Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Winchester model 101

Any 101 lovers in here? What do y’all like or dislike?

they kicked me.

Yup, I like them better than a Browning Citori. I have 2 Pigeon featherweights in 12 and 20 gauge…

I have a 12 gauge and 20 gauge pigeon grade. The 12 has a lot of kick to it. I have a browning citori 16 gauge that shoots smoother than my 101 12. Possibly because it’s a lighter shell. I’d like to find a 16 or 28 in a pigeon grade 101

Mine drove up into my cheek with every shot; a good trip made me look like Mike Tyson had worked me over. Nice gun but it went down the road

That seems to be a repetitive review. My 12 gauge does work my shoulder and my cheek.My 20 does not.

My 101 Pigeon 12 gauge did fit me better than a Browning anything back when I was looking for an o/u. That said it did chop me under the cheek bone until I put a neoprene rubber pad over the comb. Kind of a shame to cover some nicely figured walnut over with that pad because I paid extra for better wood. I've shot a lot of trap, sporting clays and some pheasants with that Winchester and it has always worked very well and I like it with extended Briley choke tubes.

I have 101 Waterfowler with the 32" winchoke barrels and a 30" 20 ga. Magnum I shoot them well and have never had a mechanical issue.

I have an older 20ga that I love to use for dove and rabbits. A few years ago my son purchased the FN made 101 32" Pigeon for high school trap. He is a lefty and liked the neutral cast and adj comb. I made him keep a log book for his shooting and he's at 35,000 rounds. The only issue was a broken hammer plunger at around 20,000.

I was lucky with shotguns fitting me. I have a XTR 101 in 12 ga, XTR 101 in 20 ga, 101 Livebird in 12 ga, and a 101 3 barrel skeet set in 20, 28, and .410. They all fit well but were used in clay bird shooting. No problems with any of them.
Have a great day.
Jim

All the older 12 gauge guns seem to crack the forend where it comes in contact with the receiver. The wood is thin there and it can be difficult to fix, but there is usually a way. The last one I bought, I told the seller about them cracking. He said he'd had the gun since the 1970s and never heard about such a thing. I pointed out the cracks on either side of the forend on his gun. He looked closely and realized I was correct and then reduced the price a few hundred dollars and I bought the gun.

Around 1980 a Winchester employee I knew showed me a price list when they discontinued the 101. An employee could buy 2 new shotguns at a considerable discount. He offered me one and I bought a pigeon grade trap gun for $300. Like others have posted it slapped my cheek pretty good. Got over $1000 when I sold it a few years later. It was a good looking gun just didn’t fit me.

Prices were really discounted, a 3 barrel skeet set was $1,200. Another friend picked up a 20 gauge also a pigeon grade for $250.

Those are the kind of deals we all dream of.