Fox Collectors

"a Model 12 Skeet Gun in 12-, 20- or 28-gauge with the "Winchester Special Ventilated Rib" was $161.90". In my Winchester Retail Price List Revised to December 30, 1955 a Model 12 Skeet Gun in 12-, 20- or 28-gauge with the "Winchester Special Ventilated Rib" was now $172.60.

The Simmons Ribs, the "Winchester Special Ventilated Rib" and the Moneymaker rib on my 28-gauge Model 12 Skeet Gun are all "free floating."

From Remington Arms Co.'s introduction of a solid rib on their Remington Autoloading Shotgun in 1908 through the end of the Model 31 production in early 1950, the boys and girls at Ilion machined their ribs, both solid and ventilated, for the Models 10, 11, 17, 29 & 31 and "The Sportsman" integral with their barrels.

Thanks Dave. I compared a M-12 with a Simmons rib with a 3-pin Duckbill VR on a 1961 M-12 Skeet gun; both have a female dovetail cut on the underside of the rib although they're somewhat different in width and depth. Hence I edited my earlier posting to correct that current Simmons ribs are free floating.

At one time I had a M12 Trap gun with original Winchester rib. In Dec. 1955, it sold for $223.45, while the Trap gun with the Winchester "Special" rib was $177.40.

It's an extra cost item at Simmons, but they will still make you a donut post rib if you want it.