New to Me Win 1897 Thumb-Buster

[ReadyontheRight]

God Bless John Browning.

I picked up a Winchester 1897 today. 30" full bbl. Made 100 years ago - mid-1907 by the serial #.

Says "12 GA" and "FULL" on the bbl, but nothing about shell size.

The metal has some brown patina around the mid-section of the barrel, but it's mostly just worn gray metal. What was the metal treatment on these? Is there something I should do besides cleaning and silicone to clean up and protect the metal?

About 1.5 inches of the metal at the muzzle is discolored and streakey - with a tiny bit of tar-paper-like substance on the bottom of the barrel - almost as if something was taped on there for years.

The barrel is a little loose from the receiver - which seems to be typical and leads to people pinning the barrel to the receiver. It takes down like it should.

Apparently rarely if ever cleaned. The action is a bit difficult - especially on closing, but that should get better with a nice cleaning.

Trap league starts up again on Monday, but I will send this one to a gunsmith before I shoot it.

$234.54 out the door. What do you think?

I am going to keep my eyes open for a newer barrel. I REALLY want to bubba up an 1897 trench gun, but I am not messing with the barrel that matches the receiver.

Any advice on making this diamond-in-the-rough a good, pretty shooter without destroying its value?

 

[BigG]

When you have it apart you will notice that the bbl can be adjusted, in typical Browning fashion, to eliminate the slop. I believe you have to loosen or remove a screw to do it but it's pretty intuitive if you look at how it fits together.

 

[buck460XVR]

nice old guns, aren't they? Haven't shot mine in years, but shot many a slug thru it as a kid deer hunting. Learnt the hard way, like with my 32 special, it was damn hard puttin' the safety on with cold hands and mittens...... Thank god nowadays for good gloves and push button safeties.

 

[10X]

The first successful pump shotgun. They originally were blued. They were only made in 12 ga. and 16 ga. The 12 ga. should be chambered for 2 3/4" shells. I don't believe they were ever chambered for 2 5/8" shells. Take a fired 12 ga. shell and see it it fits in the chamber without problem.

There is an adjustment on the "ring" that holds the barrel and magazine tube.
IIRC you loosen a small set bolt and move the piece to adjust the amount of tension when reassembling the barrel to the receiver. That should take out the wobble. Don't know about the hard closing, hopefully, that is just a cleaning issue and not worn parts. No way to tell without seeing it in person.

With modern shells and the old Winchester full chokes these guns shoot "hard", meaning, very tight dense patterns.

Personally, I like the hammer. That is great for a lefty like me and work well with gloves in cold weather. They are great guns.

 

[TNT]

Congrats on a great buy! I picked one up at a auction last year and the first thing I did was clean it and took it out and shot a crow....havn't shot it since but it proved it's value to me. Mine is a 1918 or 1917 vintage and I checked it with a chamber guage and it's a 2 3/4 inch chamber. Just have to remember to include the "ring" section when measuring like on a Model 12.

 

[Prof. A. Wickwire]

ReadyontheRight,

Congratulations on your new shotgun. I have two of these myself. They are great firearms and a true Browning masterpiece.

For more information on your shotgun go to Marauder's Irons.

Sincerely,

Prof. A. Wickwire

 

[sm]

ReadyontheRight,

Congrats on a Great Shotgun!!

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Hey -- Thanks everyone for the info. I've been heads-down on work projects and have not been here for a while. I somehow got myself into an A-level trap league, so my shooting has not been adding to the team scores much. SO, I've been working my way through the guns I do not shoot often and I plan to get this one taken apart this weekend and 25 rounds through it by mid-July.

Gotta love JMB. OF COURSE he planned on how to adjust for "the wobble".

Too bad our current JMBs are spending their time developing software.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Nice shotgun, and I commend your decision to not bubba this up. Or down.

In a shotgun this old, I'd skip short mag loads and the non toxics except bismuth.

Once the smith OKs it, go shoot the heck out of it....

 

[Gunsnrovers]

Nice. Looks like the twin of the one I got. Mine had a decent sized dent in the barrel about 6" from the muzzle. I swear someone used it as a lever.

The shop I bought it from cut it down to 20" and installed a new bead for free and it quickly became my CAS gun for a few seasons.

It's a great shotgun and will serve you well. Enjoy.

 

[Jack2427]

I have 4 97s in my Tactical/LE collection. They tend to be a little hard to pump for the first couple of centuries or so, then they loosen up nicely.