Winchester 1912 takes some long tails

[Silvers]

Change of pace yesterday. I did a combo grouse and pheasant hunt in edge cover between reverting strip mine fields and the woods. The Winchester 1912 is a 1922 gun, Nickel steel and solid rib, 16 bore, choked Modified. As many know the Winny Model 12 is my all time favorite repeater, here restocked with a straight grip and early Trap style small/round forend, also reblued. All high quality work by an unknown craftsman.

Our PA State limit is two birds. Flushed several more cock birds and hens while coming out. frank
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[sparky]

Looks like tough cover suitable for a flushing spaniel like NITRO .

[Silvers]

Actually Tom, Nitro was out with me yesterday and he did well. The cover pic doesn't show a diagonal logging road about 1/2 way between the new growth thickets and the woods. Fairly easy walking the road but it's not that apparent to hunters. You have to know it's there. frank

[Researcher]

Good job Frank!! Love the sound of a Model 12 working!

One of my favorite hunting memories was being in a great position to watch Col. Davies kill six Ptarmigan in six shots on a covey rise with his Model 12. No plug law in Alaska.

Dempsie with a limit September 1974.jpg (35.67 KiB) Viewed 1453 times

[Jeff S]

Frank, those are beautiful pheasants. Nice wood on your model 12.

[Maggiemollie]

Nice pheasants and gun.

[Jeff S]

Once again, those are exceptionally nice looking pheasants. Outstanding plumage. It looks like the one on the left has pretty good spurs. Do you think they were older birds?

[Silvers]

Jeff, pheasants are "stocked" by our game folks in two large strip mine areas about a mile away and these were undoubtedly put out at some point. Almost all stocked birds are taken by hunters but some do winter over as I've seen for years while riding quads in the summer and fall. There's a large and very thick swampy area nearby this hunt location, that would give excellent protection from avian and other predators, and it's possible these two cock birds and others we flushed came from there and were out foraging. Their long tails do suggest birds that have been out in the wild for a while. Crops were full of mostly wintergreen berries. frank

[vaturkey]

Frank, do you have a dog? Seem to think you had a pup coming along, but I could certainly be wrong. If not you must be one sneaky walker. Good eats there as well and yes indeed a very nice model 12.

[Silvers]

Yes Tom, our Nitro was out with me and did the hunting and flushing. He's a Warriors Mark Springer Spaniel now about 2-3/4 years old. Trained with chukars and pheasants at Decoverly and does very well but I had to cut that training short due to an issue (with me). We'll be starting up Nitro's finish training in early Spring. For now he’s a high energy flusher and way too much for our scarce and spooky grouse. But I have a good walk-up "method" for them. frank

[vaturkey]

Yes Tom, our Nitro was out with me and did the hunting and flushing. He's a Warriors Mark Springer Spaniel now about 2-3/4 years old. Trained with chukars and pheasants at Decoverly and does very well but I had to cut that training short due to an issue (with me). We'll be starting up Nitro's finish training in early Spring. For now he’s a high energy flusher and way too much for our scarce and spooky grouse. But I have a good walk-up "method" for them. frank

My buddies hunted with Springers forever until one fellow aged out and decided to play golf and the other fellow decided to switch to pointing dogs. I've killed a lotta Grouse behind Springers in Maine years ago. They are also pretty awesome on pheasant and goodenss can they retrieve.

[Silvers]

Just some additional comments on this 1922 Model 1912. Of course it was made for paper 16-gauge/2-9/16" roll crimp shells and its ejection port was opened for 2-3/4" shells before rebluing. It feeds and ejects 2-1/2" RST's, along with 2-9/16" vintage and modern 2-3/4" shells perfectly and even mixed in the magazine. Tested before I bought the Winny to know what I might get into.

My advice to anyone looking to buy an early Model 1912/12 whether 16 or 20 gauge that isn't factory or retro stamped 2-3/4", is to check it for function (QUICK feeding and ejection) before buying. That's if you want to shoot modern 2-3/4" plastic shells. frank

[ROMAC]

Good advice Frank.

I had a buddy that called his the "Sometimes Gun"

Sometimes it shucked the shell, sometimes it didn't!