Of all the things in the article to get worked up about you chose putting a rib on a Model 12? What about the statement that after lengthening the chamber to 3" you will need to install a 3" extractor?
Or, one question I'd like to see answered is, how is that he let a beloved and favorite duck gun get to the point where it needs refinishing in a bullet proof finish like Ceracote? I've hunted my Citori for the past 28 years on Champlain, the Cheasapeake, off the coast of Maine no less that 30 times on a 60 day season and it still has no rust on it. Don't they wipe their guns down?
That's my rant.
Mergus
I guess I missed his FUBAR-ed comment about the 3" chamber /extractor. Phil is NOT a gunsmith. nor always technically correct as to nomenclature. A friend has a 1939 12 field grade M12 that his uncle sent to the factory in 1939, and as WRA advertised in the pre-WW2 days, they lengthened the chamber to accept the 3" Magnum shell. This says a great deal about the strength of both Tommy C. Johnson's design, and also the requisite metallurgy of Winchester Proof Steel. I have two pre-1950 Heavy Duck Model 12's the receiver wall thickness is nom. /0625" greater than on the std. field grade 12 gauge version. Also, the barrel is heavier than on a field grade 12-greater wall thickness through-out. He has shot the living hell out of that modified M12, still as solid as the rock of Gibraltar-Ribs are superfluous on field grade shotguns, they are acceptable on trap, skeet and live bird guns-IMO.
