Winchester 1300 Defender 12 ga.

[simon1]

My brother-in-law recently passed away and he left a Winchester Defender and a Beretta 21 A Bobcat .22 lr that his wife was wanting to use for a house gun. I've heard the Defender has a pretty good reputation. Anyone know much about them?

She'd be better off with a .38 Special for a handgun, but I don't think she'd go to the effort of learning to use one.

My son-in-law was up here yesterday and cleaned both of them for her...she says they've never been shot. He also bought her some CCI Stinger ammo for the .22 and a couple of boxes of Winchester Super X hollow point slugs for the shotgun.

Since she lives in town with neighbors on all sides and an elementary school behind her I was thinking of picking up some Fiocchi LE reduced recoil 00 buck for her instead.

Fiocchi Self Defense Buckshot Low Recoil 12 Gauge Ammunition 10 Rounds 2-3/4" 00 Buckshot 9 Pellet Nickel Plated Lead 1150fps - 12LE00BK - 762344702698

I saw where the Fiocchi has 19.1 ft. pounds of recoil energy compared to the reduced recoil loads from Remington...20.4 ft. pounds...and Federal at 22.7 ft. pounds. I haven't seen what the recoil energy is on standard #4 buckshot.

I'm also considering picking up a couple of boxes of the Fiocchi to replace the regular 00 buck I keep in my Winchester 120 Ranger.

Anyone ever use any of the reduced recoil 00 buck?

 

[bluewing]

Hi,

Generally speaking, the 1300 was not a particularly well regarded shotgun. It was pretty roughly made. It did have a reputation of not always being so reliable either. Though the ones I've seen all went bang without fail. But I can attest to the less than stellar smoothness of the action.

The one my brother owned always required a certain amount of anger to get it operate. A Model 12 it ain't.

 

[simon1]

Hi,

Generally speaking, the 1300 was not a particularly well regarded shotgun. It was pretty roughly made. It did have a reputation of not always being so reliable either. Though the ones I've seen all went bang without fail. But I can attest to the less than stellar smoothness of the action.

The one my brother owned always required a certain amount of anger to get it operate. A Model 12 it ain't.

I worked the action on the 1300 several times yesterday and it was fairly smooth and the firing pin dropped every time...I've never shot one though so don't know how it cycles ammo.

 

[Ad Astra]

I inherited a 1300; not only are they perfectly acceptable, there's lots of aftermarket stuff available for them. Folders, lights etc.


AA

 

[nortac]

I can't comment on the Mod. 37 but I'm a fan of Federal low recoil Tactical Buckshot. Patterns well even out of a cylinder bore shot gun, usually keeping all 9 pellets on a B-27 target at 25 yds. I haven't shot any other low recoil buckshot to compare to it.

 

[jkingrph]

When we were in Turkey back in the very early 70's I bought my wife a 20 ga 1300 so she cold shoot skeet. I had the stock cut and a recoil pad installed and she learned rather quickly. No completion shooter but she had fun, and even went pig hunting a couple of times with me. We have had the gun for 45 years and it's been totally reliable, although not used a lot. I need to stand corrected, the one we have is a M 1200, an earlier version, but basically the same gun.

Personally for a defensive load I would get her something with a larger shot size, something between #2 and #1 buckshot, giving her better probability of a hit if she needs it.

 

[simon1]

Ah ha...I had found this quite some time back but had forgotten about it. It "appears" that standard #4 buck has significantly more recoil than the reduced recoil 00 buck.

Shotshell Energy

 

[simon1]

Interesting thing about the Fiocchi Reduced Recoil...according to the calculator the 12 ga. 00 buck only has about 2 ft. lbs. more recoil than #8 birdshot in my Ithaca M37 20 ga.

The ammo should be here in the next day or so and I'll check it out in my 12 ga.

 

[Deltaboy]

1300 is a solid gun that can be slicked up with some good old fashion elbow grease.

 

[simon1]

Popped off a round of the Low Recoil ammo a bit ago in my Winchester 120 Ranger from about 7 yards...SIGNIFICANTLY less recoil than regular 00 Buck. No stinging hands!

I count where 8 pellets hit...the wad must have taken out where the 9th one impacted.

 

[Bhugo]

I had a 1300 in the mid 80s. Worked fine. Wasn’t as smooth or streamlined as a wingmaster, but was a perfectly good gun. Very reliable.

 

[simon1]

I had a 1300 in the mid 80s. Worked fine. Wasn’t as smooth or streamlined as a wingmaster, but was a perfectly good gun. Very reliable.

Yeah, Brian...the Sissy-In-Law's 1300 and my Ranger aren't near the quality of my Dad's Belgium Browning Sweet Sixteen that I have...but the Winchester pumps work just fine for what I use them for.

If SIL touches off a round of the slugs that son-in-law bought her in that 6 1/2 pound 1300...I don't think she'd ever want to shoot anything again.

This is the first experience I've had with the reduced load buckshot...full power 00 Buck was all we used when I carried Remington 870 riot guns. My Ranger says Modified on the barrel...I didn't look on the 1300 but I think it's cylinder...her's should throw a little bit wider pattern than mine. I've heard that the reduced recoil 00 Buck is very similar to the M19 full brass loads that were used in WW II.

 

[D.Gray]

I have one (the Defender) that has the stock removed (I still have the stock) and Pachmeyer pistol grip and slide grips added (softer rubber slide grip).

It goes bang every time with the 2 3/4 inch shells. I run some milsurp 00 buck (probably Winchester brand). It is much smoother than my Mossberg 835.

 

[Rob72]

Hi,

Generally speaking, the 1300 was not a particularly well regarded shotgun. It was pretty roughly made. It did have a reputation of not always being so reliable either. Though the ones I've seen all went bang without fail. But I can attest to the less than stellar smoothness of the action.

The one my brother owned always required a certain amount of anger to get it operate. A Model 12 it ain't.

???! I would have to differ. The bolt locking is far smoother, OTB, than any of the traditional locking-block actions, and it is far smoother in operation because it is actually the predecessor of the Benelli inertia action, using passive bolt unlocking. Lots of PDs used them (although Remington had a far larger market share), and they ran for years.

Everyone produces a few bad samples, but I'd never seen or heard of any systemic issues.