16ga.com ~ View topic - Model 12 or Model 31 ... in 16 ga. only please.

OK . . . Dave E has asked us about our favorite/most productive guns . . . but I don't see the mention of any Remington 31's, while several mention Model 12's. Now I know it's impossible the 31 is not someone's favorite. So now chime in -- in 16 gauge only please, how many votes for the Rem 31 and how many for the Winchester Model 12. Wink

Joined: 03 Feb 2014 Posts: 325 Location: West Texas

The model 12 will win handily of course, it always did in sales competition so there are many more of them out there and many more shooters familiar with them. But I voted M31 because I have one and I love it. I have handled and shot a 12 but it has been years ago. Maybe I ought to get one so I can compare apples to apples.

However, looking at the used M12's available they are generally priced twice what a M31 is priced and some of them are pretty rough.

Wellshooter -- Of course everything you have said is right. As for myself, I have always been a Model 12 guy -- biased that way from age 6 when I shot my first one, and then I shot no other, so with that mind-set its unlikely I would ever be able to rate the 31 above the Model 12 -- I can't help it, blame my dad, it's the way I was raised, but I do appreciate the Model 31. It is an advancement in some ways, even though it was a bit too little/too late to compete with the Model 12, and got it's butt kicked in the marketplace. Not for being a bad gun though -- it is a really good gun but it was still too costly to make, and it took the less costly Remington 870 to knock the Model 12 off it's perch. Winchester's response (1200/1400) was quite awful (sorry enthusiasts, if any) and the 870 went on to eclipse the Model 12 by almost an order of magnitude. Rem's autos were super superior to whatever Brand W could come up with (until Super-X One), but that is another story. If you want a real "last forever", made-the-old-fashioned-way pump, it's hard to beat either a Model 12 or a Rem 31, Ithaca 37's notwithstanding, sorry -- don't even bother mentioning that much newer Browning BPS which manages to be a "log of steel" in any gauge, sorry to offend, but just a fact obvious to me -- even though you could get one in 10 gauge -- about it's only potential chance to be "interesting". One of the least "dynamic" guns I have ever encountered, regardless of any gauge in which it is found. But enough of that.

Nowadays, I use good doubles for upland birds and cheap autos (Rem 11/87) to flog around in duck blinds (as well as a beater old Model 12 16 I have modified for hard non-toxic (but lethal!) shot). I still, however, futz around with Model 12's of various ilk and gauge -- tried to quit, but can't, I guess.

Joined: 28 Aug 2014 Posts: 924 Location: Eastern Tennessee

This is too hard, as my response on the other post suggest my favorite - rabbit, squirrel, and dove gun is my 33' m31, however, my 46' m12 is my go to pheasant and quail gun. I simply can't vote.

funny , but the 2 guns out and in the ready for the call for SoDak is a m12 and my 31L ... just a rare coincidence I guess !!

Model 37 is better than either .

Byrdog -- Please feel free to start your own poll involving the 37 and see how it comes out. As the old saying goes, "There is no accounting for taste." You can look that one up. And some folks prefer white bread, Spam and cheap beer. To each his own.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

It boils down to stock geometry. The M31 was the end result of Remington working very hard (and spending lots of $$$$$) to unseat the Winchester M12 in the '20s and '30s. They studied all the variables (LOP, drop, pitch, grip size, comb width, trigger placement, pump stroke length, etc.) and came up with what they determined to be was the best "fit" for the average hunting man (not "woman", and not "boy" - this was the 1930s after all). Average means "compromise", but for many of us it is a pretty darn good compromise. I have a pre-WWII M-37 in 16 (1939) that is a lovely gun as well, but.......my M31s fit me better, and accordingly, I tend to shoot them better. In shotgunning, fit is almost everything.

FWIW: the gun that replaced the M31, the early 870, used those exact same stock dimensions, combined with stamped parts (not the beautifully forged and machined parts of the M31) to economically blow the M12 out of the water.

the problem with Remingtons is that they only shoot Remy ammo.

Member Joined: 07 Jan 2013 Posts: 398 Location: Virginia

I voted, but it was a tough choice. I have one of each in 16ga. My Remington fits me better because the LOP of the Winchester is only 13.5", but both are very nice guns. I voted for the M12, but can't really say why except I've always liked the looks of it and the way it disassembles. For actual use, I can't say the M12 (even with the proper length stock) would work any better for me than the M31.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

If it's an emotional choice, then the M12 wins. If it's a practical choice (as in which one do you use the most?) then the M31 wins for me, and I own 16s in both.

byrdog: My 31s function flawlessly with any ammo I happen to choose. My M12 in 16 can digest only short (and somewhat expensive) RSTs.

I view the 31L as the poor man's doublegun. In the right hands, arguably as good in the uplands as many far-more expensive side by side birdguns.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

Neither are my "favorite" but between the two, I'd go with the Winchester.

Joined: 12 Mar 2012 Posts: 684 Location: Ontario

I couldn't vote. I have three M12's, two 16's and a 12 trap. Love them. But have never shot an M31. Although I intend to. Always on the lookout for a good M31 in 16 but any version of an M31 is rare up here.

Joined: 11 Feb 2012 Posts: 68 Location: Olympia WA

I love my 31. I have handled a 12 for a hot second so don't know how they compare. But the moment I racked a shell it was love at first shot.