Classic Pump Guns

[Researcher]

Can't say I like the Winchester Model 12 over the Remington Model 31. Remington Model 31s are very slick pumpers. Probably last several lifetimes for hunting. But if one understands them, you know why Remington went to the "twin action bars" for their Model 870s. In high volume use a fatigue crack appears near the tip of the Model 31 action bar. Numrich has new manufactured ones for the 1941 version 12-gauges. For earlier versions and the 16- and 20-gauges it can be tough.

The Model 31 was evolving. There are three versions and a sub-variant. There was the original 1931 version --

Then the 1934 version --

In a tech manual I gave to my machinist buddy it mentions a 1936 sub-variant, but not being one to go inside things I don't know exactly how it varies.

The Model 31 finally came of age with the 1941 version with the larger trigger group.

When the Model 31 was introduced the Model 31A "Standard" Grade had a checkered stock and slide handle --

In 1937 Remington introduced a Model 31AP "Standard" Grade with a plain stock and ringed slide handle --

The guns with checkering became the Model 31AC "Standard" Grade --

A couple of years later when the inventory of checkered guns was gone the gun with the plain stock and ringed forearm became the Model 31A "Standard" Grade.

Along with the introduction of the 1941 version, Remington introduced the 12-gauge Model 31LA a lightweight version with an Aeromet receiver.

Almost immediately they were listed as unavailable due to raw material shortages. After WW-II the lightweight was offered in all three gauges and even Skeet and Trap Guns as well as the "Standard" Grade. Model 31LA --

[Researcher]

I wouldn't say I "collect" them!!

Back in the 1970s when I started shooting skeet in Southern California, I shot Winchester Model 12s/42. When I was stationed in Alaska a buddy and I planned a week-long duck hunting trip in September 1974, so I swapped an S & W 29 for a very late Heavy Duck. Finally, in the late 70s when I was in the D.C. area I was hunting quail in Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore with a guy with two great English Setters, but perhaps one might say bit sketchy on property lines. So, I got the cheapest 26-inch improved cylinder on the used gun rack at Clark Bros. so I wouldn't loose much if we got in trouble. A 1953 vintage 16-gauge Model 12 nearly white. Never got in trouble.

Jump ahead 25 years I made a package deal to get a Remington double I wanted. Included was a 1949 vintage (KUU) Remington Model 31TC with an ITC Tru-Choke installed in the barrel giving a choke of .054". After it sat in a corner of the gun room for five or six years I stumbled on a replacement/extra 31TC barrel with the same year date code (2AUU) at a local pawn shop. Had my machinist buddy fit the new barrel and whack the original barrel through the rib post nearest 26-inch giving me a skeet barrel. Since then I've accumulated six more Model 31s.

[Silvers]

I regularly shoot the vintage pump gun events while at SxS shoots and have been squadded quite often with gents fielding Model 31’s. More than a few of them had shell feeding and failure to fire problems, and (right or wrong) I've come to the conclusion that the 31 design isn’t the best for reliability. Slick pumping doesn’t mean much if the gun won’t run without problems. Three malfunctions and you start losing birds and there's no additional do-overs in sporting clays. It’s JMO but based on decades of shooting experience ….. the only classic pump gun I recommend to fellas looking for one to compete with is the Winchester Model 12. If unmolested they’re reliable as the day is long. Besides the M12 is pretty cool looking especially with a factory or Simmons vent rib. Compare with the rather homely look of the Remington. Kind of like a 57 Chevy vs. a 57 Rambler. Of course that's in the eye of the beholder.

Now, I know someone will reply that Grandpa Rafe’s Model 31 has digested umpteen thousand rounds and still works like a Swiss watch. Great for that one. Just reporting what I’ve personally seen while shooting with 80+ year old pump guns, not advertising copy nor stories from gents who pop a few caps per year with a 31 while hunting. frank

[setterspell]

Well, I’ll throw this one in just to stir the pot a bit. 1938 Ithaca 37 ,16ga. 28”mod. With the wood mag plug. Mirror bore.

Showed up on a local ad page with garage sale price. How could I pass it up?

[Researcher]

The only functioning issue I've had with the Remington Model 31 is my 20-gauge definitely did not like RIO shells. Switching to my Remington Gun Club reloads things were fine. I think maybe the RIO rims were a bit too thick for it, but I never did any measuring to check it out.

To my eyes the Ithaca Model 37 never looked quite as good as the Remington Model 17 from whence it came. There probably is no more than 1/16" to 1/8" inch difference in the head of the stock/grip area but the ungracefulness of the Ithaca 37 in that area is glaring to my eyes. A late Model 17A "Standard" Grade after they switched to the checkered stock and slide handle --

My father railed against two things in American shotgunnery -- Winchester Model 24s and bottom dumper pump guns. I heeded his advice for over seventy years, but a couple of years ago a Remington Model 17A "Standard" Grade with the plain wood and ringed slide handle with a 28-inch solid rib improved cylinder barrel stuck to me at a local pawn shop. For a couple hundred bucks it has been a lot of fun for skeet and pretty good on Eurasians at the grain elevators.

[fox-admin]

A love of pumps must be hereditary. My long time duck hunting partner shot a feather light Model 12 for years. He had three, one his grandfathers M-12 from 1913, his dad's from the 40's and his from the early 60's. My partner could get three shots of so fast I could hardly distinguish the report from each shell LOL. I never could get comfortable shooting a pump. I bought a beautiful M-12 heavy duck and hated it, great gun just me.

[Stan Hillis]

I can understand someone not liking the M 24, but why did your dad dislike bottom ejecting pump guns so much, Dave?

[Jeff S]

A love of pumps must be hereditary. My long time duck hunting partner shot a feather light Model 12 for years. He had three, one his grandfathers M-12 from 1913, his dad's from the 40's and his from the early 60's. My partner could get three shots of so fast I could hardly distinguish the report from each shell LOL. I never could get comfortable shooting a pump. I bought a beautiful M-12 heavy duck and hated it, great gun just me.

Craig, I couldn't agree more... I've often said that if a person starts their life with a pump, then they'll be successful. However, it's difficult to transition from a semi- auto or a SxS to a pump. In 1987 I purchased a Remington 870 and it shoots awesome, for the first shot. Firing a 2nd shot requires lowering the gun and yanking out the spent shell. I've practiced on the skeet range with some success, but it's a simply a single shot firearm in the duck blind. I know lots of people that love them, and I realize that Remington has sold millions of 870's, but ultimately I always say, "life is too short to be spent with a Remington 870". Clearly, this is a case of operator error.

[Researcher]

The closest to pump guns in my lineage was my dad's younger brother, my Uncle Irv. He had a pair of early Model 870s, a 12- and a 20-gauge, both fitted with Poly-Chokes and left-hand safeties.

I got into pumps from Tom an Iowa/Missouri skeet shooter and quail hunter I was enlisted in the navy with in San Diego in the late 1960s. He spoke glowingly of his Model 42. Jump ahead a year and a half and I was commissioned and living in Denver going to school at Lowry AFB. One afternoon I took my El Camino in for service and went for a walk while waiting. I passed a pawn shop and a Model 42 with two barrel and magazine assemblies in the window said "take me home." One assembly was a 26-inch plain SKEET barrel with a larger slide handle like a Model 12 Skeet Gun. The second assembly had a Cutts and the regular Model 42 Skeet slide handle. Jump ahead another year or so and I am in an anti-submarine warfare squadron stationed at North Island in San Diego. I get a call from Tom that he is in San Diego with the ComNavMarianas skeet team to shoot in the All Pac Fleet skeet tournament at Miramar Naval Air Station. When we get together, I showed him my Model 42, and he insisted we go shoot some skeet with it at the Otay Valley Winchester club. And so the twig was bent!

Later, a gunsmith I often visited up on West Washington Street in San Diego mentioned he had a 28-inch Model 42 modified choke barrel, so we swapped out the Cutts barrel. Years later when quite a bit of bluing was worn off the Model 42 I sent it to Simmons for ribs and a reblue.

[Sporrns]

In the summer of 1969 I had Larry Del Grego do a complete restoration on a 12 gauge Parker VHE 28" bbl. which I used as my dedicated duck gun. One day that winter, it flew out of my hands while I attempted to jump across a too-wide marsh canal on the lower Eastern Shore of MD. I went in not quite waist deep, but somehow managed to catch the Parker by the grip and barrels before is hit the water. After I settled down I began to think about the aftermath of nearly losing my gun.

As fate would have it, I worked at the time for a large sporting goods store in Washington DC, Simon Atlas Sons. They were major and preferred dealers of both Remington and Browning as well as Winchester, and got regular shipments of the most popular models. Shortly after the marsh canal incident, we got a 5-gun carton of Remington 870 Wingmasters delivered to the store. All 5 were 12 gauge vent rib guns; 3 were standard 2 3/4" with 28" barrels and 2 were 3" Magnums with 30" barrels. At the time my employee price worked out to $102 and change. I pulled one out of the box, put it together, shouldered it and killed three canvasbacks right there in the store! I thought to myself, "I could replace a $102 guns, but I couldn't replace my Parker for 6 times that amount." I bought the gun and still have and shoot it today. I lost track years ago of how many ducks and geese I have taken with it. A couple of years after I bought it I got a 26" Skeet barrel for it for "close in work" over decoys in flooded timber and the occasional round of "real" Skeet.

I had a minty M42 Winchester 28" field gun and an average condition Remington M17 20 guage, but both of them went down the highway of commerce years ago. My latest pumpgun mania consists of a rare 1948 Ithaca M37 16 gauge Skeet grade, so marked, in need of a little TLC (but don't they all?). Kevin

[Jim Cloninger]

I really liked my 1st shotgun, a 20 gauge Ithaca model 37. When the duck season opened that year in Minnesota, it opened mid-week and my parents would not let me miss school to go duck hunting. My dad took MY model 37 and shot a limit of Mallards on opening day!
Jim

[bbman3]

I have owned several model 12s,one wingmaster and 7or 8 model 37s one is a 16 trap and another a 16 gauge skeet. Bobby

[Researcher]

Here are a couple of pictures of my 1949 Model 31-TC that I wrote about above --

This morning there is an inch and a half of snow where I took those pictures yesterday.

[ROMAC]

I've been a SXS and O/U guy for a long time now but started out with Ithaca 37's due to being left handed. Over the years I've owned 5 or 6 at a time in 12,16, and 20 gauge. Even had a dedicated slug gun for awhile. I'm down to just 3 now, one each in 12/16/20. I still like pumps though and will buy them on occasion if they are an especially pristine example to collect. Right now, in addition to the Ithaca's, I have pristine examples of a Winchester model 12 Skeet 16 gauge, a Remington 29 12 gauge with a factory cylinder bore and a Stevens 620 in 20 gauge.

The 12 gauge Ithaca is the only gun that I've ever worn out cosmetically. It was my first gun and every scratch, nick and dent tells a story.

Had this photo handy of the pumps from left to right in front of some Savage 1899's/99's: Remington 29, Winchester 12, Ithaca 37, Stevens 620, and another Ithaca.

[Fowlgunner]

New kids on the block!

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