Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors M50

Had to go to the city yesterday so I hit a few gun shops looking for a bargain.

Last time I scored a very nice Remington 760 Carbine for about half what full length 760s are bringing.

Yesterday I noticed a little skinny barreled autoloader hiding back in the corner of one of the used gun cabinets and asked to see it.

Turned out to be a 20ga M50. Plain barrel, stock and forend uncut and uncracked. I thought it was a 26” barrel but I suppose it’s been cut because it’s 24 now that I’ve measured it, whoever did it did a nice job as the crown is rounded and the bead is centered. $229 out the door so I took it home.

Someday, hopefully soon since shells are $20 a box, my son will outgrow his 410 and I suppose this will make a nice kids gun for him to shoot doves, quail, and pheasants.

I stripped it completely down and cleaned about 50 years worth of gunk out of it. No sign of wear or battering inside. A few dings in the wood and a few spots in the finish on the metal but nothing major. Shot a gun full of field loads and it ran like a Swiss watch. It does have an aftermarket LH big head safety that I need to source a replacement for since we’re all right handers here.

Anyone else have one of these? It’s an interesting design with the short recoiling separate chamber.

Kid, never messed with them much is there any choke in it?..mb

I doubt it Bob. Barrel is too thin for tubes. I’m not too worried about it. I shot a bunch of birds when I was a teenager with a cylinder bore M12 with no issues.

I collect them.
they were known as the semi auto model 12 by many. great gun. all steel all hand made. only plastic on the gun is the buttplate.
btw, don't forget to measure the floating bbl extension as part of the bbls length. basically measure from the primer sitting in the bbl chamber breech to the muzzle. ill bet its 26. always store your gun with the forearm screw loose, to allow for expansion and contraction. tighten it to shoot it, then loosen it before it cools. THAT is how the forearms crack.
whats the choke mark on the bbl? bet its IMCYL

It’s marked Full, Bobski. I thought it odd that the shorter of the offered barrel lengths would be choked full but it doesn’t really bother me either way.

Oddly enough really the only other experience I have with the M50 is with a matched set of 4 12 gauge guns that were fitted with 10 shot magazines and had the wood removed and a set of cradles built to hold them in pairs. These cradles were spring mounted and fastened to the wing struts of a Super Cub for hunting wolves in Alaska back in the 50s. The triggers and trigger guards had a hole drilled through them from the rear for a threaded rod with a jam nut to pass through which was in turn hooked to starter solenoids from a 1950 Ford. A switch would fire them as pairs.

The man whose father had them built was the owner and he brought them to the gun shop I worked at to have them cleaned up. I stripped and cleaned them, reassembled and hooked up a battery and fired all of them. They were very well done, lots of fabrication involved in the whole setup. He said his father only used them one season and abandoned the setup as he would develop tunnel vision when concentrating on getting a bead on the wolves and forgetting to fly the plane, got himself into a bind and decided it wasn’t worth the risk. I believe he was going to display them in a museum somewhere.

well then....sure enough, that bbl was cut! win only made 20ga 26" bbls in skt and ic.
28" were mod and full.

and what a story!

if you ever decide youd like john olins 1st m50 20ga....lmk! its sitting in my cabinet! it came from the cody museum when it was auctioned off to pay for some building maint.

I’m betting Mr Olin’s gun is out of my price range. I would like to see it though if you have any pictures you could post.

I had a model 50. I picked it up with an extra barrel. Mine was in 12 gauge. Good shotguns with an interesting design. Ended up selling mine on here last year I believe. I buy a bunch of shotguns and some get sold off to make room for others. Sounds like a good bird gun for a kid

you made a killing on that 229.00 20ga. 20ga's are in high demand these days. only made from 56 to 59.
go here, and see. read up too! enjoy.

https://www.shotgunworld.com/thread...here-join-in.203396/page-15#post-4860057

Serial is 146k range so I’m guessing from reading your thread at shotgun world that it was probably the last part of production.
Some very good info over there.

I have a 59 in the closet at home that I was given long ago. It’s missing the barrel and forend and the butt is pretty much shot as well. All the receiver parts are there and I think it will function but I haven’t decided if it’s worth the investment in wood and a barrel. I would think about it if I was to happen across a cut or poly choked M50 barrel cheap and then just put a 50 forend on it and clean up the buttstock and put a pad on it. The receiver is not cracked but it’s scuffed up pretty good, likely never be worth what it would cost to get it whole again.

yeah, sometimes guns like that are destine to be sold as parts.
keep an eye on your m50's recoil spring. as they wear, it allows the bolt to strike the receiver.
and....of all the springs made today, the 20ga m50 recoil spring is NOT offered from wolfe spring co. I called them and asked to make them, but they said the market was too small.

Mustang G&P? Gene Sears?

H&H of all places. I always stop there and then take the round about way home so I can swing into Sears. Pretty good fajita plate at the Mexican place on the south side of el Reno so we eat a late lunch after we’ve done our shopping. Sears had 4 pounders of Power Pistol and I got one of them too.

Cool, they have the occasional consignment at H&H worth buying. A young friend of mine works there now, I need to give him a list of things to call me on if they appear.

what part of ok? n/s/e/w? close to mo?

I’m in the opposite corner from MO Bobski, SW.

nuts, too bad. unless you like road trips in oct.
I normally have some nice m50's all out on my gun rack at my club for shooters to try during my 2 day 300 bird fun shoot.
none the less, you and son of g' are invited. bring campers and buddies. pm me for a flyer.

Sounds like fun Bobski. Unfortunately October is pretty jam up for me with Archery deer season kicking off, elk seasons, youth rifle deer season with my son, and my drawing a special archery tag for a very good area this year I don’t know when I’ll have time to go to work or take a shower I have so much planned.

would be glad to gave ya some day. try in april!
btw...here, if you want to go to the next level with m50 20ga's!
enjoy.
cheers........
https://www.americantrapshooter.com...late-4-3-bbl-set-with-gold-inlays.14753/