I have absolutely no experience with them but that is a gorgeous old Winchester.

Never heard of this gun.  I'll probably be captain obvious by asking, but it does look like a direct competitor of the recoil operated Model 11/A-5?

Sorry for the late response! been away for a while.

Thanks for the comments on it. Its a family heirloom.

They call it the widow maker because several hunters were killed while loading it. This was the first semi-auto from Winchester, a competitor to the A-5 from browning. To load the gun the chamber is opened by grabbing the barrel and pulling it towards you, into the receiver. The loading port is then opened. The problem was people would put the butt stock on the ground and the barrel on their chest, leaning on the gun to open the port. An obvious and fatal mistake.

That's what I have since found out about the gun. Came from grandfather with 2 lengths as well.


PS:
I made the initial mistake of putting this in the rifle section. I've realized that. My mad.

is that the shotgun where the barrel moves back and forth with each shot?

I remember seeing someone come into a gunshop with one desiring to scope it and they basically told them because of the design it wasn't going to happen

Long recoil shotguns I can recall: Remington 11-48, Remington Model 11/Browning A-5, Franchi AL48, Winchester 1911, and the Breda.  I'm sure that there are others.

That does seem like a design flaw

From what I understand they couldn't put a normal cocking handle on it because Browning's patent covered that, too. And IIRC, Winchester was dumb enough to turn down the A-5 when Browning brought the design to them first.

Discontinued by Winchester in 1925.

Excellent write up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Model_1911