M97 synthetic stock.....

[AJumbo]

I was picking through some old gun magazines and found an article about a three-gun shoot in which the High Shotgun trophy was a Winchester 97 that had been all "tacticalized," including a shortened barrel, rifle sights, choke tube job and- be still, my beating heart- a synthetic stock. It might even have been a SpeedFeed. Of course, I MUST HAVE ONE, mostly because I MUST HAVE ONE.

I cannot find a synthetic 97 stock anywhere on the interwebz. Is anyone here aware of a manufacturer for such a thing? I know that by the time I find one, pay for it and get it to the door, I would have spent enough money to fill my coat closet with M500 Mossbergs (also a worthy goal!), but this is out of my hands because I MUST HAVE ONE.

Failing that, are any existing syn-stocks capable of being altered to work on my beloved 97?

Mods, if this plea belongs in Gunsmithing, I won't be offended if it gets moved; I figured I'd pick the brains of the scattergun-knowledgeable first.

 

[dprice3844444]

find a wood stock maker and ask him what other stock would fit a 97 receiver

 

[rcmodel]

Get a wood stock and sand & paint it Black.

Same differance from a very short viewing distance.

rc

 

[AJumbo]

The stock I saw in the magazine was actually OD. It's not any particular color that I'm after, it's moreso dimensional stability and weather resistance, and because I MUST.... OK, we've been over that part.

 

[rcmodel]

it's moreso dimensional stability and weather resistance,

How do you think all those wood stocks on 100 year old Model 97's got to be 100 years old??

rc

 

[AJumbo]

OK, I haven't given up on the quest, but I have decided to accept a compromise.....

The gun I'm playing with is a 1950-made takedown model. It was once owned by an armorer for a local LE agency. He was apparently a pretty big guy, 'cuz he added an inch and a quarter thick White Line recoil pad, plus spacers, which gives the gun an almost 15" LOP. I like about 14", so I bought a vintage steel buttplate for it last night. No tacky rubber to hang up on my clothes on spoil a smooth presentation.

The past owner also bobbed the barrel to 23", added a full-length rib and installed choke tubes. I can mount a clamp-on sight set on the rib, and may well do so. Without a plug, the mag holds five rounds. Bless those CASS guys' gamey little hearts, there is now a conversion kit available that allows six rounds in the tube; done deal, next paycheck.

Again, I know I can buy a Mossberg for what these parts are setting me back, but I have never been without a 97 since I've been big enough to shoot off my hind legs, and this one cries out to be my nightstand gun.

 

[rcmodel]

I have a 1955 Winchester catalog that specifically states the Model 97 magazine holds 5 shells (roll-crimp) or six shells (new style star-crimp).

If yours won't, it can't be very much stopping it.

rc