If you were out and about and shopping for shotguns these days, you’d have quite a few options. These include the American classics like the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500, a slew of various Turkish guns ranging from double barrels to bullpup semi-autos, and a mess of Italian shotguns with giant price tags. If you want to take a different route and look for a more retro shotgun, you won’t have any problems there.
Retro Shotgun Rundown
The American shotgun market is huge, but it’s not necessarily ruled by American shotguns anymore. However, there was an era when the American shotgun dominated the market. We invented the pump action shotguns and famously used them in World War 1. Go back even further, and the coach gun is an American classic. The retro shotgun market is mostly dominated by American designs, and today we are going to examine the best retro shotguns out there.
I didn’t want to make a list of classic wall hangers. Sure, that Fox shotgun is neat, but are you going to actually shoot it? This list represents classic shotguns that could still dominate the deer blind, the skeet field, or even the home defense role. Let’s dig in and look at some of the greatness of yesteryear.
Winchester Model 1912 – Capable Retro Shotgun
The Winchester Model 1912, or simply the Model 12, is the successor to the Winchester 1897 and was considerably more capable than its older brother. M1897 shooters might enjoy their guns, but the design is somewhat janky, loose, and often fragile. The Model 12 improved upon the M1897 and created the modern layout of shotguns we still use now.
The Model 12 was known as the perfect repeater, and Winchester produced over two million of these pump-action shotguns. These famed pump action shotguns used machined and forged parts to create one mighty nice shotgun that often wore a tight, blued finish that we don’t often see today. Model 12 shotguns were quite popular in a variety of markets, with designs made for deer hunting, bird hunting, and even defensive and tactical applications. The thousands of them out there make it an easy to find retro shotgun.
While the M1897 often gets the credit as the number 1 World War 1 shotgun, it ignores the Model 12’s service and its continued service until Vietnam. What killed the Model 12 was the same thing that made it so famed and beloved. The workmanship, as well as the forged and machined parts, were expensive to produce, so the Model 12 disappeared into the ether due to the high price of production and stiff competition from the cheaper Remington 870.
Winchester Model 1300 Defender
As the Model 12 faded away, Winchester created a simpler, easier-to-produce firearm in the form of the Model 1200 in 1964. In 1978 the Model 1200 went through a period of adjustments and improvements to create the Model 1300, which included the police and home defense-oriented Model 1300 Defender. The Model 1300 Defender would still be a capable option for home defense today. It uses a dual-arm design for increased reliability, an 18.5-inch barrel with a long magazine tube that holds seven rounds of 2.75-inch shells.
One of the most interesting features of the Model 1300 was the rotary bolt. Most shotguns use simple rearward force to extract and eject shotgun hulls from a chamber. The Model 1200/1300’s rotating bolt added rotational force to the bolt to provide consistent and stable ejection regardless of the round.
The rotational bolt and pump design makes this one of the fastest and easiest o work actions out there. With a little practice and training, a shooter can sail through seven rounds of 12 gauge with absolutely brutal speed. It’s still an amazing feeling to this day, even though the shotgun has been around since 1978. This is the retro shotgun I’d trust for home defense.
Retro Shotgun Triumph: Ithaca Model 37
The Ithaca 37 is one of the triumphs of American design. It almost failed more than once, but it struggled through the Great Depression and World War to maintain its dominance. The Ithaca 37 uses a simplified and improved Remington Model 17 design to form the basis of their gun. The Model 37 is representative of its era with its single action arm and simple overall layout.
What is interesting and makes the Ithaca 37 stand out is the lack of a visible ejection port. Most shotguns include an ejection port on the right side of the gun. The Ithaca 37 loads and ejects from the bottom of the gun, which means it ejects downward, making it both lefty-friendly and friendly in a duck blind so your fellow hunters aren’t pegged with empty hulls.
The Model 37’s slab side design became popular in Vietnam because there was less room for debris to enter the action and gunk up the gun. The Ithaca 37 became popular with numerous police forces, including the LAPD and NYPD. It’s one of the longest guns to remain in constant production, and you can still get an Ithaca 37 in the configuration you desire. I still use a Deer Slayer as my retro shotgun of choice for the deer blind.
Stevens Model 311
There is an odd assumption that any old double barrel shotguns would be incredibly expensive. Admittedly many are, and English double with hammers will cost you a pretty penny. However, there are plenty of affordable options still out there. The Stevens Model 311 is one example of a simple double-barrel shotgun that has always been an affordable option.
These side-by-side double barrel guns are dual-trigger, box lock designs. They served as working man’s guns designed for the average Joe. They were affordable, well made, and perfect for the deer blind, the duck blind, or the trap field. The Stevens Model 311 guns don’t come in any fancy configurations, but they remain an affordable classic.
Like most side-by-side guns, the Model 311 is well-made, durable, and easy to use. The NYPD even issued the 311R model to detectives for serving warrants way after repeating shotguns were introduced. These are great if you want a taste of old-school double barrels without breaking your budget wide open.
Auto-5
John Browning went from making the first widely successful pump action shotgun to making the first widely successful semi-auto shotgun. The Browning Auto-5 was the first mass-produced semi-auto shotgun on the market. Production went from 1905 all the way to 1998. These classic ‘humpback’ semi-auto shotguns have been widely used for many different tasks.
This includes hunting, trap, and skeet, and of course, military and police use. The Auto-5 saw use in both World Wars, Vietnam, with the SAS in Malaysia, and in the Rhodesian Bush War. A semi-auto shotgun launching buckshot rounds makes for an excellent jungle gun and close-range combat tool.
The Auto-5 uses a long recoil system which feels out of date when compared to the gas-operation and inertia-operated guns we are used to now. The long recoil system does work quite well. Even to this day, it remains fairly reliable and capable. Although, it’s admittedly a little pickier than more modern shotguns, but it’s a reliable semi-auto retro shotgun.
Keeping it Retro
I have a soft spot for retro shotguns. In the current arms market, they are typically more affordable than, say, retro rifles and handguns. Not only are they more affordable, but they are also often still just as usable. The Model 12, designed for deer hunting, is still an excellent deer-hunting shotgun, whereas an M1 Garand feels ancient compared to an AR-15.
These shotguns were widely made, so they tend to be widely available, and with a little searching, I have no doubts you’ll be able to find one, and it will likely be an excellent price point. These are what I think are the best retro shotguns, but what do you think? Let us know below!
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