Late M97 Trench Guns.

[drm2m]

The late trench guns shown below have serial numbers 953,081 and 955,352.
Both have the front bead sights filled in.
Both have barrel notches under the barrel used to secure barrel band typically found on riot guns.
Both have 42 dated barrels.



Filled in front bead sight.



Barrel notch usually found on riot guns.



Photo of barrel notches found on riot guns....not the guns shown above.



The moral of this story is that Winchester used 'some riot gun barrels' for the fulfillment of their later trench gun contracts and they had all of the characteristics of riot gun barrels.

Joe Poyer makes reference to this fact in his book which was written in 1992, I wonder what he has learned since then.

On page 7, bottom of the page he states "several otherwise correct M97 Trench Guns with magazine tube clamp notches were noted in the survey."

Some of the other markings are shown below.

David

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[scosgt]

Who cares?

---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 PM ----------

In fact, the bottom gun appears to have an incorrect magazine tube, to go along with the incorrect barrel.

[drm2m]

Bruce,

You are supposed to be a serious guy on this Forum
And you make the comment "who cares"

Pretty classy response!

David

Do your homework regarding these late M97 trench guns ....how many have you seen and checked regarding the existence of these barrel notches.
These were riot gun barrels used on late trench guns.

[scosgt]

The mag tube is not correct.
You have been up here for a while doing anything you can to validate your guns. Not working.
And you don't know me personally, don't use my name.

[drm2m]

scosgt,

Could you please explain to me what you see as being incorrect on the magazine tube of one of these guns.

Both guns are late M97 trench guns ...Sn.953,081 and Sn. 955,352.
Both are barrel dated 42.
Both have filled in front bead sights.
Both are riot gun barrels used on late trench guns.
Both have the under barrel notches typical of riot gun barrels.



Sn.955,352.



Sn.955,352.



Sn.955,352. Full left side view.



Thanks,

David

[drm2m]

Based on the suggestion that the magazine tube was not correct, I sent the four photos shown above to Bruce Canfield for his opinion.

These were his comments;

"It's really difficult to properly evaluate a gun without a detailed physical examination. That being said, I didn't see anything on the photos that ran up any particular "red flags.:"

----- Original Message -----
From: David
To: bruce canfield
Sent: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:25:18 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Bruce, does this late M97 trench gun magazine tube look correct to you?

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As far as the existence of barrel notches found on some late M97 trench guns that have filled in front bead sights, I received this comment from another collector.

David,
I inquired of another US Military shotgun collector I know, and he told me that he has a couple of late M97 trench guns with the plugged sight holes and the notches in the barrels. He also has a take-off barrel with the plugged sight and the notches. So, that feature (i.e., the notches) on these plugged sight hole barrels is not abnormal.