Winchester Model 1897

Origins

John Moses Browning designed a string of repeating arms for Winchester in the 1880s and 1890s, including the lever-action Winchester Model 1892 and the company's first pump shotgun, the Model 1893. The 1893 was not strong enough for the new smokeless-powder shotgun shells, and in 1897 Winchester introduced an improved and strengthened version, the Model 1897. It sold in solid-frame and takedown versions, in 12 and later 16 gauge, and in grades from plain field guns to engraved trap guns, and it became for half a century one of the most common shotguns in America, used by hunters, trap shooters, police, prison guards and railway express messengers.

Design & Construction

The Model 1897 is a slide action: pulling the fore-end back opens the bolt, ejects the empty shell and cocks the exposed hammer, and pushing it forward loads a new shell from the five-round tubular magazine under the barrel. The hammer is visible and can be cocked or lowered by the thumb. The action had no trigger disconnector, so a shooter who held the trigger back fired a round each time the action closed — "slam-fire" — which allowed extremely rapid shooting at close range. The takedown model came apart in two pieces for carrying. The military trench gun, adopted in 1917, had a 20-inch cylinder-bore barrel, a perforated steel heat shield to protect the hand, and an adapter that mounted the M1917 sword bayonet; loaded with nine 00 buckshot pellets per shell, it was a devastating close-range weapon.

Combat Use

The US Army bought Model 97s in the World War I for trench raiding, for clearing dugouts and for guarding prisoners, and the "trench broom" made a strong impression. In September 1918 the German government protested formally that the shotgun caused unnecessary suffering and violated the laws of war, and threatened to execute captured Americans found with shotguns; the US rejected the protest and threatened reprisals in turn. Model 97 trench guns and riot guns were used again in the World War II, notably by the US Marine Corps in the Pacific, where they were valued in jungle fighting, and in smaller numbers in Korean War and Vietnam.

Legacy

Winchester made more than a million Model 1897s before it ended production in 1957, and it set the pattern for the American pump shotgun, followed by guns like the Ithaca 37. It is also a staple of Western films and of cowboy action shooting, where the exposed-hammer pump is a period-correct shotgun. World War I and II trench guns with correct US markings, heat shields and bayonets are among the most sought-after American military arms, and they are often faked by adding shields and markings to civilian guns.