Winchester 97 serial number question

Hi All;
I normally post on the smallbore forum. A question about reliable Winchester serial number data was posted there. This brought up a question on the 1942 barrel dated Riot/Trench guns. From the resources I have and what was posted by other members, all of the 42 barrel dated shotguns have post war receivers according to the serial number list that is supposed to have came from Winchesters records.
My questions are: Are there any known 42 barrel dated receivers in the correct serial number range for 1942-1943 [891191-912265] period? Are the Winchester published dates incorrect? Did the military have their own serial numbers assigned to the 97?

Yes, most of the Model 97 serial number tables are incorrect in some respects, particularly when it comes to the shotguns made for the Military. Some are off by over 5 years.

The WW2 manufactured Model 97 trench guns fall into the 930,000 to 955,000 serial number range and have barrels dated 1941 or 1942.

A few more questions:
When were the WWII Riot/Trenchguns released to the public? Was it from the DCM or other avenues?

How was it determined that the Winchester dates were wrong?

Was there only the one contract for WWII Winchester 97's?

Why didn't they just produce the model 12 for WWII?

There was more than one contract for Model 97s, and IIRC, the last contract was made in late 1942. So those guns were probably delivered sometime around the first quarter of 1943.

As far as dating the WW2 Military Model 97s, all of the Military guns are "US" marked on the receiver. If you look at the barrel dates on the Military guns, they are all dated 1941 or 1942 (although a few may have a 1940 or 1943 date, but I can't recall seeing one). And the serial numbers of these Military marked guns are in the 925,000 to 955,000 range. The Military contract dates for Model 97s are also evidence of when they were produced.

Big Larry had a almost brand new early M 97 that had a 1940 barrel date. Man I loved looking at that gun. Very early with sling swivels. Beautiful shotgun. Derrick

Hi Tom My 97 Trench is serial number 959488 is that common to see them above 955,000?
Thanks
Greg

I don't know about common, but there are many examples above 955,000 into the low 960,000 range. Some reported even higher.