Winchester Model 1300 Defender

About the Winchester Model 1300 Defender

The Winchester Model 1300 Defender is the tactical and home-defense configuration of Winchester's Model 1300 pump-action shotgun, produced from 1981 until U.S. Repeating Arms Company's bankruptcy and the closure of the New Haven, Connecticut factory in 2006. Built around an aluminum-alloy receiver with a rotary bolt head featuring four radial locking lugs, the 1300 family earned the nickname Speed Pump for its exceptionally fast-cycling slide action, capable of practical rates of fire approaching 320 rounds per minute in skilled hands. The Defender variant is fitted with an 18.5-inch barrel, a fixed cylinder choke, a 7-round extended magazine tube that runs the full length of the barrel, a synthetic stock and forend, and a simple bead front sight. Aimed squarely at the law-enforcement, security, and home-defense markets, the 1300 Defender competed directly with the Remington 870 Police and the Mossberg 590 throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s before falling victim to the corporate collapse that took down USRAC.

The Model 1300 earned the nickname Speed Pump because its short bolt travel and aggressive geometry let trained operators cycle the action faster than almost any other slide-action shotgun on the market - fast enough that demonstrators in the 1980s and 1990s would dump entire 8-round magazines downrange in under three seconds. When U.S. Repeating Arms went bankrupt in 2006, the New Haven factory that had produced Winchesters since 1866 closed forever, ending 140 years of continuous shotgun production at one of America's most storied gunmaking sites.

Winchester Model 1300 Defender specifications

The Model 1300 was a slightly modified continuation of the Winchester Model 1200 (1964-1980). Production ended in 2006 when U.S. Repeating Arms Company declared bankruptcy and FN Herstal, the parent company, closed the New Haven plant. After 2006 the Winchester rifle and shotgun lines were eventually relocated to a new FN Manufacturing facility in Morgan, Utah, but the 1300 was not revived; the Winchester SXP introduced in 2008 is its spiritual successor and uses a similar inertia-assisted pump action. Defender variants include the Camp Defender (laminated stock, ghost-ring sights), the Coastal Marine (electroless nickel finish, optional pistol grip), and the NRA Defender commemorative edition. Magazine capacities of 5+1, 7+1, and 8+1 were offered depending on barrel length.