Please help - winchester m1897 trench gun

[Anton67]

Hi,
I am looking at possibly buying this trench gun. Any thoughts on it would be appreciated.
Also, is the any other area where the serial number should be located other than in the photos?
Does it look to be a legit trench gun?
Thank you in advance.

Information

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[Aragorn243]

About all I know about these is that I would never, ever buy one unless it was either dirt cheap or I had written documentation it was legit and even then I would be very careful. It is said there are more fakes out there than real ones were ever produced. As there is not a single US ordnance marking that is shown in any photo, my inclination is that it is not legit as a military shotgun. Could be a civilian version or a prison version but not US military. There should be a stock cartouche and an ordnance bomb on the receiver and/or barrel. Probably also a "US" stamp. I would think these would be prominently displayed in a photo collage.

[AFJon]

My vote is a "put together" M1897. Nothing wrong with that as long as the shotgun is priced appropriately.

[vintage hunter]

Been watching this one myself mostly out of curiosity. As I understand it not all WWI trenchguns were U.S. marked and I'm pretty sure this one's not military with a 1922 DOM(according to oldguns.net) but I don't think it's a put together either. I have a gut feeling this particular gun was a factory job.

It went for $1025.00, a fair bit more than I was willing to shell out considering it's questionable pedigree and the damaged or missing parts.

[Brian Dick]

My guess is it's legit. The early ones weren't U.S. marked and it's in the correct serial range as built in 1919. I have one just like it, sn. E683164 built in 1918 and the "US" was hand stamped on just in front of the ejection port after rebuild at ordnance workshops at some point. I imported it along with several others when we could get retransfer authorization from U.S. Department of State. The majority came via Canada from Vietnam.