1897 Questions

[NORTEXED]

Just received a 97 at Christmas time (My younger brother passed away in July, and my nieces came over to my Mom's Christmas day and brought it to me. Said they wanted me to have a rememberance from their Dad, pretty special). I dated it to 1920 manuf., and it is a takedown, pretty decent shape but reblued, and Little Bro had the 30" cut back to 20" by a professional. I saw a heatshield /bayo lug attachment (real nice one) in a gunshop Tuesday near Houston for $119.00 and like it, but wonder what that does to the takedown function, and if the bottom of the barrel has to be grooved for the cross screws. It'sall original except for the blue and cut down, tight and mirror bore. He did not have the barrel d/t for a bead, which I understand the originals with heat shields did not have either. Was probably looking for a shield himself. I do kinda cringe at the thought of grooving the barrel though. Comments/ suggestions???

Also,Next question, I am having a fit trying to break the gun down. The mag tube is a bear to rotate, (by hand of course, would not use a cheater), and even rotated, the mag tube doesn't slide up. I have soaked the junction of the mag tube and take down joint with liquid wrench, which helped a little, but not much. I printed out takedown instructions, but am having a hard time being sure which way to rotate (looking at it from the end of the barrel). Clockwise from end of barrel, right? Slide forward, and tube should slide out slightly and the slide move forward more? Can you bump the slide (by hand of course) pretty hard to get the tube to slide up? Instructions say slide tube up first then move slide up to disengage.

Information

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[emmagee1917]

Answered on other forum. Chris

[browningautorifle]

The cross pin only will turn one way when pushed down to unlock. Point the gun to the left. You would have the gun in your right hand and push the pin with your left thumb. Hook your left index around the pin, now on the bottom of the tube and rotate it towards you. The whole tube will now move to the front of the barrel. The pump handle comes forward and turn the front half towards you to unscrew it from the back half. The question of fitting a handguard to a sporting gun is discussed in the shotgun section at length. In short, the barrel is too small outside diameter to hold a handguard in place.

[NORTEXED]

Finally got it apart, the mag tube was really stuck in extension, but lots of liquid wrench and gentle coaxing finally got it to move. took apart and cleaned and lubed and still snug, but working. Next question is, I am on the last notch in the adjusting sleeve and it's still a tiny bit loose. Would a shim correct this (Brownells has them) but I'm not sure where it goes. Does it fit between the barrel and receiver extension, or between extension and adjusting sleeve?

[CapnJohn]

US-TM-9-285-SHOTGUNS-ALL-TYPES-1942 Try to find the previous book by googling. It might provide most of the info you're looking for.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Thanks CapnJohn -

I just searched and there's a full .pdf version of it here:

http://carl.army.mil/wwIItms/TM9_285_1942.pdf

Give it time to fully load and you can save it on your computer.

[NORTEXED]

Thanks guys, printed out the 1897 section and put it in a binder, really cool. Still need to know about the placement of the shims, anybody??

[emmagee1917]

Never used them , but I found one reference that stated between the bbl and the adjusting sleeve. I would guess that would put them out of sight. They look to be simple brass shim washers.
HTH , Chris

[NORTEXED]

I think they are brass washers, stated to be .005 ea.

[NORTEXED]

Got the brass shims from Brownells today, installed 1, backed the ring back to center, and put it back together (TIGHT by hand). Feels solid as a rock now.