Sears Got There First: The J.C. Higgins Model 60

In the 1950s, the American semi-automatic shotgun was hardly new. Hunters had been carrying recoil-operated autoloaders such as the Browning Auto-5 and Remington Model 11 for decades. But a major change in shotgun design was approaching: the practical gas-operated semi-automatic.

Surprisingly, it was Sears, Roebuck & Company that got there first. The J.C. Higgins Model 60, manufactured for Sears by the High Standard Manufacturing Corporation, was among the most important firearms to wear the J.C. Higgins name. Contemporary firearms literature described it as the first successful gas-operated shotgun, and later histories credit Sears and High Standard with bringing the concept to the American commercial market ahead of the major shotgun makers. A 1955 GUNS Magazine article actually appeared under the heading “First Successful Gas Shotgun.”

A New Kind of Autoloader

Rather than using the recoil of the entire barrel and action to cycle the shotgun, as earlier autoloaders did, the Model 60 used a portion of the expanding propellant gas produced when a shell was fired. High Standard called its system the “Power-Piston” automatic action. Gas tapped from ports in the barrel

acted upon a piston housed beneath the fore-end, providing the energy necessary to operate the action. The result was an autoloading shotgun capable of handling different 2¾-inch loads without requiring the shooter to manually adjust the gas system. That was significant technology in the mid-1950s. At roughly the same time, Remington was developing its own gas-operated shotgun, but Sears beat it to the marketplace. American Rifleman dates the Sears introduction of the Model 60 to 1956 and notes that it appeared shortly before Remington's Sportsman 58. Contemporary evidence indicates the High Standard design was already appearing through Sears earlier in the decade, so the precise introduction date deserves some caution. What is clear is that the Sears/High Standard shotgun was at the forefront of the transition to gas operation. An Official Journal Of The NRA

High Standard Behind the Sears Name

Like other Sears firearms, the Model 60 wasn't manufactured by Sears itself. It was produced by High Standard, the Connecticut firearms company responsible for a number of J.C. Higgins sporting arms. That relationship is reflected in the Sears model-number system: Model 60 shotguns carry Sears' 583 manufacturer prefix, identifying High Standard as the maker. The Model 60 was a 12-gauge hunting shotgun rather than an expensive specialty firearm. Sears could place comparatively advanced firearm technology in its sporting-goods department and catalogs, making it available to the same broad customer base already buying J.C. Higgins guns, ammunition, hunting clothing and outdoor equipment.

An Overlooked Sears Milestone

Today, gas operation is commonplace in semi-automatic shotguns. Designs from Remington, Beretta, Winchester and many others helped make the system familiar to generations of hunters and target shooters. That makes it easy to overlook the role played by a Sears house-brand shotgun. The J.C. Higgins Model 60 represents something more interesting than simply another firearm carrying a department-store name. It illustrates the relationship Sears cultivated with established American manufacturers and the company's ability to bring genuinely innovative sporting equipment to a mass-market audience. In this instance, the familiar J.C. Higgins name was attached to a shotgun that helped usher in the modern era of the gas-operated autoloader. And for Sears, Roebuck & Company, it was another example of something the company did remarkably well: putting important American sporting equipment within reach of the everyday hunter.