I don't want to play the "Boogeyman" here, but as I have seen field grade M12 20 ga. "upgraded" to Pigeon Grade 28 ga. skeet guns, std. Grade pre-64 Model 70's refitted into SuperGrade M70 stocks and passed around as being a SuperGrade, also earlier M70's with 24" barrels shortened to 20" and passed off as rare M70 Carbines- some caution creeps in. If you have a friend with a real Pigeon Grade Winchester shotgun (most likely the Model 12) compared the stamped letters and the style of the Pigeon engraved on the bottom front edge of the receiver--see how close.
I realise, as Roger Rule shows in his great book on the great older M70- over the many years Winchester changed the stamping on the barrel breeches, also the style of script and dashes, ie: Super Grade markings on the magazine floorplate- So a scarce 2 year production Model Winchester autoloader, as Don Moody pointed out- you have very little to compare it to, whereas with the Model 12 Pigeon Graded guns, they are enough extant, plus fotos and factory ils. of the various engraving and checkering patterns their Custom Shop once offered.
I just saw a 12 Gauge Model 50 Pigeon Grade 30" Full sell at auction for $300- nice wood, nice condition- but way way muzzle light/butt heavy for an old Model 12 "pumper" like me. I have removed the lead plugs from my two M12 Heavy Duck shotguns to get back to that sweet (for my style of shooting anyway) slightly muzzle forward weight/balance of the older M12- I couldn't shoot your M59 or even the M50 pass shooting ducks for beans-hope you can.. Good luck with your investigation.. RWTF
