Winchester 1200 haters?

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357smallbore

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Why do lots of shooters and gun folks dislike the Winchester 1200?
I have a 1968 1200 in 12ga. 28in fixed MOD. I use it for pheasant, turkey and trap shooting.
Never have had an issue with it.
 
Plastic bits, simpler to manufacture and cheaper design than the venerable and much loved Model 12.
I have several of the 120/1200/1300 series and they work pretty well for me.

Swapping out magazine tubes is a royal PITA though, for one thing.
 
The issue is not that Winchester didn't turn out some good 120/1200s, but that they turned out FAR too many bad ones. They morphed into the 1300s, which morphed into the Speed Pump, which morphed into the current SXP. Over that same period Mossberg and Remington made no changes to the basic action design.
 
Why do lots of shooters and gun folks dislike the Winchester 1200?
I have a 1968 1200 in 12ga. 28in fixed MOD. I use it for pheasant, turkey and trap shooting.
Never have had an issue with it.
What does it matter what other people think of your shotgun?
If it serves you well, that's what matters.
 
Does the 1200 have plastic parts?

I thought that was an "upgrade" used in the 1300 or Ranger 120.
The magazine tube throat that the tube threads into is plastic. Some say fragile. Pretty sure the trigger group housing is plastic on the 1200 also, and the shell catch that locates on it is stamped and a little iffy.

The spring/friction ejector design is also stupid and fiddly. And the way the bolt and locating plate interlock with the action bars is not the most robust system IME.
 
Not a huge fan of them, myself, for the reasons given. My Dad bought his dad a 1300 for a pheasant gun because my grandpa was not a 'gun guy' like Dad and I are. (We both have had mostly Remingtons, with the odd Model 12 or A-5 mixed in.) When I inherited that 1300, I traded it for a 20 ga. 870 for my son. The one positive thing I can say about the 1200/1300 is the pump practically worked itself with a little rearward pressure on the forend.
 
When I was shooting Trap, the Winchester field rep was pretty well stuck with a 1200, the Model 12 Y series not yet in production. I recall he did OK with it.
 
No problems to report with my 20 gauge Model 1300 which I bought a couple of shorter barrels for. Used it mostly for upland game and when I stopped hunting I switched it over to home defense.
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Dad had a 1400, I had a 1200. Both worked fine but dad still missed his Auto 5, I my M12. No hate, just don't like it when the bean counters cheapen something that works fine for something else that works fine but doesn't have the feel, the finish, the soul of the originals. I have also had a 1500, a 1300, a Speed thing, and a SXP. They all worked but I'll keep shooting my M12 skeet and my 870 TB 'cause they work better FOR me. As some like to say, "you mileage may (will) differ."
If they shoot, they're good.
 
Because it was a huge step down from the Model 12.

Correct. It wasn't that the 1200 was really that bad, but it was always going to be compared to the much better 12.
 
Don't know why folks shy away from the 1200. I had one when I was a young guy before college took over my life. I mostly shot doves, quail and pheasants. Being young with good reflexes, excellent eye sight and time on my hands, I shot it a lot and quite well. I now have his expensive brother the Model 12 and don't shoot it nearly as often as in those days, nor as good. The 1200 performed flawlessly and it is still in the family shooting just fine
 
I bought a Win 1200 in 1971 I think . I waited too long buy a Rem 870 3 inch 20 gauge before hunting season opened. NO 870's in 20 gauge to be found. So I bought a new in the box Win 1200 in 20 gauge. The problem was that the box did NOT state that it was a youth model, if they had them the. I missed easy duck and pheasant shots all that fall. So I traded it off on a new Rem 870 in 12 gauge, that I have now. When the gun dealer put it in the rack, I could see that the stock was way to short. That is my first glimpse on how stocks effect your shooting. The only plus is that it shot slugs great, probably because I took my time to aim down the vent rib , and didn't shoot instinctively without looking at the barrel.
 
My stepfather had a 1200. But when he bought my first pump shotgun for Christmas in 1971, it was a Rem 870 Wingmaster in 20 ga.
 
The only experience i have with them was some very old military issue 1200's we still had in inventory when I was in the army. They seemed junky and clunky to me, but maybe just because they were really old.
 
Good guns. Underrated as a pump gun. Rotating bolt is smooth and fast, very slick shooters. Comparing it to a Model 12 is like comparing apples and oranges. I under stand people were upset at Winchester discontinuing the Model 12 (and going to post 64 versions of the Model 70 and 94 rifles). Winchester was just trying to compete.
 
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