Hacked Off!

Cult Favorite

Introduced in 1959, the semi-automatic never quite met with commercial success. Just over 82,000 shotguns were produced before it was discontinued in 1965. Kossowan believes he has found so many available in New England because the majority of those sales were in the region. “I’ve noticed one main similarity with used models,” Kossowan said. “The shotgun was a pain to clean, and there were so many moving parts. Grandpa typically bought one, shot it for a while, struggled with the cleaning and put it in the back of the cabinet. Each Model 59 I bought had to be thoroughly cleaned before modification.”

Kossowan’s close friend and hunting buddy Alan Johnson helped with the first modification. “Cutting the barrel is easy, but altering the wood takes some courage,” he laughed. “Alan is an unbelievably talented machinist who spent his career working for General Electric, and everything he works on comes out perfectly. The modification has only three steps. First, I had to chop back the barrel. Second, I trimmed back the forend. Third, I had to cut down and smooth out the pistol grip. I spent most of my time working with a belt sander and then staining and re-checkering the stock. That’s the shotgun that Brian now owns.”

Winchester Model 59s never were cabinet queens and Kossowan has used his throughout New England on woodcock, Ruffed grouse and Northern Bobwhite quail. Davis uses his too, mostly on Pennsylvania Ruffed grouse and woodcock. And just last week, Thompson pulled his 59 from the rack to use on some released quail he uses for training. “I’m in the process of breaking a few really nice gun dogs, and the 59 put some feathers in their mouths,” he said.

Subscribe To GUNS Magazine