Best Shells to Use in Winchester Model 12?

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WinchesterM12

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Just bought a 1958 Winchester Model 12 with a modified choke. Really am liking this gun. The quality of the build is obvious as soon as you pick it up. My buddy and I went out shoot some targets and clays with a couple boxes of cheap shells. One thing I found was that once in a while a shell would not eject very nicely and get stuck. I am wondering what the best shells are to use in the Model 12.
 
First thing to do - make sure the chamber is clean and polished. Smooth chamber extracts better.
Some guns have trouble with steel head shells - not all guns of the same model have this problem, and not all steel head ammunition.
My Model 12 in 12 gauge shoots and extracts anything.
Only premium brands - Winchester AA and Remington STS, Remington Nitro27 have brass cartridge heads these days.
 
These would be the best shells for your 1958 Mod 12 .
Unfortunately just like the Mod 12 they are not made anymore :rolleyes:
PS: the Win Mod 12 is a classic & one of the best shotguns of it's time

VINTAGE-C-I-L-SHOTSHELL-BOX-EMPTY-12-gauge-shotgun.jpg
 
WinchesterM12 said:
Just bought a 1958 Winchester Model 12 with a modified choke. Really am liking this gun. The quality of the build is obvious as soon as you pick it up. My buddy and I went out shoot some targets and clays with a couple boxes of cheap shells. One thing I found was that once in a while a shell would not eject very nicely and get stuck. I am wondering what the best shells are to use in the Model 12.
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I've owned and shot Model 12's since I was a boy and still have quite a few M12's and don't find them to be fussy on what shells to use. If it's not ejecting properly it quite likely needs a good thorough cleaning and lubrication, Once you get familiar with taking it down for cleaning and lubrication it gets very easy and you can inspect for worn out extractors or ejector.

I'd suggest for starters to pull out the trigger assy. Clean it with gun solvent and use compressed air to blow it out. Rem-Oil works good to get in where it's needs and again, compressed air and blow out all the excess oil.

Figure out how to pull out the bolt and give it a good cleaning. Use a toothbrush and scrub with solvent around the left and right extractors. Compressed air again and again with Rem-Oil and compressed air. Clean the inside of the receiver as well.

Now you have to figure out how to put this back together again. When you pulled out the bolt you noticed the ejector that sits in a machined out slot, in the receiver, at the rear of the bolt. Use a long slender screwdriver and use some extra patience to figure out how this works. Don't get rammy as it's quite easy and straight forward. After you slip the bolt back in, give the ejector spring a tad more curve to rejuvenate it. Not too much, just a tad. Insert the screwdriver between the ejector and the ejector spring and slip the ejector in place behind the bolt. If the bolt doesn't stay in place you'll notice an action lock that swivels on the bolt. With the bolt in place move it back and forth until you find the position that holds the bolt tight to the receiver.

Before you re-install the trigger assy. make certain you have the shell cutoff properly in place. Not only does the shell cutoff go into the round hole but the curved front of it must engage into a mild slot in the front of the receiver where the shells come out. Once you have the shell cutoff in the proper position, with the gun upside down, lean the gun to one side to keep the shell cutoff in position so you can slip the trigger assy back in place.

Remember, don't force things or get rammy, if it doesn't fit or go back into place, spend the time and have patience to figure it out. Life is good.
 
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Be careful if you decide to polish the chamber. The model 12 has a two piece chamber which includes a chamber ring to establish headspace and the rest of the chamber. If the chamber is aggressively polished with the gun taken down it can oversize the chamber and it will form a mechanical lock with the chamber ring (bigger chamber, smaller chamber ring dimension) which will trap expanding cartridge heads. The new steel heads would be the worst. I have had good luck with federal and high brass Winchester cartridges. Your post says the cartridge would not "eject very nicely" is the issue ejection or extraction?

Darryl
 
madtrapper143 said:
Be careful if you decide to polish the chamber. The model 12 has a two piece chamber which includes a chamber ring to establish headspace and the rest of the chamber. If the chamber is aggressively polished with the gun taken down it can oversize the chamber and it will form a mechanical lock with the chamber ring (bigger chamber, smaller chamber ring dimension) which will trap expanding cartridge heads. The new steel heads would be the worst. I have had good luck with federal and high brass Winchester cartridges. Your post says the cartridge would not "eject very nicely" is the issue ejection or extraction?

Darryl
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Both. Once in a while the cartridge doesn't eject fully and then it's tough to extract.

Nik
 
You did not say if this gun had been used a lot or not.If l used a lot a good cleaning should fix your trouble.That and use quality ammunition.:)
 
I have shot model 12’s for 50 years including 12000 -15000 a yr on trap fields I still shoot a model 12 that fired most of those rounds which consisted mostly of reloads Aa hulls and gold medal hulls . I doubt I had a handful of extraction problems out of all those rounds . Not likely anything wrong with your model 12 . Crap is king in this day and age the problem is the ammo every time there is a question with a extraction problem no matter what gun the common denominator is the ammo . Unless of coarse it is a Rem express then u have two problems
 
struff55 said:
I have shot model 12’s for 50 years including 12000 -15000 a yr on trap fields I still shoot a model 12 that fired most of those rounds which consisted mostly of reloads Aa hulls and gold medal hulls . I doubt I had a handful of extraction problems out of all those rounds . Not likely anything wrong with your model 12 . Crap is king in this day and age the problem is the ammo every time there is a question with a extraction problem no matter what gun the common denominator is the ammo . Unless of coarse it is a Rem express then u have two problems
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Agree. Another vintage compression formed AA reload guy here and rarely an issue. If remington they would see these I still have a ton of these to reload and again no real issues when I used them.I don't recall ever having to polish even slightly a model 12 chamber do you
Cheers
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Only have to polish a Model 12 chamber if some fool let it rust.
As I said, my model 12 ejects anything - even Winchester Universals.
 
I had the same problem with a model 12 that I once owned. It wouldn't eject the cheap winchester shells. I switched to better shells (a few different kinds) and the problem went away.
 
Never had an extraction or ejection problem with the 3 model 12's I've owned ( a 12 Trap, 12 Skeet & a 20 Skeet ).
Obviously AA's worked perfectly, as did Remington RXP's ans STS. Federal Gold Medal, including Gold Medal "paper"
also worked like a charm. On the occasional duck hunt, back in the day, Super "X" was the cartridge of choice.

Really, any quality shotshell should be no problem. I've had good results with Remington Gun Clubs ( probably 15-20 flats) and
have been satisfied with Federal Top Guns as far as lower cost (they still ain't cheap) "promo" loads go. Refuse to use Winchester
Super Targets with some of the nonsense I've seen others go through at the Gun Club. Their steel bases are notorious for
causing extraction/ejection problems.
 
I restored a model 12 that was so ####ed up I thought it was a goner. Got it for $50.
1914 production serial number! All matching but as abused and neglected as you could imagine.
Not used hard, just neglected and left to rot after use for god knows how long. Rusted all over, bolt wouldn't cycle all the way from the crud in the action, rear stock split all the way down. Muzzle dented in from being dropped lol

Took me 2 months and a complete tear down, wire wheel, CLP soaking, blow torch heating, stock reinforcement/strip and finish and finally complete steel bluing and rust strip and refinish using Brake Caliper paint baked on.

It's now slinging lead like the day it was made. I had to get about $60 of parts from Numrich and a bit of hand file fitting. The rest was all elbow grease and patience.

I can say one thing about the Model 12. If a shotgun was merited solely on reliability, there isn't another pump that can even touch it. When it came in the mail I didn't think it was ever going to be functional again.

I've put hundreds of rounds of 00 buck, #6 steel, #7 Bird and slugs etc through it. It eats anything and everything.
It's likely not the ammo brother. You may just need to strip that thing down complete and clean it real good depending on how bad it has been neglected.
 
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