Bought a Chinese copy of the Win. M97 recently. I bought it from Aim Surplus. (aimsurplus.com) I have done business with Aim for a few years and recommend them.
Anyhoo, I am still thinking of getting into CAS and needed a shotgun. These seem to be a good gun for the money. Aim was selling what they had for $199.99. Other than the near 14" LOP I am pretty satisfied with mine. It does have a pretty nice walnut stock.Action seemed a little stiff, but is getting better as I shoot it more. Now to work on getting that long stock to fit my short, squat, (fat) body. I have taken nearly 1/2 inch off so far and am getting real close. It has a screw-in choke tube, tho I only got one tube with it.
Anyway, it is pretty neat for the money and should make a good general purpose gun for around the farm. I do not shoot a shotgun much at all, but this one seems fun to play with.
Has anyone here had any experience with these?
OT - M'97
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OT - M'97
NRA Benefactor Member/Bluegrass Picker
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lever-4-life
- Levergunner 2.0
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Lastmohecken
- Senior Levergunner
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- Location: Arkansas
For the money they seem to be a pretty good gun. I have handled several, and worked the actions, I think there are people out there that do action jobs for cowboy shooters, that can really slick up one of these.
I have a WWII riot 97 with military marking on it, Not to be confused with the trench gun. My gun is probably almost identical to yours. I was very tempted to get one like yours, but this deal sorta fell in my lap on the original Winchester 97 so I bought it. All I can say is that they are a lot of fun to shoot, and I love the easy loading open bottom, they are about the eaisest shotgun to stuff shells in the mag, of any that ever came afterwards, with the Browning A5 easy loader model being in line for #2 in that regard.
I have a WWII riot 97 with military marking on it, Not to be confused with the trench gun. My gun is probably almost identical to yours. I was very tempted to get one like yours, but this deal sorta fell in my lap on the original Winchester 97 so I bought it. All I can say is that they are a lot of fun to shoot, and I love the easy loading open bottom, they are about the eaisest shotgun to stuff shells in the mag, of any that ever came afterwards, with the Browning A5 easy loader model being in line for #2 in that regard.
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CaptainFinn
- Levergunner 2.0
- Posts: 179
- Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:33 am
- Location: Ashland, KY
I have an Interstate/Norinco 1897 and a highly-modified original Winchester 97 that has been re-worked by Coyote Cap.
The Interstate 97 has soft steel. There, I said it. After a year of monthly SASS matches, the sear was so worn that I had to carefully back out the mainspring screw just so the trigger could fire.
A local shooter installed a long-tailed replacement sear from Cylinder & Slide. This fixed the problem and had the added benefit of bringing the trigger forward in the trigger guard--with the original sear, the trigger came back so far that it bottomed out against the rear of the trigger guard.
The original wood was covered with white primer and then a solid red-brown paint, hiding some attractive straight-grain 'elementary school desk' type wood underneath. I stripped it, sanded and steel-wool buffed it, applied some minwax red mahogany and then a half-dozen coats of tung oil and it looks pretty decent.
A very stiff gun at first, so I did a little smoothing and break-in work. Disassembled the entire receiver and scrubbed it,inside and out with mineral spirits and an M16 toothbrush. Once it was clean I lightly sprayed it down with rem oil. I then 'lubed' the contact points and inner rails with Brownell's 800 grit garnet compund and reassmbled the gun. Worked the action back and forth about 500 times (sitting in front of the TV and watching The Wild Bunch is optional).
Took the gun apart and scrubbed it out with Min. spirits and the toothbrush again. Re-oiled and generously applied bearing grease to all the internals. (Don't be shy).
I then reassembled the gun and it operated smooth as glass. racked it anouth 500 times and cleaned/degreased, then assembled after oiling and lightly greasing the internal rails, especially the cam/slot the pump action bar rides in.
This greatly improved the action of the gun. The action bar cam on the pump is the high-friction area. It's a very soft steel, as well; the cam on the rear end of the arm shows a lot of wear and tear. Unless they have improved this part since 2002, I'd suggest having the part re-hardened or perhaps replace it with an original Winchester part.
My original Winchester was shortened by Coyote Cap, had an action job, and has had thinwal choke tubes installed. A smooth, solid gun, feels a little tighter then the Chinese gun but I have no complaints. I'm still trying to figure out how to fit period-correct sling swivels to it--quick-detach studs just look wrong on a gun of this type.
The Interstate 97 has soft steel. There, I said it. After a year of monthly SASS matches, the sear was so worn that I had to carefully back out the mainspring screw just so the trigger could fire.
A local shooter installed a long-tailed replacement sear from Cylinder & Slide. This fixed the problem and had the added benefit of bringing the trigger forward in the trigger guard--with the original sear, the trigger came back so far that it bottomed out against the rear of the trigger guard.
The original wood was covered with white primer and then a solid red-brown paint, hiding some attractive straight-grain 'elementary school desk' type wood underneath. I stripped it, sanded and steel-wool buffed it, applied some minwax red mahogany and then a half-dozen coats of tung oil and it looks pretty decent.
A very stiff gun at first, so I did a little smoothing and break-in work. Disassembled the entire receiver and scrubbed it,inside and out with mineral spirits and an M16 toothbrush. Once it was clean I lightly sprayed it down with rem oil. I then 'lubed' the contact points and inner rails with Brownell's 800 grit garnet compund and reassmbled the gun. Worked the action back and forth about 500 times (sitting in front of the TV and watching The Wild Bunch is optional).
Took the gun apart and scrubbed it out with Min. spirits and the toothbrush again. Re-oiled and generously applied bearing grease to all the internals. (Don't be shy).
I then reassembled the gun and it operated smooth as glass. racked it anouth 500 times and cleaned/degreased, then assembled after oiling and lightly greasing the internal rails, especially the cam/slot the pump action bar rides in.
This greatly improved the action of the gun. The action bar cam on the pump is the high-friction area. It's a very soft steel, as well; the cam on the rear end of the arm shows a lot of wear and tear. Unless they have improved this part since 2002, I'd suggest having the part re-hardened or perhaps replace it with an original Winchester part.
My original Winchester was shortened by Coyote Cap, had an action job, and has had thinwal choke tubes installed. A smooth, solid gun, feels a little tighter then the Chinese gun but I have no complaints. I'm still trying to figure out how to fit period-correct sling swivels to it--quick-detach studs just look wrong on a gun of this type.
My wife and I have a couple 1897s. She shoots a Norinco and I have an original. Both are with a CAS shooter and Gunsmith, Colt McAllister. He does a modification that makes for positive ejection and slicks the works up.
I havn't shot one in a match yet, I still shoot my Stoeger SxS. It is really hard to beat a SxS for reliability but I cut my hunting teeth on a Reminton 870 so I am looking forward trying my orignial in a match.
Jay
I havn't shot one in a match yet, I still shoot my Stoeger SxS. It is really hard to beat a SxS for reliability but I cut my hunting teeth on a Reminton 870 so I am looking forward trying my orignial in a match.
Jay