Winchester 1897 experts?

[lawson]

I recently acquired a Winchester 1897, a shotgun I've always wanted. it's old, if i read the serial numbers correctly, 1907. It has a 30 inch barrel, which is a replacement that appears to be pretty recent, not much wear.


It's a takedown model, but I have no idea how that works. Can anyone share any wisdom?

 

[mljdeckard]

My dad has a couple of them,

At the forward end of the magazine, there is a push pin going through the diameter of the end. If you work it, you see it slides back and forth in its hole. (If no one has taken it down in 50 years, you may need to oil it up a bit.) It will push through in one direction out almost all the way and stop. When it's out, use it to twist the whole magazine tube around as far as it will go. When it's in this position, pull towards the end of the muzzle, and the whole assembly forward of the receiver pops straight off. To reassemble, reverse the process.

That's as closely as I remember, I haven't actually done it in about 15 years. But they're great guns and fun to shoot.

 

[brucets11]

Terrific gun and I've got two of them. Mine are cut down to 20 inch barrels for Cowboy shooting and they're really fun.

Quick link for take down.

http://www.marauder.homestead.com/files/Model97down.html

Also, go to a site such as amazon.com and buy the DVD on the WInchester 97 by Larry Crow. It's well worth the money and will teach you everything about your 97.

http://www.amazon.com/Winchester-97.../ref=sr_1_2/102-2204453-4267369?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

 

[Onmilo]

1. Open the breech, make sure shotgun is unloaded.
2. Close breech and let the hammer down.
3. Pull the slide handle completely foreward, Depress the pin at front of magazine tube fully down and unscrew and pull forward on the magazine tube.
4. Turn barrel/magazine assembly clockwise about one quarter to one half turn and pull assembly forward off receiver.

By clockwise it is meant while looking at the gun from back to front.
A better explination would be to turn the barrel assembly away from the receiver so the side of the barrel the action bar is located on turns out, away from the receiver and not into it.
Or, when looking down the gun from receiver to muzzle, turn the barrelled assembly in a fashion that makes the magazine tube portion swing away from the left side or solid non ejection port side of the receiver.

Winchester made some great guns but their diassembly instructions sucked.HTH

 

[hso]

And pay close attention when you get ready to put it back together since it's very easy to turn the tube to the "lock" positon while the contraption is apart. (I may have opposable thumbs, but there are lemurs with more brain power than I have at times. )

 

[lawson]

Maybe i should not bother with taking it down, it sounds a bit complicated.

Since it's an aftermarket barrel, I'm thinking of having it cut from 30" to 26" or 24". most of the bird hunting I do is walking through thick desert scrub jumping quail from the brush. The long barrel swings a bit heavy and is cumbersome.

It's a nice companion to my Model 12.