Winchester Model 1200 Defender

About the Winchester Model 1200 Defender

The Winchester Model 1200 Defender is an American pump-action shotgun, the security and law-enforcement configuration of the Winchester Model 1200. Chambered in 12 gauge, it pairs a short 18.5-inch (470 mm) cylinder-bore barrel with an extended tubular magazine holding up to seven shells. Like the base Model 1200, it uses a lightweight aluminum-alloy receiver and a rotating bolt head that locks into a barrel extension, a design intended as a cheaper, more modern replacement for the Model 12. The Defender was marketed for home defense, guard duty and police use.

The Model 1200 introduced Winchester's rotating-bolt, aluminum-receiver pump design as a lower-cost successor to the venerable Model 12. Its Defender security variant became a common sight in gun cabinets, patrol cars and behind shop counters through the 1970s and early 1980s.

Winchester Model 1200 Defender specifications

The Defender was offered with an extended magazine tube holding seven 2.75-inch shells (six 3-inch shells). The base Model 1200 replaced the Model 12 and was itself succeeded by the improved Model 1300 in 1983, which also had a Defender variant.