Question about Winchester shotgun

[Streetstar]

I have 2 model 50 shotguns , a 20 and a 12 gauge . I'm not a shotgunner -- besides these 2, I have only shot defensive shotguns

These, to me , seem to be very nice guns -- but they had a relatively short production run -- they had a recoil system designed by the infamous carbine Williams ----

curious as to whether any of you gents know how or why they fell out of favor so quickly

I posted some pics when I got my 12 gauge a couple of years back and Joe (86'er) mentioned he had good luck with his model 59's (a lightweight version of the 50 I think) - but I have never heard much more feedback on 'em.

Was the design carried forward into other guns - or did they mothball it altogether? Since there must have been a good reason they dropped the model after just a few years, is the performance that much worse than the Model 12? As I said, I couldn't tell you the difference between a Purdey and a Baikal if I was blindfolded , so I am definitely an amateur at these things --- my short barreled pump guns with their extended mag tubes handle like fat little clubs, so I don't really know how a good shotgun is supposed to "feel", but I thought I'd take the 50's out to a local skeet club and fool around with them a little this winter

[Marlin32]

50's I think suffered from the receivers cracking especially with larger payloads.
At least that is one complaint I have heard of. The 59 I think was alloy receiver and the new fiberglass wrapped barrel significantly reducing weight.

The 50's are not long recoil actions, barrel is fixed, receiver moves.

Have a friend that has at least one, maybe two, wouldn't trade it for any money.
Partly, was his dad's favorite quail gun.

[Pete44ru]

.

Yep - they were too heavy, in a market asking for "lighteweight" & removeable chokes............ Why Winchester did the Model 59 as a stopgap, until the Model 1200 was produced.



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[gamekeeper]

When I was about 13, I remember meeting an old English country gentleman who stopped to ask if my brother and I had had a good day shooting, we talked about guns and my brother asked the elderly gent what gun he used, thinking it must be an English side by side, we were astonished when he said he had a semi auto Winchester with a glass barrel....
I think that more than anything else made me realize there were a lot of different guns out there...