Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Model 12 Question

Local shop has an interesting Model 12 on the rack. Serial # says manufactured in 1918. Ladies/Youth model 20ga with shortened stock and 24inch full choke barrel. Shoots 2 1/2 inch shells. It's worn but not too bad for a near-100yr old gun. Asking $750 for it. What's the deal on this model? Guy at the shop said he thought these were special order guns and pretty rare. I'm not a Model 12 collector so thought I'd get some info here.

I'd probably stay away from that one. The date of manufacture is about 20 years too early to be correct. In addition, the barrel length should be 28 inches on the ladies gun. At the time those ladies and junior guns were being produced (1939), 2 3/4 inch chambers had also been the standard for many years. Thanks, but no thanks....

Barrel should be 25". Winchester went to a 2 3/4" chamber in the mid 20's, but some of these early 2 1/2" guns have have had the chamber and ejection port opened up to accept the larger shells. Not a special order gun (unless there are other special order features) as all the early 20 ga guns had 25" barrels. $750.00 is a LOT more than I'd pay for it....

Not a collector's piece is the stock has been cut and are you remembering to measure the barrel length including the the rear end that fits into the receiver.

If you are going to hunt with it there are plenty of much newer Mdl23 20ga guns available for less money.

So let me see if I'm getting this correctly.

Winchester made a ladies/youth model, but not until 1939, and it had a 28 inch barrel.

All 1918 era 20ga guns had 25 inch barrels. I figure they just didn't measure back far enough at the shop when they got 24 inches.

If it's a 1918 model with a 2 1/2 chamber, 25 inch barrel, and short stock, then the stock is not factory and must have been shortened at some point. Therefore, it's just a standard Mod 12 with a cut stock, not a ladies/youth model.

Did I miss anything?

That's it in a nutshell! In addition, the ladies and junior model was normally marked
" model 12 trap".

That's why I love this site, so much knowledge! With these old Winchesters, especially the model 12s and model 70s, you really have to know exactly what you are looking at before making a purchase.