Winchester

[hal53]

Anyone Have Any Info On A Winchester Model 1911 Auto-12 Gauge????....Looked Thru' My Books And Very Little Info.....Almost Looks Like A Knock Off Of The Browning Auto-5....Any Info Would Be Appreciated

[John Spartan]

I'd suggest checking out the Winchester Arms Collectors Association (WACA) website:

http://winchestercollector.org/

Their forum (free, by the way) would be an excellent place to start gathering information.

[huntinstuff]

Hi
Your shotgun was made between 1911 and 1925. Winchester had assisted Browning in the development of the Browning Auto5. Browning patented the design so Winchester had to build the 1911 without copying the Auto5, even tho it looks a lot like one.

The result was a self loading shotgun that did not get rave reviews. It is functional but suffered the design flaw that caused the forend to break.

Does your forend have cracks in it????

[catnthehat]

What I read about John browning in gun digest was that he wantee Winchester to pay royalties for the auto 5 design instead of buying it outright like they did with virtually all the other Browning designed firearms ( ALL the Winchester levers, and the 1885 style single shots as well as some others!)
They said "NO!" and he said "Adios!"
A rep from Fabrique National was waiting to see Winchester at the same time and Gave Browning his card.
that was the start of the FN made brownings, and the remington model 11 also, which is an Auto 5 as well.
The rest is all history - likely the WORST mistake Winchester ever made!!
Cat