Norinco 1897 Trench Gun Shotgun

[Bigcrigger]

Wow, please tell us your experience with these great little shotguns, what year and model did you have, what were the problems that make them "terrible"

Got one at a gun show a few years back, seemed to work just fine at first. Took it to the range, fired two shots and the thing completely completely locked up. Disassembled it as much as I could, had to tap the bolt out of the back of the receiver to get the spent shell out. Figured maybe something was loose so I took apart EVERYTHING, cleaned it all, oiled whatever would be sliding or rotating, and put a dab of loctite on some of the troublesome pieces that come loose. Reassembled it, took it to the range the next day and it happened again. Even if mine was a lemon, it’s the worst piece of pot metal I’ve ever owned. You get what you pay for.

 

[rhino62]

The Norinco 1897 is steel, not pot metal!

Pot metal is a low-melting-point alloy, often a mixture of zinc, copper, lead, and tin, used for making inexpensive and fast castings, particularly in early 20th-century mass production for items like auto parts and toys. The term originates from the practice of melting scraps of various non-ferrous metals together in a single "pot" to form products. Unlike aluminum, pot metal is heavy and brittle, tending to pit and bubble as it ages.

 

[Bigcrigger]

The Norinco 1897 is steel, not pot metal!

Pot metal is a low-melting-point alloy, often a mixture of zinc, copper, lead, and tin, used for making inexpensive and fast castings, particularly in early 20th-century mass production for items like auto parts and toys. The term originates from the practice of melting scraps of various non-ferrous metals together in a single "pot" to form products. Unlike aluminum, pot metal is heavy and brittle, tending to pit and bubble as it ages.

It’s a figure of speech, the steel this is made of seems to be of a fairly low grade. Specifically the hardware, it’s very soft. It deforms whenever you tighten or loosen anything. Like I said, you get what you pay for with firearms. Some folks get lucky with these and some folks get burnt.