Winchester Shotgun Project

A while back I came into possession of a beat up Winchester 1200. The barrel and stock were missing and the anodized aluminum receiver was beat up. The only good thing about the whole mess was that all the internal parts were present and they seemed to function normally.

I took it apart and inspected all the springs and pins. The internals weren't bad, it had been used and never cleaned but I had some hope of getting a workable shotgun out of the deal.

I have a very fine,old example of a Remington 870 wing master back when they built them with pretty bluing and gorgeous wood that has real checkering, so I didn't really need another bird gun. Soooooo I kinda had a hankering for something short and green.

As I soon found out, locating a plain, 12 gauge Winchester 1200 barrel for this gun was not easy. I hunted high and low on the Internet auction sites. I called local gunsmiths, all with no luck.
I finally found one and started bidding on it. It went higher....and higher...and higher. Apparently there are a lot of people looking for a barrel for their 1200. I won it....for a price that I almost could have gone down to the local walbox and bought an 870 with ugly wood,plastic trigger guard and black finish.

But I wanted something different.

After I got the barrel in the mail I cut it to 18 and a quarter inches. I am lucky to know someone who has a blast cabinet. I blasted the receiver and barrel and other small parts with aluminum oxide. This gave the metal a nice, toothy finish that holds paint really well. I sprayed the parts down with a solvent to remove any grit or oil that remained on the surface and wrapped them up in clean cotton rags while I waited for my next purchase to arrive.

Just to warn you, I am an unashamed fan of Lauer Duracoat. I love it. Its easy to work with, works well in HVLP spay guns and its TOUGH. I originally was not planning on coating the action bars because I thought that it would wear off and look scabby. But when I started spraying I just couldn't help myself. It was green, WW2 OD green to be exact, and I was having a blast. I was even wearing a respirator so I can't blame it on the fumes. heh heh heh heh

The painted parts went into the oven for about 45 minutes to cure and then sat for about 3 days to fully harden. I didn't paint the shell carrier, I blasted it and then blued it. This gave it a dark, almost parkerized finish.

For furniture I bought the Speedfeed witness protection style pistol grip and fore end. I like this style of pistol grip. The grip angle makes shooting this gun comfortable.

I know there a lot of people out there who despise the pistol grip shotgun and say that they are of little tactical value. I agree, but I still wanted one. I didn't move the front sight back when I cut the barrel. I don't see myself ever sighting down the barrel of this one. Maybe if I put a full stock on it I will put on a front sight. I like XS sight systems tritium big dot for shotguns.

Sure, I spent almost as much on this project as I could have on a new shotgun, but I count the fun I had building it and the enjoyment I get in shooting my own custom gun well worth it. And it's green, I like green guns.

I took these photos with a Nikon D40. Good tools make all the difference