Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Model 12 Winchester

( If the link works, there are enough pictures for entertainment purposes.)

Traded into this pre-64 (1954) Model 12 12 ga set up for trap (30" full, Simmons vent rib with mid bead).

It is not marked "Trap" on the magazine tube and the bolt is not jeweled like others I've seen. The obviously aftermarket (Bishop?) stock with adjustable comb is beautiful. Grip cap fits perfectly but recoil pad is out of whack and will need to be replaced. Besides a light scratch on the receiver, the blue on top of the receiver is dull. It may have been done intentionally to reduce glare but that is speculation.

Anyone know other stock makers who may have done this one? Were run-of-the-mill vent rib Model 12s all done by Simmons? Not on the sale/trading block (yet)

https://imgur.com/etQeFN2

Sounds like you have a gun that was probably an upgraded field gun. The bolt would only have been jeweled on a pigeon grade gun. It's possible that Simmons beadblasted the top of the receiver when they installed the rib. Trap was a grade of model 12. If it was marked such on the receiver extension, a gun of that vintage would have come with a rib. Matted or ventilated. Any work done by Simmons would have been aftermarket. Who did the would is anyone's guess. Maybe Bishop, maybe Fajen. Either way it looks very well done. Good looking gun!

Thanks

It is easy to tell if a rib if factory or not if you know what to look for. If you could take a closeup photo of the rib where it meets the action. This is evidence. There should be a Winchester proof mark, a W inside a circle, neat the intersection on both reciever and barrel if it is a factory rib. A plain barreled gun had their proof marks directly on top and if a rib was added aftermarket these marks were covered up. Winchester's original ventilated ribs were an engineering masterpiece. Absolutely stunning, but Winchester lost money on everyone they produced so the had to sub out their ribs to Simmons. I cant remember the year they started adding Simmons ribs.

Winchester used a Simmons design, and under license from Simmons but the work was done by Winchester in their factory. If it says Simmons on it, it's aftermarket.

Proof mark photos. The M12 with exposed marks is my field gun. It is too embarrassed to show itself more because it has a PolyChoke.

https://imgur.com/a/FKEfzOR

So, as stated, the Simmons rib is definitely after-market

Closet Poly Choke owner on a M12 myself. Way back my uncle gave me his field grade 20 gauge M12, but the problem for me was the very long full choke barrel and no vent rib. The gunsmith said that a recessed choke would be fine with a shorter barrel and it wasn't. The Poly Choke was the only option before the days of the screw in chokes and it sure works well even today. Much as I think that I wanted a nice o/u in the grouse woods, that little M12 points like my index finger and is just too nice to trade off. That Poly Choke is like the Rodney Dangerfield of gun parts, no respect.