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/

Bobski, do you know if the safety buttons are interchangeable between 12 and 20ga M50s? And I assume m59s would be alike? I need to get a Rh safety put into this little 20 before our dove opener on Sept 1 and I’ll use the one out of my M59 parts gun if it’s interchangeable.

im going to say no. never ran across the need.
give it a shot with your spare but im positive the trigger groups and parts are different.
and of course, im not near one to see right now!

An update for anyone who may care. The safety buttons in my 20ga M50 and 12ga M59 interchange just fine. I assume they used the same part in 12 and 20ga M50s as well as the 12ga only M59s. All the dimensions I could measure were the same.

I will probably grab a box of shells in the morning and take it out for the dove opener when I get off work.

I picked up 2 model 50s last week at an estate sale. Both 26" Imp Cy 12 Ga. I also got a load of stocks and forends as well. One of the guns receiver was cracked just in front of the mag well. I stopped by my gunsmith and he had a receiver in his parts room. I got home and cleaned it up and installed all the parts into the new receiver. Gun shot great, I took it Saturday to a dove shoot and was rather impressed with the results. I hadn't shoot doves in a couple of years and the few shoots I've gone to sucked. This was the first shoot that I actually got a limit and to top it off I got a double on 2 birds. Needless to say the model 50 is probably going to stay for awhile. I did notice as the gun got hot the rear stock started feeling loose. When I checked it this morning it felt tight. Is that something that others have encountered?

Picked this one up a while back. Would appreciate very much any input on engraving or value of this old Model 50 12 ga. Somebody who "called himself gunsmith" polished the barrel for re-bluing and while doing so he polished out a gold inlay under the barrel about 4" in front of the fore end. I can only make out bits and pieces. Don't know if it was the engraver, or who it was engraved for. What a pisser !! Breaks my heart. The inlays are in silver. As I asked before, any info would be appreciated. The serial #77XXX. Thanks guys!!

Years ago, I acquired a Win M-94 engraved a lot like that M-50. It had been bought at a PX by a serviceman serving in Japan. He got a local engraver to do his thing, brought it home. That gun with silver inlays and the type engraving remind me of this gun. Mine had silver bear and deer. I later traded it.

DF

I had a cherry 20ga 50 in my hands a couple years ago that I regret not buying. It was $600 or so, but the shop also had a Savage 99 .22-250 that had been a lifelong bucket-list gun and I couldn't buy both.

I was wondering myself if it was a cigarette gun, but the engraving seemed more German to me. I have a couple of guns that were from Suhl and it reminds me of them. Just couldn't figure gold inlay on the underside of the barrel. Has me stumped. Shoots well :):)

there were only 5 different plates that winchester did for m50's. none are that design. artist unknown.
I have one similar with 4 bbls and im asking 5 grand. so, yours could be a pretty penny.
pm me and send me pics of the wood too. be glad to try and guess.
https://www.americantrapshooter.com...0-4-bbl-set-custom-engraving-12ga.14786/
as for the safeties...now that is a new bit of info!
12 and 20 the same. wow.

Had already seen your shotgun online. It is a beautiful gun. The wood on mine although dark and pleasing to the eye, it is not presentation grade or extra fancy. It does not have pigeon over the serial number as well. Will post more photos at a later day. Thanks for you info.

John

ok, lets just make a separate topic. I don't want to steal 'thekids' topic here.

Oh so sorry !! I haven't posted in a very long time and I guess I forgot my manners. I do apologize.

John

No need to apologize to me. I hunted most of my meager dove season with mine. Very soft shooting and good pointing little shotgun if a little muzzle light. I used mostly cheap 7/8oz field loads but it worked reliably with everything I fed it. I feel like I did okay for what it cost me.

I was looking for a 20 myself when I stumbled onto this one. I wish mine was a 20, if I find one at the price you got yours for, I'll definitely be buying another one !! I mainly love them because they are unique, and who can resist something designed by Marshall "Carbine" Williams ?? That in itself makes one great.

I will be selling all my 20ga m50's as a collection very soon. i think there are 6. visit my forum and stay tuned. sorry, no clunkers.

oldgunsmith..........check your pm's.