[WadHopper]

Meh...if it's mine and if for whatever reason I desire to hack, chop and mutilate - I'll do it. I may hesitate or mull it over for a few days but usually end up doing it anyway. I've come up with some pretty cool stuff, comes from not having any money and necessity becomes the mother of invention. I've learned a lot this way.

 

[slide action]

Recently, I received a tip on a Model 12 Skeet with a solid rib that was reportedly in pretty good shape for an unbelievably low price. Upon inspection of the gun I found that it was an original Model 12 Skeet (WS-1) 20 gauge with a solid action built in 1947. In looking more closely, I found that someone, somewhere along the life of that gun, cut the barrel that took the choke out of it entirely, to use as a slug gun. It's sad to see what ignorance can do to destroy the value of a once great shotgun.

You have to realize two tings. One is many have no idea what a guns real value is. I once saw a nice Browning Broadway that the owners Widow's son had obtained and cut the barrels off for a home defense gun. Secondly Those old guns may be classics NOW but years ago it would have been just another shotgun. I sure wish I had my old 57 Chevy back that I let go for 400 bucks when I was just a kid !!!

 

[racer]

Probably sawed for Cutts Compensator- no need to cut for slugs.

 

[PaulCISSA]

You cant judge what someone has done in the past through the lens of today. Maybe the original owner had three of the same gun and sacrificed one for his intents. That’s completely hypothetical, but you get the idea.

 

[Tron]

It was very common for that generation. Whatever it took, they wouldn't even think twice and it may of been the only shotgun the guy owned. There's probably marks on the stock from him pounding in tomato stakes back in 1950.

 

[Perazzi_MX8]

Intelligence is limited by how much is learned but ignorance has no limits.

 

[waldedw]

Nobody really knows why he did what he did but I'll bet at the time he did it he thought that was the fix or the answer, it's just the way it was

 

[jk80]

. I sure wish I had my old 57 Chevy back that I let go for 400 bucks when I was just a kid !!!

I know what you mean. I had a 69 z 2/8 and a gs stage one buick gs. I'm not greedy, I'd take either one back for what I sold em for!

 

[Tomato stake]

It was very common for that generation. Whatever it took, they wouldn't even think twice and it may of been the only shotgun the guy owned. There's probably marks on the stock from him pounding in tomato stakes back in

It was very common for that generation. Whatever it took, they wouldn't even think twice and it may of been the only shotgun the guy owned. There's probably marks on the stock from him pounding in tomato stakes back in 1950.

So that's where the scars on top of my head came from.

 

[Bob Lindy]

If you start a quarrel between the present and the past you will jeopardize the future. Very appropriate for todays society. Credit WC.

 

[frostyman]

A guy I went to high school with, his dad was the local doctor. He had a bunch of high grade Browning shotguns that he hunted with. Everyone of them had been cut down and a Cutts Compensator put on each one. It was horrible to look at highly engraved A5's that way but to him it was just a better hunting gun.

 

[o-hale]

Remember what Ron “Tater Salad” White said, you can’t fix stupid!

 

[visible chip]

Recently, I received a tip on a Model 12 Skeet with a solid rib that was reportedly in pretty good shape for an unbelievably low price. Upon inspection of the gun I found that it was an original Model 12 Skeet (WS-1) 20 gauge with a solid action built in 1947. In looking more closely, I found that someone, somewhere along the life of that gun, cut the barrel that took the choke out of it entirely, to use as a slug gun. It's sad to see what ignorance can do to destroy the value of a once great shotgun.

How did you know they cut it to shoot slugs?

 

[Leo]

I cut up a bunch of old mid '60's Chevy's to make race cars of various descriptions. They were cheap and plentiful then, and they were mine, for my good pleasure.

Look at how many Springfield rifles were "Sporterized" to make hunting rifles. I cut up a couple myself.

How many model 12's did Winchester build? If they were all treated well and maintained the classified ads would be full, and the price would be low.

I am sure that fact that we destroyed so many of them is why the minty ones left are worth a bundle. Sorry that you did not find the gem you wanted, but when you find one, you will be a happy man.

 

[sandcountyalmanac]

Probably sawed for Cutts Compensator- no need to cut for slugs.

I agree that there was no need for slugs, but it was done to shoot slugs. There was never a Cutt's compensator on that shotgun.

 

[sandcountyalmanac]

How did you know they cut it to shoot slugs?

It previously had a scope mounted on it. There are six holes drilled and tapped on top of the receiver.

 

[sandcountyalmanac]

Nobody really knows why he did what he did but I'll bet at the time he did it he thought that was the fix or the answer, it's just the way it was

Yep, probably.

 

[AusAmateur]

You can't judge yesterday's conduct by today's standards. Any number of guitars were chopped, hacked, painted and generally screwed with by people in the 50s 60s and early 70s that, had they been left original, would be worth tens of thousands today. But at the time, they filled a need or a want that the owner had.

Same goes for guns. Or anything else, really.

 

[Swampjohn]

A buddy of mine from rural Northern Minnesota was in the Air Force in the late fifties. While serving he purchased a beautiful pigeon grade model 12 trap. He didn't shoot trap when he mustered out back to the farm but he loved to hunt grouse. Soooo, he cut the barrel and installed a PolyChoke and used that gun to plow his way through grouse bramble habitat. He was a great grouse hunter but surely didn't take care of a once beautiful gun.