A Winchester 6500 brings back happy memories while a sparkling new ATA impresses Becky McKenzie

ON TEST: WINCHESTER MODEL 6500

I started shooting back in 2005, using my husband John’s Winchester 6500, a 12 gauge 30in fixed choke Sporter This one was also left handed! I had only shot once before, many many years before with my dad.

John took me down to our local ground at Sawley in Derbyshire, now known as East Midlands Clay Sports. Back in the day we knew it as ‘Bob’s’; then it was taken over by our good friend Glenn Buckley, and it’s now run by Clive Bramley of Doveridge Clay Sports. It’s a very small ground, with a couple of Skeet layouts, a DTL and a 50 bird Sporting, which may even be 75 now. That’s where I learnt to shoot.

John bought his 6500 in 1984 and still has the cardboard box it came in! Back then Winchesters were made in the Kodensha plant in Japan. The predecessor to the 6500 was the famous Winchester 101, which had started production in the early 1960s. Back then many shooters felt that the 101 set the standard that all other mid-priced factory made shotguns would be judged by.

The Winchester 101 remained in production for 20 years, ending around 1987. That wasn’t because there was anything wrong with this gun – it was truly superb. The 101 was followed by the 6500, and one of the last models to come off the production line in the Kodensha factory was the Model 6500 Sporter that we have here.