Whatcha know about this shotgun:

[J]

My grandfather passed away earlier this year, and I am currently in possession of his old hunting shotgun. I'm going to get it running right again at which time it will be given to my cousin for hunting use. He is the only cousin in the family that didn't have a 'hunting' mom/dad, but he sporadically hunted with us (uncles, cousins and grandpa) when he could make it growing up. He never had a shotgun of his own, so the family decided it would be great to give him this one so he could start hunting more.

My grandpa had issues with reliability in this auto-loader, especially once it got cold. It hasn't been shot or even manipulated in over a decade, and it feels like it. The finish and exterior is free of any major flaws, which is great.

So, what do you all know about this shotgun, and any reliability improvements, or wear and tear parts on it that should be replaced before giving it to the new owner?

It is a Winchester Ranger Model 140 12GA 2 3/4 in chamber, with Winchoke. It says "Winchester Proof Steel", which I assume was either their "steel safe" marketing name, or the steel technology they used in the barrels at the time. It has an N99XXXX serial number.

[buckshotbarlow]

i can't be much help, but i have the 20ga model. You can call winchester and ask...

[Rabid]

Wish i saw this sooner i have a 1400 the 140 for the most part is the same. There are no improvements but when i acquired mine from my grandpa it had reliability problems too. All it needed was a good cleaning and now it is the softest shooting 12ga i own. My guess is the gas piston is mucked up, to clean it take off the end cap, barrel and foregrip. The pin that connects the gas piston and the action arms is only held in by a detent but removing mine for the first time was a pain so used a penetrating oil on it. To remove it i used a flat tip screw to pry it out and used a rag so i did not scratch the gun, make sure to push in on the piston while doing this because the spring will shoot it out. Clean and lube the tube, piston, end cap and gas ports on the barrel, mine had a lot of caked on carbon also i used a light coat of gun grease the first time and it had problems in the cold so use something thin like Remoil. If you want you can now remove the bolt. To be honest i do not remember how to do it besides taking the trigger assembly out and unhooking the action arms from the bolt. Make sure to give it a function check after you put it back together because some times when you put the trigger assembly back in you can move one of the sears out of place and the hammer will not lock back after you fire it. If you run into any problems let me know and i will help you through it.