My good friend Mallard Fillmore hunted ducks right beside me with a Winchester model 12 for many years. Frankly, I always thought the whole action felt 'loose'. His was prone to jam once in a while. Or so he claimed when the shooting was over and he had no ducks down. His was a later model he bought to replace his old gun when steel shot and higher chamber pressures came about, so its likely a post 70's gun. Like me, he didn't make enough money in the 70s to spend on shotguns so it may be late 70s or early 80s vintage. He still uses it to this day once in a while. I know he has killed more ducks than most any human you'll ever meet with it.. I never knew it had such a storied history.
I've always been a remmy guy, so I hunted 870s along side of his winny. I still have like five of them in my safe. Now we both have Brownings and Benellis. But I can tell you what owns our hearts.

Anyways, this is a cool story.

And my brother has a model 1897 that has a finish that looks like nickel or stainless. Its definitely not blued. Its a cool old gun too.

BKB

http://www.wearethemighty.com/articl...oth-world-wars