Winchester Model 50 - anybody?

[oscarflytyer]

Picked up a nice Winchester Model 50 Featherweight with a WS-1 (Skeet) choked ribbed bbl. DOM mid '62. This one has, I believe, the aluminum receiver.

Anyone shooting one? Any good tips/info? How light a load will these things cycle? I have factory 1 oz loads, and reload 1 oz; 7/8 oz; and 3/4 oz skeet loads.

[atr]

yes I have one...a model 50 Win-lite 12ga / aluminum receiver with steel working parts / fiberglass wrapped barrel/semi-auto. The barrels for different chokes are easy to change. I think we are talking about the same model although you have a barrel with a choke unlike mine which needs different barrels for different chokes. I have 2 barrels, full and modified.
I bought mine in the mid to late 60's and shot a lot of pheasant, quail and rabbit with it. It is a light weight shotgun which points quick and has always been very reliable. I have no experience with light loads, i.e. loads less than 1 oz., but 1 oz or heavier always cycled the action.
best
atr

[oscarflytyer]

ATR - I believe yours is a Model 59. My research found they followed the 50 and were called out specifically for the alum rcvr/glass wrapped bbl and interchangable chokes. Model 50 prod ended in 1962.

[atr]

Oscarflytyer....you are correct my shotgun is a model 59......
apologies for my confusion
best
atr

[Wheelguns 1961]

I have a model 50 from 1958. It is the first shotgun I ever bought. It has a full choke 30” barrel. I refinished the wood a few years ago.

[TNsailorman]

My Grandfather had wither a Model 50 or 59, I do not know which one. It was very light weight and in 20 gauge I believe. He was very old and still rabbit hunting and wanted something light to carry into the brush. He trade his Browning in on the Winchester. He killed quite a few rabbits with that gun but that was about the time I went into the Navy and I do not know what happened to the shotgun. I would have loved to have inherited that shotgun but I bet his SIL sold the shotgun as it was gone by the time I got out of the Navy. His SIL was an trader who would trade or sell a bucket of horse manure if he could make a dollar on it. Guns were just a tool to me when I was growing up so I never paid much attention to brands or models. my experience anyway, james

[jbltwin1]

I have a 59 that I THINK has had less than two boxes of shell through it. It was my dad's and was passed to me. I'm pretty sure the only shells through it were shot by me. Fun gun. It's funny in that you really can feel the action cycle. Practically no recoil, which is odd considering how light it is. Don't even remember what choke barrel is on it. It's a 12 ga and looks like the day it came out of the box, which unfortunately, I don't have.

[Jedman]

I owned a 12 ga. M 50 with a poly choke many years ago. It was a nice shooting gun but like many others it was sold or traded and is now a vague memory. Jedman