New old shotgun

[G-MAN]

I just picked this up. Anyone want to take a guess at what it is?

[RLH70]

J.C. Higgins?

[G-MAN]

J.C. Higgins?

Yup. A Model 20.

These are very interesting pumps and rival the Remington Model 31 for "slickness"--which isn't all that surprising since they are essentially the same design. In the late 40s Sears bought the patent rights for this gun from Remington* and then contracted with High Standard to build it for the J.C. Higgins line. In the 60s, High Standard bought the rights from Sears and produced the gun as their model 200 and various Flite-King models right up into the 70s. Contrary to what a lot of people think, the J.C. Higgins Model 20 preceded the High Standard models, so it is incorrect to consider the Model 20 a "Sears version" of the High Standard 200. The reverse is actually more accurate.

*After doing some more research I now know this is not correct and the source I was using for this info is inaccurate. I'm doing some more research and will post my finding later.

[G-MAN]

Okay, here is the REAL scoop on the Model 20. The gun was designed by Frederick L. Humeston who was an engineer at Winchester before moving to High Standard. (Humeston was the primary designer of the M1 Carbine.) The patent for his pump-action was assigned 1/2 to High Standard and 1/2 to Sears. The Model 20 predated all High Standard shotguns based on this design by several years, so it's really inaccurate to refer to the Model 20 as a "High Standard Model 200," as is often seen on the Internet. It's also been reported that the Model 20 was based on a Remington patent. This is clearly not the case.

If you compare the detailed drawings in the Humeston pump-action patent with those of C. C. Loomis at Remington for what would become the Model 31 as well as those for the Winchester Model 12, it's easy to see that Humeston was trying to integrate the best features of both of these guns in his design. It's no wonder many who have Model 20s (or later High Standard pumps based on the same patent) claim they have the slickest actions of any pump they've ever handled. With the Model 20, you've got the love-child of the 12 and 31.