November, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
668 
Most quail, snipe and prairie chickens are 
killed at from 15 to 25 yards. (See dia¬ 
gram above.) At these distances the Win¬ 
chester Model 12 , 20 gauge shotgun opens 
up and makes its best pattern—the famous 
Winchester game-getting pattern 
Heavier gauge guns do not make their best 
patterns short of 30 or 40 yards. (See dia¬ 
gram above.) The 12 gauge throws more 
shot, but throws it in a more compact clus¬ 
ter. Therefore, if a hit is made at lesser 
distances, the chances are that the game 
will be mutilated 
Keener sport with the 20 gauge gun 
S portsmen who enjoy “sport 
for sport’s sake” have taken 
naturally to the 20 gauge shot¬ 
gun, especially for upland game 
shooting. 
The 20 gauge gun makes its best 
shot pattern at from 15 to 25 yards, 
a distance at which a skillful wing 
shot can easily get onto his game. 
Even to the average hunter there is 
no appreciable handicap in the quick 
opening shot pattern, for the light¬ 
weight 20 gauge gun is quick to han¬ 
dle and easy to point, and this offsets 
the quick spread of the shot. 
Slow deliberate pointing , however, 
is penalized. If your'bird gets away 
to a distance of 40 yards, you may 
miss. That is why shooting with the 
20 gauge gun is a more fascinating 
sport than with the 12 gauge gun. 
Still other advantages make the 20 
gauge gun appeal strongly to the 
sportsman. Shooting a lighter am¬ 
munition, it reduces the cost of 
shells. It has little recoil. It does 
not mutilate the game at the usual 
ranges at which birds are bagged. 
Both gun and ammunition are lighter 
to carry. 
Model 97 . Take-down Repeating Shotgun. 
Made in 12 gauge, weight about 734 lbs.; in 16 
gauge, weight about y'/i lbs. The favorite with 
shooters who prefer a slide forearm repeating 
shotgun with a hammer 
Admirers of the 20 gauge gun—and there 
are many of them these days—point to the 
Winchester Model 12 as the ideal gun of 
this type. Sportsmen who have used this 
gun in the 20 or 16 gauges, or the Model 
97 hammer action gun in the 16 gauge, find 
it difficult to go back to the heavier 12 
gauge gun. 
An axiom of gun making 
Men who know guns realize that the ac¬ 
curacy and durability of a gun depend 
primarily upon the barrel. To them the 
quality of the barrel measures the quality 
of the gun. With Winchester the barrel is 
the gun. For years this has been an axiom 
of gun building in the Winchester shops. 
Through the most unremitting attention 
to boring, finishing and testing, Winchester 
has developed a single standard of barrel 
quality which prevails in the highest and 
lowest priced Winchester models. 
How the barrel is bored 
The barrel of the Winchester Model 12 is 
bored to micrometer measurements for the 
pattern it is meant to make. The degree 
of choke exactly offsets the tendency of 
the shot to spread. Until its pattern proves 
up to the Winchester standard, no gun can 
leave the factory. The nickel steel con¬ 
struction preserves the original accuracy 
forever. 
The Bennett Process, used exclusively by 
Winchester, gives the Winchester barrel a 
distinctive blue finish that, with proper 
care, will last a life-time 
What 
Look for this mark on the barrel of a 
Winchester gun. It means that the gun 
has been subjected to the Winchester 
Definitive Proof test. It stamps the gun 
with Winchester’s guarantee of quality, 
which has 50 years of the best gun-making 
reputation behind it. 
Every gun that bears the name Win¬ 
chester. and that is marked with the- 
Definitive Proof stamp, has been fired many 
times for smooth action and accuracy. It 
has also been fired with excess loads as a 
test of strength. At every stage of Win¬ 
chester manufacture, machine production is 
supplemented by human craftsmanship. 
Every Winchester gun is perfected by the 
tept and adjustment process. 
It is this care in manufacturing that has 
produced the Winchester Model 12, 20 and 
16 gauge, and the Model 97, 16 gauge for 
those who prefer hammer action. Both 
shotguns have won the adtniration of sports¬ 
men everywhere. 
Write for details of Winchester 
shotguns and shells 
Detailed specifications of the Model 12 
and Model 97, and also our new booklet on 
shells will be sent on request. 
WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. 
Dept. 1661 New Haven, Conn., U. S. A. 
Model 12 . Hammerless Take-down Repeating 
Shotgun. Made in 12 gauge, weight about 7 l /\ 
lbs.; in 16 gauge, weight about 6 lbs.; in 20 
gauge, weight about 6 lbs.—more popular with 
women and new shooters because of its light¬ 
ness and very slight recoil 
1 
The Winchester 20 
’ ■ 
. 
Its balance is perfect 
’WINCHESTER 
World Standard Guns and Ammunition 
Note: Repeater Shells Won the Grand American Handicap. 
John Dean Henry of Elkhart, Ind., who took first honors at the Nineteenth Grand 
American Handicap Trapshooting Tournament, used Winchester Repeater shells to 
win the classic match. Mrs. A. H. Almert of Chicago, who made the high score 
for ladies, also used Winchester shells. 
