My Favorite Firearm: Winchester Model 12 Featherweight

by
posted on March 2, 2020
model12.jpg

first saw my Winchester Model 12 Featherweight in the display window of Baker’s Hardware Store in early November of 1961. I was 15 years old, and I had been studying the Model 12 in the big Sears catalog for almost a year. It was an absolutely handsome shotgun and the perfect upgrade from my Mossberg single-shot bolt-action .410 bore. Then, one day, there it was in Baker’s window surrounded by fall leaves, several boxes of shotgun shells and a few duck decoys. Oh, how I wanted that Winchester!

Since Christmas was fast approaching, I couldn’t wait to tell my father about the Model 12. He listened with interest, but told me that my .410 was sufficient for the present. I checked out that Model 12 almost every day on my way home from school, and repeatedly informed my father that it was still in the window.

Then, one day a week or so before Christmas, it was gone! It had been replaced in the window by a double-barrel 10 gauge. My heart sank. I went inside to check the gun case, but there was no Model 12 in sight—it must have been sold. I told my father the bad news, and he responded by telling me that there would be many Winchester Model 12s around in the future.

`Twas the night before Christmas, and all I could think about was that display in the hardware store window; I pined over what might have been before I went to sleep. Then Christmas morning came, and down the stairs I slowly crept to see what Santa had brought. Something glimmered under the tree—it was the Model 12 Featherweight.

For almost 60 years now, my trusted Model 12 has never flinched, be it at pheasants, quail, doves, rabbits, ducks, geese or clay birds. And today, that well-worn, but always ready, Winchester stands in the safe next to some much more refined hunting tools, but none come close to the memories and experiences I have had with my Model 12.

Edwin S. Jacob, Virginia

Latest

Precision Rimfire Christensen Arms
Precision Rimfire Christensen Arms

Review: Christensen Arms Modern Precision Rimfire Rifle

The Modern Precision Rimfire from Christensen Arms builds upon time-honored blueprints and is crafted from its maker's flash-forged carbon-fiber technology to create an accurate and fun-to-shoot repeating rifle.

New For 2025: H&K MR A4 Series

Building on its existing commercial line of MR556 and MR762 rifles, HK USA now offers A4 versions of both rifles, as well as large-format pistol variants.

Gun Of The Week: Smith & Wesson Model 1854

Welcome to another American Rifleman Gun Of The Week video, and this time we have a modernized American lever-action to take to the range. Meet the Smith & Wesson Model 1854.

New For 2025: Kimber 2K11

With its new 2K11, Kimber now has a dedicated design based on the 2011 concept that comes loaded with a number of added features.

The Armed Citizen® Nov. 22, 2024

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Red Fifty: The Soviet 12.7 mm DShK Heavy Machine Gun

While the Browning .50-cal. M2 machine gun has been unequaled for more than a century, John Moses Browning’s genius design has had one significant 12.7 mm competitor: the Soviet DShK.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.