Winchester 101s - Dad's Skeet Guns

My dad was an outdoorsman, forester, minor league baseball player, soldier (combat engineer and infantryman 1945-47 and 1950-1951 respectively, thanks Dad), pilot (one solo flight) and skeet shooter. He apparently started skeet shooting when he returned home from his first two years in service and was awaiting admission to Syracuse University. He apparently shot a lot of skeet, what is now international style, before departing for university and did so with an old Savage or Stevens made Tru-Test 16 ga. side by side (I have that gun, too). Choked modified and full and missing the front bead even then, this second hand shotgun was likely the best he could find and afford at the time. I've no idea how he got the shells or paid for the many rounds of skeet that he shot.

He must have been popular because when we went to that range when I was about 12-13 that must have been 20 years after he'd last been shooting there and several of the old guys (to me!) recognized him and came up to shake his hand. That single visit to that range rekindled his interest and we were shortly looking for places to shoot. Dad tried a couple of used Winchester 1400s but wasn't happy with them. I know it took a lot of cleaning on my part to keep them going (not that I minded). At some point he decided that this pair of 101s were the deal and he dropped his credit card and the two 1400s on Jon Ridenour's counter and walked out with them both. He must have been enamoured of these guns because he never, ever used the credit card for anything but emergencies.

The Winchester Model 101 Over-Under shotguns were introduced in 1963. Dad's 101s are skeet guns in 12 and 20 gauge (bottom) but the skeet guns were made in all four skeet gauges, 12, 20, 28 and .410 (I know, not a gauge but a "bore"). They are over-under double guns, with barrels mesuring 26-1/2" on the 20 and 26" even on the 12 gauge with ventilated ribs, barrel selector switch safeties and single triggers. The old Winchester 101 was something of a landmark gun in the post-war history of the shotgun, one of the models that firmly established the over-and-under as the gun for competition clay shooting. Based on the Browning B25, it handled well, was affordable and was well built by the Japanese. Thousands were sold. Dad must have really liked his as he never considered selling them even after his macular degeneration ended all his shooting.


Our guns have few differences despite the 5 years between manufacture of the two guns. The 12 ga. has the big red W on the pistol grip cap, while the 20 ga. has the plainer cap shown. Together with the barrel length, these are the major differences between these guns made at the Olin Kodensha plant in Japan in 1970 (20) and 1965 (12).

Links:
- Midwest Gun Works 101 Serials