Anyway, back to why I hate WB; So you might think, 'hey, wait a minute' this guy's been shooting in cowboy action matches for 30 years, and what do they use, but the mdl '97?' Side-by-sides, matey! Lovely twice barrels, neatly nestled together horizontally and as graceful as swan's necks! Both hammered and hammerless, with fine English straight stocks and curvy pistol grips, fat forends and splinter types... with long goose gun barrels and short 'coach gun' riot guns and everything in-between, the combinations are nearly endless, from fine maker's the world over, and many inexpensive imitation of those!
The manipulation of a twice-by to shoot fast, reload and shoot again, repeating as often as necessary requires an economy of movement and motion that is fairly easy to attain and remains somewhat constant. From youth to old age, the action can remain with one... Believe it or not, but a good side-by-side shooter can usually keep up with the best of pump gunners... under almost any scenario where both gunners start with empty guns.
Then you take the great design of JMB, the first commercially viable pump action shotgun, presented to Winchester in the 1880s, but they refused... "hey, John, we're Lever-action" folks, we don't need no-stinkin' PUMP gun!" Finally produced as the 1893 and then the 1897, it's a mechanical marvel, like most of his stuff.
But, really, it's clunky; operating one fast, one appears caught in a tempest of motion, a flurry hands and arms going ever-which direction. In a game where side-by-sides compete directly against pumps, you're limited to loading a maximum of two at a time, which has lead to all sorts of techniques. At first, the norm was to stuff one in the chamber, close the action and stuff another in the mag, almost always requiring the use of both hands to operate and complete the action. Then there came the load singly, where you could keep one hand on the gun thru the whole sequence if done by the left, that meant either dropping them in over the top or from underneath, but best performed if one were a lefty! Then came the grab two at a time, then three and finally four rounds in one hand and still try to maintain control of the gun...
And along came Wild Bunch, with a "new" concept, let's start with the shotgun loaded and an empty chamber, just like we do with the rifles! Stuffed with up to 6 rounds, operation is simple, and amazingly FAST in the hands of a competent shotgunner! The original '97s will slam-fire... as fast as you can rack that pump! But! All this hard use is equally hard on the equipment. The '97 might have been a robust action for it's original use, as a hunter's gun... even in its martial form, a few shots here, a few shots there, and you might be done... and you certainly weren't slammin' it back down on a table or bale of hay! The rule of using a '97 in cowboy action shooting seems to be that you need 3; the one you're using, a working backup and one at the gunsmith's getting fixed!
I'd successfully (well, maybe with some limited success), kept away from the '97 in cowboy shooting for 28 years! Did I mention I love the grace and dammit, downright elegance of a side-by-side? Until along came Wild Bunch matches! So in 2013, I bought a Chinese import clone of the '97 Winchester in "Trench Gun" disguise! Right out of the box this gun was smooth and everything you'd want a trench gun to be! Deadly looking and... well, if you KNOW that front bead is cocked to the right about 9 degrees, VERY accurate. It doesn't slam fire like an original will, but if you're used to operating other guns that don't, I believe you can be just as fast as with one that does. But, that brings me to the main fault in the action... hard use is just that, HARD on the gun. And even though it worked for a year in several matches flawlessly, I just 'knew' that in time it would fail. I NEEDED a backup.
Well, hey! The US ain't letting China import anymore! So I start looking for an original as a backup... and maybe one for my son to use, as he'll sometimes accompany me. YEEHAW! Found one, a nice clean, if a little worn '97 with a coach gun barrel. Action worked smooth, so money exchanged hands... I went off to my motel at the end of the 1st day of the match and loaded up the shotgun to make sure it'd hold 6 and rack 'em thru smoothly! Nope! Just let the first round about half-way out the magazine and wedged solid on the carrier! What the...? Saw the seller the next day and described the situation... money exchanged hands again... (I was willing to let them get the gun fixed and keep the money... a deal is a deal, right?) So, nearly a year later, the gun returns, seller assures me it's fixed, money exchanges hands again.
Meanwhile another gun, a take-down model this time, crosses my path, (at ½ the price of #1), and money exchanges hands again! This one has some 'finger-grooves' carved in the grip, so I know I'll need a new stock... obviously, this had been a ladies gun; maybe a guy with very small hands, as the LOP was standard, very small wrist left. This one I test out... It works, feeds shells from mag onto carrier and into the chamber, fires and repeats. Good, now I have the 3 I need, and all 3 appear to work.
Then 2 weeks ago is the Texas Wild Bunch State Championship. My son & I entered... with high expectations. He likes the Trench gun so he uses it... I like the relatively sleek lines of the solid frame coach gun. So I use that'n. Now, I'd used this gun in a couple of matches, for a couple of stages previously, and while it seemed a little balkier than the Chinese knock-off, it worked! Toward the end of the it's first days of use, it seemed to be smoothing up nicely, or I was learning to get along with it better!
Anyway, the State Championship started fine, stage one was smooth, if a little slow, one miss with the rifle ruined my goal of a clean match. HEY! Shootin' their eyes out, even from only 25-30 yards away can be a little tricky when you're trying to do it FAST!
Then comes stage 2, get to the shotgun, pick it up and start to rack the action... shell comes out of the magazine fine, than on the forward stroke, wham! Dead stop! The nose of the shell slammed into the side of the chamber! Eased back on the pump a little, jiggled it around and got it in the chamber, fire and tried to repeat... and was successful... nose slammed into the side of the chamber again! Well... long story short, the "flag" on the side of the lifter wasn't coming up to close off the ejection port, so when the shell was coming up, the very slight pressure from the left ejector would ease the nose out the ejection port... just about ½ way! Ok, this is why you have 3 right? I just finished the day sharing the TrenchGun with my son. Ergo, my 2nd place finish on the 4th stage of the day! Probably a scoring error, but I'm taking the "win" anyway!
At the conclusion of the 1st days' shooting one of the hosts has a BBQ at his place. By this time I'd identified the problem flag, so knew what to ask a gunsmith. Who happens to be the host, so I ask about the flag, he tells me there's a spring in there. So that night my son, (who fancies himself a mechanic, but really is just a truck driver like dear ol' dad), takes it apart... or attempts to, with me helping by reading the NRA book of gun dis- and reassembly! THAT's likely the cause of the confusion. But, really, the confusion lies in that the exploded drawings don't show a "spring". There is however, a "lifter guide stop screw." Taking it out and comparing it to the Chinese knock-off (which works remember), indicates that the end of our screw is buggered up! Hmmm... so's the one on the other original Winchester!
A credit card later and a couple or three are on order from Numrich! Along with a spare or two for the IAC Trench Gun! So, yesterday I get home after a weeks trip up to the Pacific Northwest and back, the new parts have arrived and my son goes to work again. Got all the guns back together with no parts left over and viola! Flag drops as the forend is pulled back, and leads the way on the lifter's rise up. Appears as though it'll now fulfill it's function, keeping the cartridge in position to be guided into the chamber! Grab some shells and head outdoors to test. Stuffing shells in the magazine on the way out... ooops. Won't go in the magazine! OH BOY! A new problem! Hint to follow: There's a HOLE in the mag tube that the magazine retaining screw is supposed to fit in! Ok, that's a simple fix... only a delay of a few minutes to identify and fix problem.
SO! Back outdoors we go, with a magazine stuffed full of new Winchester AAs. Pull the slide back, and... wait for it. The shell jams on the lifter, about ½-way out of the magazine! Can you understand why I HATE the 1897 shotgun? Check the other original '97 and it's working fine. Ok, to identify the problem. With the shell stuck, it appears jammed between the guide and the left side of the receiver. Eh? Back to the books.
It appears, since there's two parts listed, that a 16 gauge and 12 gauge have different guide plate. Maybe my 12 gauge has a 16 gauge guide plate in it? Back to the Numrich online catalog. A credit card and even more debt later, a new guide plate, lifter assembly, a couple of associated parts to the guide plate and a couple more guide stop screws are now winging their way west to TX!
Without disassembling the guns a 3rd time, it appears as tho' the solid frame '97 has a thicker guide plate than the other two guns.
Anyone know of the "trick" to changing the guide plate on the Winchester '97 pump action shotgun lifter? It's attached by a "rivet".
