Tricked out Winchester Review, Part 1
Feb 23, 2014 23:40:27 GMT -7
orly152, rickL675, and 1 more like this
Post by Ceorlmann on Feb 23, 2014 23:40:27 GMT -7
Some time ago I decided, mainly for the heck of it, to trick out my first Winchester. Between the two I own I made the decision to leave the second one in its original configuration as it's the nicer of the two (closet queen. Shop owner said an LEO privately owned it and it looks almost brand new. I probably put more shells through it on the first day I bought it than it's had in its entire life prior to me).
History of the first one:
--Former law enforcement-issue (separate serial # etched by hand on receiver, left side, and scratched on wood stock, same side). Very well used, but still a great shooter. Manufactured at the plant in New Haven, CT in the early 80s. Bought it off of Gunbroker for less than $250 if you include shipping and the FFL transfer fee. This was less than 4 years ago.
--Because of it being well used and well taken care of its already slick action is even slicker than my second one.
--The barrel does not say whether it's a 1200 or a 1300, but simply a "Defender." Because it's a 7+1 I think that puts it in the 1200 category.
What I did to it:
--I added the following accessories: an Armstech Speedloader, an Advanced Technology International HALO heatshield with ghost ring sights, a rubber buttpad (added this awhile ago due to the original rubber buttpad being hard), and a Tac Light kit from Ultimate Arms Gear.
--With everything added I took note of some things to be aware of...
------The speedloader is by no means foolproof, and leaves little room for error. The slightest wrong angle will keep you from using the speedloader for its intended purpose. With lots of practice though, one should lower the chances of operator error when using it. I asked one of our members about it before I bought it, and I can now see why the method of loading shells in by hand is still a good way to go. On the plus side this speedloader does not interfere with loading shells by hand, and when used properly it works great. Four shells in under 1.5 seconds.
------The ATI heatshield with ghost rings was somewhat difficult to install until I altered the rear clamp as its lower ends were trying to go exactly where the forend handles were. I cut off the lower ends, but still had enough for the clamp to overlap the barrel and still be fairly secure. The front clamp was installed without much incident although I wish the instructions had better pictures/illustrations (but ATI still gets props for having instructions come with the item. Ditto for the Armstech speedloader. The Tac Light kit did not). Once installed everything felt tight, and I love being able to acquire my target quicker using the ghost ring sights!
------No complaints on the rubber buttpad. It does the job it was meant for. Go ahead and call me a wimp, but at least I'll still be firing after others are too sore to do so.
------The UAG Tac Light kit I find is good for indoor/house defense, but I don't trust the flashlight clamp to fare well after rough use in the field. Besides the kit coming without instructions I found I needed to use some regular good old duct tape to get the flashlight mount to properly grip the tubular magazine. It can still move by hand, which to me is unsat if meant for field use, but it holds the flashlight well enough. The flashlight and remote button work great. Flashlight shines at about 90 lumens which is good for lighting up the baddie inside my home. I ended up attaching the button to the forend using a wall hook adhesive strip. It works, but I wish the kit came with something for me to use to attach the button. Then again, you get what you pay for. I paid roughly $30 for the kit via Amazon.Overall not bad at all. I didn't get a better flashlight clamp as when I bought the kit I didn't see anything better. That will be a future purchase when the opportunity comes, though.
I'll do a Part 2 when I get the chance to take both Winchesters to a range and compare both reloading times as well as accuracy when shooting slugs.
History of the first one:
--Former law enforcement-issue (separate serial # etched by hand on receiver, left side, and scratched on wood stock, same side). Very well used, but still a great shooter. Manufactured at the plant in New Haven, CT in the early 80s. Bought it off of Gunbroker for less than $250 if you include shipping and the FFL transfer fee. This was less than 4 years ago.
--Because of it being well used and well taken care of its already slick action is even slicker than my second one.
--The barrel does not say whether it's a 1200 or a 1300, but simply a "Defender." Because it's a 7+1 I think that puts it in the 1200 category.
What I did to it:
--I added the following accessories: an Armstech Speedloader, an Advanced Technology International HALO heatshield with ghost ring sights, a rubber buttpad (added this awhile ago due to the original rubber buttpad being hard), and a Tac Light kit from Ultimate Arms Gear.
--With everything added I took note of some things to be aware of...
------The speedloader is by no means foolproof, and leaves little room for error. The slightest wrong angle will keep you from using the speedloader for its intended purpose. With lots of practice though, one should lower the chances of operator error when using it. I asked one of our members about it before I bought it, and I can now see why the method of loading shells in by hand is still a good way to go. On the plus side this speedloader does not interfere with loading shells by hand, and when used properly it works great. Four shells in under 1.5 seconds.
------The ATI heatshield with ghost rings was somewhat difficult to install until I altered the rear clamp as its lower ends were trying to go exactly where the forend handles were. I cut off the lower ends, but still had enough for the clamp to overlap the barrel and still be fairly secure. The front clamp was installed without much incident although I wish the instructions had better pictures/illustrations (but ATI still gets props for having instructions come with the item. Ditto for the Armstech speedloader. The Tac Light kit did not). Once installed everything felt tight, and I love being able to acquire my target quicker using the ghost ring sights!
------No complaints on the rubber buttpad. It does the job it was meant for. Go ahead and call me a wimp, but at least I'll still be firing after others are too sore to do so.
------The UAG Tac Light kit I find is good for indoor/house defense, but I don't trust the flashlight clamp to fare well after rough use in the field. Besides the kit coming without instructions I found I needed to use some regular good old duct tape to get the flashlight mount to properly grip the tubular magazine. It can still move by hand, which to me is unsat if meant for field use, but it holds the flashlight well enough. The flashlight and remote button work great. Flashlight shines at about 90 lumens which is good for lighting up the baddie inside my home. I ended up attaching the button to the forend using a wall hook adhesive strip. It works, but I wish the kit came with something for me to use to attach the button. Then again, you get what you pay for. I paid roughly $30 for the kit via Amazon.Overall not bad at all. I didn't get a better flashlight clamp as when I bought the kit I didn't see anything better. That will be a future purchase when the opportunity comes, though.
I'll do a Part 2 when I get the chance to take both Winchesters to a range and compare both reloading times as well as accuracy when shooting slugs.
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