Help - Winchester 1897 takedown problem?

[Throwingdown]

I recently purchased a Winchester 1897. I had looked for a shooter - I found it at a gunshow. Price was right - it was refinished in parkerized, and the barrel has a different serial number than the body.
I have not shot it yet.
The problem is, when I push in the locking lug at the end of the tube, it moves fine, but the tube will not rotate to allow me to slide the tube foreward to pull it out of the body to rotate it and remove the barrel.
I am going to spray some penetrating oil in it to see it it will come loose.
Also, the action is pretty tight, when you rack the gun, it is easier to slide it back and harder to push it foreward....
Any suggestions?

 

[Bill B.]

I have one at the gunsmith currently for the same issue. Per the gunsmith they had not got the tube seated to where it should be and it had made the tube egg shaped at the bottom. He had a lot of trouble getting it to come free and is the process of trying to true the tube back up. I may wind up having to buy a replacement tube. My advice is to have someone look at it that knows 97's. It doesn't have to be gunsmith.

 

[rcmodel]

Also, the action is pretty tight, when you rack the gun, it is easier to slide it back and harder to push it foreward....
Any suggestions?

Sounds like whoever Parkerized it did the internals too.
So, the glass smooth moving parts are now Parkerized and rough.

Short of tearing it completely apart and polishing the Park off the moving parts, just oil & a lot of shooting will wear it in smooth again eventually.

rc

 

[TEDDY]

win 97

the pin in tube push it thru and turn tube.then pull forward.same as model 12.
I have had two.

 

[Throwingdown]

TEDDY - the problem is, the tube won't turn.........

 

[owlhoot]

The barrel has been replaced. Those parkerized barrels were for sale at Gun Parts a few years ago, and most of them required some fitting to make them work right.

Contact your nearest Cowboy Action Club and find out who the 97 guru is in your area and let him fix it.

Most of those old take down 97's are fairly loose. Someone could have taken up the slack to give a tight fit and done the job improperly.

 

[whitefeather]

I'm thinking rcmodel might have it right....

If someone "parked" it inside and out, that could be causing the hangup.

Both my Model '97 and Model '12 have very smooth surfaces where the tubes engage each other.

 

[Throwingdown]

I sprayed some liquid wrench in there and let it set overnight. Still unable to loosen tube, so I'm taking it to a local gunsmith.

 

[kdave21]

I just bought one and the problem was that the magazine end cap was stuck to the magazine end cap stop. If this happens the tube will not turn. If you look at any of the exploded views online, you will see what parts I am talking about. After I finally figured it out, it was an easy fix. I sprayed them with Ballistol and had to do a little tapping. I actually took those two parts off, but just be warned, the spring comes flying out of the tube at about 100 miles an hour. Learned that the hard way!