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Do I understand it correctly, that my 12 gauge 1897, made in 1898, can shoot 1-1/4 oz loads and no heavier?
Ok. FYI, I did a little looking around. I’m now quite sure it’s a 1.25 ounce max shot weight for that gun. No heavier than that. The back story is I bought my 1897 about 20 years ago and shortly thereafter called Winchester about what ammo one can use in it. The gentleman who eventually came on the phone said the normal stuff – 2.75” shells, no steel shot, and then he said “And no heavier load than ____, because they didn’t make heavier loads than that back then.” So, I just today looked around the internet for vintage 12 gauge shotshells and found 1.25 ounce loads were seemingly quite common back then, along, of course, with the 1.125 loads. Therefore, the Winchester gentleman must have said 1.25 ounce loads were the maximum. He was obviously wanting me to stay away from the 1.375 magnum loads. Case solved. I guess I need to shoot that cool pump (take down, 30” barrel, full choke)($500!!! twenty years ago!!! Spendy!) more, if only to remember the load.
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As long as the gun is safe and in good condition I’d shoot any commercially available mainstream 2 3/4″ inch loads. I would of course avoid steel shot and the oddball exotic stuff folks are cooking up now. I’ve not heard of any limit on shot charge weight for the 97. I could be wrong.
According to the 1899 August Catalog the Max shown is 1 1/4 oz. You may get away with steel in a riot length barrel with cylinder choke but I wouldn’t recommend it. My Dad shot a lot of steel through a Modified choke and ringed the barrel. Didn’t see any other damage to the bore.
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