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Hello Bert,
I have one manufactured in 1909. Serial number is 432296. It is in good condition. Would probably be very good except for 6 small pit marks on top near receiver. Could you give me an educated guess at the value? Thank you for your help. Regards, Hodge
Send clear pictures of the gun to me at [email protected]
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
hi bert.i have a 12 gauge 1897 sn 194536 with a c above it. what year was it produced. need help
willie said
hi bert.i have a 12 gauge 1897 sn 194536 with a c above it. what year was it produced. need help
Your Model 1897 was manufactured early in the year 1903.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert H. said
Mike,
Is it a Brush Gun, or a standard Field grade gun? What is the barrel length and the choke marking?
Bert
Sorry for late reply I bought the gun. It has 26″ mod. barrel.
mike smith said
Sorry for late reply I bought the gun. It has 26″ mod. barrel.
Mike,
What is the serial number and gauge ?
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Great info. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Bert.
i was recently handed down 16 ga 1897 with serial num c182388 with some odditities. Not looking to sell by no means. Just trying to gather
No stamp for the model number on slide. Full barrel is exactly 20” coming from end of barrel to where it joins receiver. Also has a pistol grip stock with rounded knob.
Im not finding any gun that matches up to what I have.
ill try to upload pics
thanks for any info you can share
Steelbridge44 said
Great info. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Bert.i was recently handed down 16 ga 1897 with serial num c182388 with some odditities. Not looking to sell by no means. Just trying to gather
No stamp for the model number on slide. Full barrel is exactly 20” coming from end of barrel to where it joins receiver. Also has a pistol grip stock with rounded knob.
Im not finding any gun that matches up to what I have.
ill try to upload pics
thanks for any info you can share
I highly suspect that the barrel on your Model 1897 has been shortened (cut down) after the fact, and that the slide bar assembly has been replaced with a later production piece. Does the slide handle stock have three screws securing it to the slide bar? The serial number identifies it as a 1902 production gun.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
No there are not 3 screws attaching the slide handle.assembly to the slide.
Also on top of the receiver, directly in front of hammer there are two screws that looks like the receiver has been tapped- perhaps for a back sight. Have you seen this before?
thanks again
OK, it appears that you have a Frankenchester (a gun assembled from the parts of several donors). The slide assembly is from a newer gun. The two holes in the receiver were added by a past owner. As a result of the alterations, the gun has very little “collector” value.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Just stumbled across this thread while looking up some info about the 1897 I just picked up today.
It is a 1909 Brush takedown in 16 gauge. 26″ barrel, CYL choke.
Pretty rough in the receiver bluing department, with a few minor scuffs and scratches, and it had a small piece apparently carved out of the top of the stock for some reason. Not much collector value in its current condition, I’m sure, but I didn’t give much for it, and it will clean up nicely and be a nice close up woods gun for grouse.
I had never seen one with 26″, CYL barrel, and I don’t see them in 16 gauge very often in any barrel/choke configuration, so I had to grab it.
438884
Also, another question I had, does this gun need 2 9/16″ shells, or is it set for 2 3/4″? It’s not marked in that way.
thanks!
Mark
Mark,
Your Model 1897 16-Ga Brush Gun was manufactured in January 1909, and it is chambered for a maximum 2-9/16″ shell. If the chamber length is not marked on the barrel (or bottom of the receiver), that means it has the shorter chamber. When Winchester made the change (in early 1930) to the 2-3/4″ chamber, they also began marking them accordingly.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Thanks!
I’ll order up some short shells, then. My other old Winchester shotgun, a Model 1912 (built in 1918) was already lengthened to take the longer shells when I got it.
I see you’re in Kingston, I’m a bit south of you in Wahkiakum County, along the Columbia River. Both this 1897 and my model 1912 came from DJ’s in Bothell. That place is dangerous to the wallet… 😉
thanks again!
Mark
Mark,
RST has the correct shells for your gun. I have a nice early production Model 1897 Field grade and have bought shells from RST for it.
I grew up in the Seaside & Astoria OR (Clatsop County) area, then settled in the Kingston WA area back in 1990 (when I was still in the U.S. Navy Submarine service). As a young fellow, I spent a lot of time fishing the lower Columbia river.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
I just found the RST site, thanks!
I need to make a correction to my earlier guess about it being a brush gun, now that I’m home and have an actual tape measure, I can see that the barrel is actually 28″, not 26″. So, from everything I’ve read so far, that would not be a “Brush Gun”, since those all had 26″ barrels, is that right? So, mine would be a regular takedown with 28″ barrel and CYL bore. Still going to be a nice woods gun… 😉
Just wanted to fix that, since it sounded like you were keeping good records.
I live in Skamokawa, and lived in Astoria for a while in 1990-1991.
Mark
Mark,
Correct, the 28-inch barrel makes it a Field grade gun with an optional CYL bore barrel.
I left Astoria in January 1979 (when I enlisted in the U.S. Navy). I spent the first 6-years of my Navy career on the east coast (Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) before getting transferred to the then relatively new Bangor Submarine Base along the Hood Canal. I managed to stay there for the rest of my Navy career (retired in February 2000), and made it my permanent home.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
One feature of the brush guns that most people overlook is that the mag tube is shorter than the regular solidframe guns. They hold 4 shells.
I’ve been told that there were some brush guns with barrels other than 26″ but I can not confirm that it 100% true.
I currently own 2 1897 12 ga brushguns, and 10 solidframe 97’s and a few norinco 97’s
3GC
3GC said
One feature of the brush guns that most people overlook is that the mag tube is shorter than the regular solidframe guns. They hold 4 shells.I’ve been told that there were some brush guns with barrels other than 26″ but I can not confirm that it 100% true.
I currently own 2 1897 12 ga brushguns, and 10 solidframe 97’s and a few norinco 97’s
3GC
In addition to the shorter magazine tube, the stock LOP is also shorter on the Brush Gun than the standard Model 1897. All Brush Guns were equipped with a CYL bore 26-inch barrel, no other barrel length was offered. A MOD choke was optional though.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
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