Fudd Friday: The Highs And Lows Of The Winchester Model 1200

The Winchester Model 1200 is a bit of a paradox. In my experience, these shotguns generally work pretty well; they’re easy to fix, they’re light, and they are affordable. You’d think they’d be popular, but they aren’t. Not with gun keeners, at least; gun writers and dedicated enthusiasts seem to have little interest in them, if not outright hostility. And yet, I don’t think that’s the fault of this shotgun at all—it’s the fault of the gun that Winchester made before it.

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A corporate collaboration in penny-pinching

Before the Model 1200 came along in 1964, Winchester sold the Model 12 pump-action. Six decades after its discontinuation from regular production at the New Haven factory, the Model 12 is still considered one of the best pump-action shotguns ever made. Designed by T.C. Johnson, it went into production in 1912 (a contemporary of John Browning, Johnson’s other designs include the Model 54, the forerunner of the Model 70 rifle). For 50-plus years, the Model 12 served American hunters and also soldiers very, very well. It was made with hand-fitted internal parts, and it was all steel and wood, with no major parts made of plastic or aluminum.

The Model 12 was a gun you could count on, whether you were hunting or in combat, and even the most well-heeled shooters owned them. Celebrities like Ernest Hemingway or John Wayne owned them and hunted with them. Even President Dwight Eisenhower owned at least one Model 12. It was a gun made by serious craftsmen for serious shooters.

The Model 12’s manufacturing took a lot of machining, and it took a lot of steel and walnut. It was an expensive gun to make, and in the 1950s, as Winchester’s profitability declined and competing shotguns like Remington’s Model 870 ate into the Model 12’s market share, the bigwigs decided it was time for a replacement. Thus began the multi-year design project that became the Model 1200.

Or at least, that’s according to everything I’ve read. I wasn’t around in the late 1950s, but supposedly, what happened was Winchester put a team of designers on the project and in 1963, they had blueprints for the Model 1200 laid out. This was a big change from classics like the Model 12 or the Model 1897 before it, which tended to be the brainwork of some big-name designer.

And cheap it was—the 1963-production Model 12’s pricing started between $90 and $100 USD, which works out to about $950-$1100 in today’s money. The 1964 MSRP for the Model 1200 started in the $70-$80 range, or $750-$850 in today’s USD. That’s a big difference, and not only could Winchester sell more shotguns because they were lower-priced, but they could also theoretically increase production and profitability thanks to the new design.

The new gun was affordable, but that didn’t endear it to shooters. This was an era where other mass-produced shotguns were still made of wood-and-steel; the 1200’s main competitors at launch were the Ithaca 37 and the Remington 870, both with steel receivers. Winchester’s 1200 had an aluminum receiver, and some shooters thought it would wear out, along with plastic parts like the magazine throat. In reality, since the 1200 had an innovative rotating bolt design, which locked into the steel barrel, the 1200 receiver was strong and robust enough for almost all shooters (although the mag throats did prove to be a problem for some shooters).

The legacy of the Model 1200

Despite the differences from the old Model 12, the Model 1200 sold pretty well, as did its descendants. The Model 1300 was basically the same gun with a new name; the Model 120 was also the same design, but with cheaper furniture and other changes to bring it down to K-Mart pricing levels. In the 1960s through the 1980s, the Winchester name still had a lot of value (Westerns were still popular, and Louis L’Amour still sold a lot of books). The Model 1200 and its offspring worked well enough for the casual shooter, they were widely available, and they were relatively affordable. Winchester did indeed sell a lot of them, even if serious shooters poo-poo’d them.

Over my life in the Fudd-friendly farmland of the northeast, I’ve seen a lot of these Winchesters in duck blinds and deer stands—I’ve even owned quite a few of them myself, and I think they aren’t properly appreciated. They aren’t as well-finished or well-made as a Model 12, but the newer design is very easy to clean or repair yourself; you don’t have to fuss about hand-fitting parts. Of all the Model 120/Model 1200/Model 1300 shotguns that my friends or I have owned, I’ve only seen two problems. My brother-in-law blew off the end of his barrel when shooting steel duck loads through a full choke on a bitterly cold January day—that wasn’t the gun’s fault. I also had the action arms on a Model 1300 break, but that was an easy fix once I found a replacement.

Considering just how many birds (not to mention bears and deer) that I have seen these guns stack up, I consider that a very decent record. I don’t currently have one of these Winchesters, but I see them for sale all the time locally, and as my kids get older, I wouldn’t be surprised if I get another one for them to use.

Currently, Winchester’s SXP pump is basically the same design as the Model 1200, but made in Turkey, not New Haven, Connecticut. The U.S.-made guns are so widely available and affordable that I think I’d buy one of those first. I wouldn’t want it if I was doing high-volume shooting, but for the weekend warrior who only shoots a few hundred rounds a year at best, this is a great way to get a fast-shooting shotgun for little money.