My first and only military marked gun:
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My first and only military marked gun:
So it is and always was a riot? No evidence of a heatsheild? Doesn't matter anyway, looks fine!
Looks like an original 620 riot gun. The markings bear that out.
Nice gun. My first one was the exact same one. Shotguns are the most useless of military collectible weapons. The barrels are too short to hunt with, there are no competitions with them, and they are fun to go blow holes in things but that's about it. However, they are my most favorite of all military weapons for some reason. It all started with that same model you have there. After that, I was hooked! I'm no "pro" collector but I never pass on one if the price is right. Enjoy your new gun, it's gorgeous!
This was an impuls purchase-but it is nice to have one U.S. marked gun:)
Mine was the same way! I was at a militaria show here in Ohio. There was mostly uniforms, patches, helmets, books and all sorts of other stuff besides guns. Only a few guys actually had any. On one table, in the second to last row, in the last hour of the show I spotted a gentleman with it on his table surrounded by a bunch of uniforms. I looked it over knowing nothing about military shotguns. I saw the flaming bombs and knew it had to be something. It was in great shape so I figured it was later than WWII. I committed the first several digits of the serial number to memory and repeating them to myself I went to a vendor that sells gun books. I found Bruce Canfield's shotgun book and did a quick reference check on the serial number which confirmed it was WWII. By the time I got back another gentleman was looking at it. I started to sweat because I figured I had lost it. He put it down and I heard him say: "If you still have it at the Dayton show I'd be happy to buy it off of you then". The show had been slow and the guy was asking $400 for it. I walked up playing it "cool" and looked it over again to make sure I wasn't crazy and then out of habit I asked "So is $400 the best you can do on this?". I almost had a heart attack when he said "It's the last day of the show and it's been slow. I don't have much of an interest in guns but I took it in trade. I'll take $220 for it". So I paid the man, bought the Canfield book and it's been hopelessly down hill from there. That was about two years ago and I'm up to seven shotguns. Not a huge collection but not bad for a guy on a budget : )