Winchester 1897 with 34" barrel, couple questions.

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sapsk

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In the Alberta scrub brush.
I have this old 97 and I need to decide its future. According to my blue book it was made about 1902-03. It has a 34" full choke barrel the wood looks original but the metal has all been parkerized. I had some dark thoughts about cutting the barrel and building myself a pretend 97 trench gun ( I was too cheap to buy a real one for $400 when Wholesale Sports had them years ago :bangHead: )

I'm not a fan of altering old firearms and likely couldn't bring myself to cut that tube. I'm debating selling it since my goal is a trench gun (Norinco perhaps) and someone who appreciates it as the sporting gun it is could have it.

My questions are:

Would the 34" barrel have been custom order and are they as rare as they appear?
Would any collector value due to the barrel length be negated by the parkerizing? (I think so)
What is this 97 worth?

Maybe its not as big a sin as I think to cut the barrel, happens all the time for Cowboy Action shooting.:confused:






 
Hi. The 34" barrel is very likely original. Harkens back to BP days when length was needed for a complete powder burn. The parkerizing has ruined any collector value, so what you do with it won't matter.
I'd try and find another barrel before getting the pipe cutter out. A pipe cutter makes a relatively clean, controlled, cut that's easy to do and won't cost a fortune.
 
The overall condition looks good a 34" bbl is quite rare as far as colitable the parkerrizing has devalued it that being said if there was only 20% bluing left on the orginal Finnish value would not be high the collect ability is on the 34" bbl it could be reblued to a close orginal type Finnish which wouldike a nice representation of a unique gun . It looks like it has the orginal nitt plate good thing I'm guessing u may get $300-$400 as is . If the bore is bright and shiny I would not cut it if it is pitted that would devalue it even more then cutting it is a option
 
**UPDATE**
So I had a look down the bore, clearly something I've never done..............The barrel has a very visible seam at about the 23" mark. It looks like someone has welded an extension on the barrel! Its even visible that the first 23 inches or so is very shiny and the last 11 dull and rougher.
On the outside I can barely see the seam, it was blended very well, likely on a lathe. I can only see it as a slight color difference in the parkerizing and had no luck with taking a pic, inside or out.
I think I might scare up heat shield / bayonet lug and build my trench gun.
 
HI; This is a take down model- There is not a matching serial number on the take down ring. There fore a" parts gun" no collector value. As is 500 dollars with a pipe cutter in hand to trim it into a "wild bunch" action gun. The parkerizeing would be cool factor. Stuff a heat sheild with parkerizeing to match. Trench guns are getting 1000 dollars plus. (winchester ones)
 
The missing serial number explains a lot, I've see it on Model 12's but this is my first 97. It explains why I had a terrible time getting it apart and am currently emery clothing everything just to get it back together! I'm excited cause I'm gonna have a 97 trench gun.........I'll tell myself that Okinawa was hard on it and it got a parkerizing at the armory haha.

Thanks so much for the help, I haven't used the form area much cause it usually turns into reality show type drama, but this has been really helpful, thanks again.
 
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