winchester military marked 1897

[Brian Dick]

I'm betting it's a real one that someone doctored a bit by adding the markings on the left side of the receiver. Why they would do that when it's already marked is beyond me. The crooked "US" on the right side in front of the ejection port is legit. Probably applied at a workshop during repair and/or refinishing. As I said, a good-sized batch of original guns were imported into Canada in the 2000's from Vietnam. How do I know? I imported several back to the USA. The one I kept, sn. 683164, is far from excellent condition and had obviously been refinished at some point. I had another I bought as a one off from Wortner Gun Works in Chatham that was much nicer with original finish and had the roll markings on the left side but they were perfectly straight and the gun was built late in WW2. I don't think many of the earlier 1897 trench guns were even marked until they saw rebuild during or after WW2. Betting the Vietnam returns went to the Pacific in WW2 and never returned, probably winding up in Japan and being used throughout the Korean War and finally winding up in Vietnam where they were left with the RVN upon our withdrawal there. Just my 2 cents worth of opinion but it makes sense.

I have a stripped receiver, sn. 692684 and barrel left over from the same deal and it has no "US" mark on it. It's not refinished. Anyone want a project?

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