A project repairing and cold bluing a Winchester Model 1912.

by Paul Mazan

You might think that after all these years I’d have found a way to avoid picking up abused guns and trying to put them back into something like reasonable condition. But, you would be wrong. A recent pick up involved a Winchester Model 12. This shotgun is one of those iconic firearms with a certain mystique about it. They stopped making them in May 1964, after producing around two million, and switched to the Model 1200 to cut production costs and keep the price competitive.

Designed by John Browning and advertised as “The Perfect Repeater”, the 1912 has an almost cult-like following and that keeps prices pretty high by old pump shotgun standards. Naturally, price is based on three factors: …

Read more in the August 2018 issue.

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