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Joined: May 2008
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Sidelock
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Same Model 12 that I baptized on 11/11 in the mud and muck- 25 years ago, I hunted with a retired MI State Vet (large animal) who had it's twin- 30" Full solid rib field gun made in 1937- std 2& 3/4" not a 3" Mag. Bob had been bird hunting the day before our morning in a good blind on Long Lake- flight birds were in, and geese were also in residence. or some reason, he wore his Filson bird hunting coat, as from the previous day's bird hunt, with his "pet" LeFever Nitro Special 16 gauge. Back then, Remington field 12 and 16 loads were both green plastic- and he had left a few 16 upland No. 8 shot loads in the right hand pocket-

Shooting light came, we loaded up, my Black Lab "Dixie" whined in eager anticipation of birds to retrieve- and Holy Moley- 3 big Canadas were winging right straight into the front of our blind, right into the wind, lifting up like a Corsair F4-U off a USN carrier in the Pacific in 1944- "Take 'em" I shouted and I swung through the bird on my side of the two-man blind we used, Boom, the bird crumpled in the morning air and fog, and I hear a "Pop" and the other two birds on Bob's side flew on, unscathed--

Bob said: "My Model 12 is jammed, can you fix it?" Dixie had the dead goose in hand, back to the blind and the ramp we had built for her, so I unloaded my M12, and looked at Bob's gun. Sure enough, the action was jammed shut tighter than Dick's hatband.I was able to remove the two green Remington hulls from the magazine, after I removed the machine screw at the rear of the trigger housing, and dropped it out with the shell carrier, which was binding on the brass head of one of the shells in the magazine tube- Yes, I carry a basic cleaning and field armorer's tool kit in my shell bag, along with a spray can of WD-40 and spare shells and calls-- good habit, IMO.

When I looked at the two green Remington plastic hulls, I realized that Bob had loaded his M12 with 16 gauge hulls- and when he shot at his bird, the undersized 16 hull fired, but not being fully contained 360% in the chamber, it went "poof" instead of BANG.

I gave Bob my M12 to use while I overhauled his- after I had him dump out all the shells in his Filson-both pockets, and stash them in his shell bag- I loaded my M12 myself, red WRA 12 gauge plastic No. 4 express (pre-steel shot era)--

In order to extract the swollen 16 gauge hull from the chamber and the chamber ring, which held the swollen brass casing, I had to do the old Herb Parsons Model 12 betting trick-- I removed the barrel/magazine group from thereceiver, and this left the plastic tube of the swollen 16 gauge hull exposed- However, the brass had swollen from the detonation and was tight into the ID of the chamber ring- more later RWTF-- OK, dinner is over, football on TV- so I'll give this a wrap. took me almost and hour with my tool kit and a sharp knife to cut and peel away the plastic hull and free up the brass -Bob watched me work, shot at one mallard with my M12 and missed- once I had his gun back in order, we swapped back and finished out the morning with 3 mallards and 5 scaup- Gene Hill once wrote about having a hunting coat-vest for each shotgun gauge he owned and used--maybe not a bad idea--

Last edited by Run With The Fox; 11/12/16 07:45 PM.

"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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I never shot a Model 12 very well although I loved that gun. Its where the safety is placed in front to the trigger guard. I had to choke up on the wrist so my finger could reach and push the safety with enough force but this led to the stock bumping up into my underarm when I went to shoulder it.

But those two pumps were so buttery smooth that sometimes I couldn't remember if I chucked another round in the chamber after a shot so I had to check.

I eventually sold both of them.

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Francis, my dad was an M12 16 gauge user when all his buddies shot 12's. When he was teaching my brothers and I to shoot, there were a few things drilled into us from the get go:

Point the gun only at things you are prepared to shoot.
Every gun is always loaded.
Only a fool depends on the safety for safety.
Take every single shell out of your pockets and/or bag at the end of the day....never carry two gauges of shells.

Almost 50 years later I still adhere to those commandments from my father.


The world cries out for such: he is needed & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia
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My Uncle Fred gave me the best of many gun safety and manners afield, of all the many male family members. When I was about 11, we went out to a local farm in October- my favorite month- with both my Stevens Walnut Hill .22LR single shot, and my Dad's Model 12 20 gauge- Fred shot a Model 97 12 gauge, but he left it at home.

He set two large pumpkins on a old apple crate in the sand pit we used for a backstop for our ,22's and the tin cans (never glass bottles) we used for plinking--and target practice--then we went back about 20 yards to where we had set both guns, cased and unloaded- "OK- bucko- he said: when you are ready, take out your .22, and with the muzzle pointed towards the pumpkins, load it-and whenever you are ready, shoot at the center of one of the pumpkins. I did, then opened the gun and ejected the fired case- "Good, now put the gun back in the case and come with me-- We went to the pumpkin I had shot, and observed the small hole the bullet had made on the front- then he spun it around, and I saw the way larger hole made when the bullet exited- then he cut off the top with his Mahler & Grosh jack-knife, just like we would do a few weeks later for Jack-O-Lanterns at Halloween- and said- "looks like the inside of a human head, doesn't it?" So, now you know what can happen even with a .22 if you ever make a mistake in gun handling and safety--

Then we went back to the gun cases, and he had me take out Dad's 20 gauge, and with the muzzle pointed at the pumkins, he had me rack it open, drop a shell into the chamber, and close the action. Again, he had me point the muzzle at the second pumpkin, and told me to fire when I was ready. Up to then, I had only shot .22's- never a shotgun- The louder boom and recoil was a lot more than I was used to with the .22 Stevens.

The pumpkin had exploded into a mass of yellow pulp, the green stem had flown about 20 feet from the impact point. He had me unload the fired empty shell and case the M12-- then again we walked over to the pumpkins- or what was left of them-- Then he said: "Now, bucko- look long and hard, and what you see could be my head, or that of our bird dog Clancy, or your Dad's or Grandpa's, for that matter. Always remember this:- just like words you can't take back once they are spoken in anger, you can't take a shot back that you fired in haste or error. If in doubt, it is always better not to speak and not to shoot." I have lived by those words of wisdom all my life since.

Uncle Fred was my Mother's older brother, like her, college educated and a successful patent lawyer- He was more erudite than either my Dad or my Grandfather, both machinists- but all my growing life I never saw any of them ever point any gun towards another human, dog, or anything else they did not wish to shoot stone cold dead.

Uncle Fred was the living embodiment of the old adage: "Beware the man who shoots one gun, as he usually will be very good with it." He had a 12 gauge Pigeon Grade M1897 with the "Black Diamond"inlay in the straight hand stock- 28" Mod.choke- The only family gun that didn't come to me as an inheritance. Uncle Fred was a life-long bachelor, I never did find out where it ended up-but I would sure like to have it today.


"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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Boxlock

Joined: Apr 2014
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Always enjoy your M12 stories. I am also addicted to M12's, and have about eight, 4 12's, 2 20's and 2 16ga. Always looking for the elusive 28, but up here in the UP they have all been used hard. I do find one now and then that is in nice condition and have bought a few.

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Foxy,
nice post mate, & thanks for your service Sir
Cheers
Franc

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Thanks- I have 11 M12's- 9 in 12 gauge, including 2 in the 3"Magnum model (aka- Heavy Duck) my late Dad's 20 gauge (1931 field grade 28" mod. choke, and a 28 gauge I took in payment for a debt from a buddy- that is a 1939 field grade with 28" solid ribbed barrel and choke is marked WS-2- but it is NOT a Skeet gun, has plain field buttstock and corncob ringed style round forearm.

Mavis and I were in "Da Yoop" in late September, we love all the great waterfalls, and we have always wanted to take the Pictured Rocks boat trip-which we did- also visited the Whitefish Bay area and saw the Edmund Fitzgerald museum, and also a few lighthouses- Copper Harbor is our favorite. I love pasties, and the history that shows that Calumet lost by one vote to Lansing to have been our State's Capital- wow.

Some fine grouse and woodcock hunting up across the Bridge- at age 75, not my game today. The few Model 12's in 28 gauge I have seen at Cabela's Gun Library have all been in Skeet mode, and wore a Cutts Comp-- or a "Steam Whistle" as I have heard them called.


"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
Joined: Apr 2014
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yes, we have some great locations here in the UP. This year the grouse hunting has been very good, at least in the area's that I hunt. Of my 12ga. M12's one is a 3" Mag. Duck that I found up here a few years ago. Very good condition for 40's gun that for some reason did not get much hard use. I also have a 12 ga. M25 that I like. I don't know why they were not more popular. Just cause they can't be taken down does not seem like that much of a problem.

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Agree- my son-in-law Jeff has his dad's M25--28" full- they were only made for a span of about 4 years I believe, and when they came out on the market, the days of train travel for hunting trips had passed, and the supposed advantage of a take-down repeater, whether a Model 1897 or a Model 1912--

Remington got smart after WW2, and the 870 which replaced the old M31 pumpgun was a good step in capturing the pumpgun market, IMO. And the great Ithaca M37 had a solid following as well.

I believe the stocks and the trigger group were about the same for the M12 and the M25-- But the market and traditions of gun buying and ownership are hard to nail down. "Looks like a M12, but it ain't" I can imagine some older Kansas or Nebraska wheat ranchers and farmers sayin' in their Big Smith bibs and feed and seed store caps down at the elevator- when a hunting pal waltzed in and uncased the new M25 he had just bought for the comin' pheasant season--


"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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