Frankly, I couldn’t sleep nights after buying any Winchester 28 gauge Model 12 at current prices, unless a factory or reliable dealer record supported the originality of the gauge. Emphasis on “reliable.” Boxes mean zip.
Maybe it is my imagination, but the reason for the existence of this 28 gauge pump was Skeet. While there are any number of used 20 gauge Model 12 guns kitted out with a Cutts, some roony adjustable buttplate, and plenty evidence of extensive use in competition– such well used and modified Model 12 guns in 28 gauge are notably absent from the marketplace.
When a 28 gauge Model 12 does come up for sale, almost invariably it is a deluxe model in high condition, without any indicia of use in Skeet competition. Just Decades of protected storage in an eccentric owner’s climate-controlled closet.
I am no expert on the Model 12 and mine ( a 20) is presently a Browning, as is my Model 42. Perhaps someone who collects and more fully understands the originals will illuminate the 28 gauge mystery.
- 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.
January 5, 2026
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As a postscript to this discussion there are two 28 gauge model 12 Winchesters in the May Rock Island Auction. Gun listing #3572 is a field grade gun with a mod choke, a mid 1930’s build date with a 2 7/8 inch chamber. The photo of the stock removed receiver has a nice 28 where the stamp should be, assuming the photo is of the gun in question. There are two other areas I would want to evaluate but the given information is the best that I have seen in an auction.
Listing #447 is a pigeon grade upgrade with the following description “Manufactured in 1953 and subsequently upgraded to the current configuration”. I wonder what this means? Was a 28 gauge field grade gun up graded to pigeon grade and the rib and wood added or did the gun start life as a pigeon grade. It seems to me that a real pigeon grade gun would not be described in this manner.
Herod’s advice to Claudis was to trust no one!
jlb
January 20, 2023
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I’m heartened to read about a field grade, modified choke, 28 gauge Model 12 at auction. Perversely, the higher the eventual hammer price the more suspicious skeptics should be — maybe faking plain Jane 28s really is profitable.
The 28 really should be more popular than it is. As a boy’s first shotgun, a 28 beats the .410 hollow in every way, except ammunition cost.
Actually the cost differential is justified because the factories don’t make el cheapo low to non-existent antimony 28 loads. That is why the 28 seems to punch above its weight. It can make killing patterns at 35 yards that will make you blink.
Given a choice between a 20 or a 28 for my upland hunting, I’d take the 20. But as between a 28 or a .410, the 28 is so superior it can’t be argued.
A modified choke 28 gauge Model 12 would have made a lot of sense for a 12 year old’s first shotgun. In a perfect World.
Let us see how much this one brings.
- 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.
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