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Winchester 97 Value?
Sean_TX
Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
I have a 1927 Winchester model 97. What is a fair value to ask for it? Its a 12 gauge.
Comments
If it is:
--fully functional (does the slide operate easily without undue effort or hanging up? Does the gun eject live rounds and empties well, do shells load well into the magazine, does the hammer stay back when the slide is operated, does the hammer pull back to half cock and stay there, is there a reasonably solid trigger pull over two pounds with no hangups, and does the magazine dump all rounds when you push those two lower buttons on the receiver simultaneously????
--has no cracks whatsoever in the wood (look at the slide spool for cracks and look at the wrist of the stock for cracks where it joins the receiver for cracks),
--is not loose where the barrel meets the frame (grab the receiver with your left hand right over the ejection port and grab the front half of the gun right behind the slide spool and see if the two halves wiggle),
--serial numbers on the frame and barrel extension match (turn the gun over and see the S/N on the very front of the receiver there on the bottom. The same S/N should appear right above it on the barrel extension.)
then the gun is probably, on the high end, worth $325-$400 to a cowboy action shooter and less to someone else. If everything is okay, I personally would not sell it for less than $300. However, if any of the issues I mentioned exist it's worth less. There aare A LOT of these guns out there and parts are getting harder and harder to come by.
My opinion and advice to you, if you aren't familiar with the gun is to:
==Do not dismantle the gun unless you absolutely know what you are doing and above all, do not under any circumstances whatsoever remove the Barrel Chamber Ring, which is secured in by two little tiny screws on each side of the receiver.
==Do not break the gun down into its front and rear assmblies. Inexperience in doing this properly can cause severe damage to the large, buttress-style treads that hold the barrel/receiver and magazine tube/receiver connections together.
==Do not try to take the Adjusting Sleeve or the Barrel Extension off the barrel even if you have the special tools to do so, unless you are experienced.
Regards,
Wolf.
This weapon is a great John Browning-design and actually has a slam-fire feature built in, as many of the older pumps, such as the Ithaca 37, did (hold the weapon at waist level, hold down the trigger and operate the slide. The hammer falls and fires the shells as fast as you can operate the slide).
WACA Historian & Life Member