my Paw-in-Law.....
A Winchester Model 12 Heavy Duck 3 inch chambered pump shotgun ....
he ran the serial# a long time ago and thought it was made in the early 40's.......he was an on and off again Gunsmith for over 30 years and retired from a job doing that just before he went blind......he said it had a factory reblueing done.....perfect mirror image......and that it was the nicest one in his extensive collection.....I haven't shot a shotgun since I was in my early 20's.....I was a pretty good shot, but need to bone up on this a little....I found this history below......and highlighted the section dealing with this special model.......it was a very nice surprise......
"The Model 1912 (shortened to Model 12 in 1919) was the next step from the Winchester Model 1897 hammer-fired shotgun, which in turn had evolved from the earlier Winchester Model 1893 shotgun. The Model 12 was designed by Winchester engineer T.C. Johnson, and was based in part on the M1893/97 design by John M. Browning, in that it used a sliding forearm or "pump action" to cycle the mechanism. It was initially available in 20 gauge only (12 and 16 gauge guns were not sold until late 1913). The Model 12 was a very successful internal hammer pump-action shotgun.
Its tubular magazine was loaded through the bottom of the gun. Empty shotgun shells ejected to the right. Depending on the particular wooden plug installed in the magazine, two, three, or four shells could be stored in the tubular magazine. The magazine holds six 2¾-inch 12 ga. shells, when no plug is installed, unlike most shotguns of today which hold four or five shells.
With forged and machined steel parts, the ultimate reason for discontinuation in 1964 was that it was too expensive to produce at a competitive price. The primary competition at this time came from the much less expensive Remington Model 870, which had been introduced in 1950.
The majority of "modern" Model 12 shotguns manufactured after 1927 were chambered for 2¾-inch shotgun shells only, although some specialized models such as the Heavy Duck Gun Model 12 were chambered for 3" Super Speed and Super X shells (basically a 3" magnum). The early 20 gauge Model 12 guns had chambers that were 2½", and the 16 gauge Model 12's were chambered for a 2 9/16-inch shotgun shell. To add further confusion, some of these early Model 12's have subsequently been modified, with their chambers lengthened to accept 2¾-inch shotgun shells, while others remain in their factory-stock chamber lengths. Careful inspection by a gunsmith is always recommended to determine whether or not it is safe to fire a modern 2¾-inch shotgun shell in older Model 12's.
Special production examples were produced by Winchester, the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, and Miroku after 1964 through 2006 through specialized gun collector purchase programs, but the Perfect Repeater shotgun was never mass-produced after 1964. The U.S. Repeating Arms Company (a subsidiary of F.N.) announced a complete closing of the New Haven, Connecticut factory facility in January 2006, thus ending the Model 12's long and illustrious career at the age of 95 years."
