What are Model 97’s bringing these days?? Field grade in average condition, 12 gauge, 30” modified choke. Stock cut for a pad that is way overdue for replacement. TY!

Not a lot, unless in tip-top condition. I know from experience. Maybe $200-$250. About the only takers are CAS shooters who want to saw the barrels down to 18".

I just sold one for $450 last month and was glad to get it. It was a solid frame that had been cut back to 20 inches with choke tubes installed for SASS/CAS matches. The finish had turned brown but the stock was original length without cracks. The pump handle wood did have a crack but was still sound. It had been shot a lot so the action was smoother than most I've see.

I don't come across many clean, original, "un-messed with" 97s very often. But when I have, most have been in the $500 to nearly $700 price range.

And yes, there are lots of butchered ones out there.

I have a 32" full choke 97 that was reblued before I got it. Made in 1917. It's in excellent shape. I also have an old ragged one for spare parts. It would have to be well north of $500 for me to move mine. I've killed several deer with mine among other critters. I really hate so see those old 97's with circumsized barrels.

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S&W Accumulator

I think I gave like $300 for my early 1897 a few years back with added Polychoke. Even though it's shortened and modified, it will work for cowboy shoots or any birds.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

I have one built in 1917. It has two barrels with the same SN. One is 30" and one is an 18" riot barrel. Nothing modified except the recoil pad. Most of the blue was gone a long time ago. It's mostly bare metal.

If I were selling it I would ask for $500. Probably a real good shooter. The last time it was used was in the 60's. I know that for a fact.

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That's just somebody talkin.

You have a good shotgun, if your weapon could talk it would tell you: shoot me sometime.

Thanks. Belonged to my dad. Bought it from a neighbor in El Paso around 1955. He used it to shoot ducks on the Rio Grande river. When we moved to AZ in the 60's he used it to shoot quail. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used since then. He passed in 89 and I got it sometime around then. I had a smith go thru it around 90 and it's been in my safe ever since.

They just don't bring a lot of money. They're very complex with a million parts that are impossible to find if something breaks. It truly is a museum piece but not really in that condition.

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That's just somebody talkin.

When I started my LEO career every patrol vehicle had one in the dash mounted lock rack

The fact that it belonged to your dad makes it a family treasure, sure you will take good care of it, thanks for showing it.

They used to call those riot guns.

Now that's a very unpopular term because most riots are mostly peaceful these days.

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That's just somebody talkin.

Cowboy action shooters really like them because they're very fast to use. If you can find one under $300 you stole it. $500 is typical. Years ago I traded two not functioning very well 12 gauge Model 97s for one race gun Model 97 in 16 gauge. CAS shooters would probably give me $600 or more for it.

I keep a 12 gauge Ithaca M37 loaded for home defense. If I didn't have that I'd load up my M97 Winchester.

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Come and take it!!

I had a 97 with a replacement barrel and stamped "Adams Express Company", had inventory number stamped on frame and stock. Barrel was not from a 97. I cut it down to 20". Had sling swivels on it. Bought for $275 and sold for $500. Used and sold for SASS.

Now have a Model 12 for home defense. Bought for $200 with a full choke. Now a faux trench gun.

Both lack trigger disconnect.

Yes. I just saw, on the TV the other night, "peaceful" protesters in Portland tossing "peaceful" Molotov Cocktails at the police. Good thing the firebombs were "peaceful" or else someone could have gotten hurt...


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So very Politically Incorrect

I have one that’s not even broke in yet. When I bought it had a Bubba poly choke job. Barrel had been cut and muzzle “ tapered” on grinder like sharpening pencil. Choke was several degrees left and high from bore. I was going to put a set of sights on it for slugs. My gunsmith talked me into screw in chokes. He wanted to try his new tooling so I got it threaded and one choke for $25. I wish I would have left wood alone. It didn’t need done but put hi gloss on it. I can get north of $600 for mine easy.

You could have fooled me about the price of a 97. A couple of years ago I tried to sell a better than average 97, unbutchered, and over several months I couldn't find anyone who wanted it. I did get some lowball offers, ended up selling it for $250 to a guy who wanted to use it for CAS.

My younger brother was a Maryland State Trooper, at a time years ago when they had broad discretion to carry pretty much what they wanted in their cars. His shotgun of choice was his Model 97. He argued that it was far superior to modern shotguns because of the hammer and half-cock position.

I've had quite a few of them.
A solid frame 30" Full remains that way and is still used by it's new owner.

I bought a 32" Full choke TD that had been used as a pry bar, so the bbl was badly bent.
Salvaged it at 26",,cyl choke now. I still have that one and shoot it often at skeet. 1903/04 mfg.
Winchester made a 26" cyl offering called a 'Brush Gun'. I left the old orig choke marking in place so no one would be fooled into thinking it was an orig Brush.

Another 28 w/a Poly I cut off to 26 cyl also. I sold that to a customer that had one like it stolen some years back. It was in pretty nice condition though no where near a collectible. He was happy.
That one was sold for $400 IIRC a couple yrs ago.

Others have come and gone.
I see them sitting at shows (when we had them) as shooters for $400 to $600 usually. They seem to sell for a bit less than the asking price.
Some nice collectible ones,,Trap, Pigeon Grades, ect. but no real interest in them from buyers unless you price them to nearly give them away. The Model12 is kind of in the same bucket.

They don't seem to have a market they did maybe 10 or 15yrs ago. Then they'd fly off the tables or a gunstore rack quickly. I suspect most were immedietely made into Cowboy guns or riot guns

SASS was more popular then perhaps. Maybe the Buckaroos like something else on the market instead of the 97.

Some people absolutely hate the 97.
The way some people seem to grip the gun, they get their grip hand-thumb knuckle sheared by the bolt everytime the action is shucked.
I've never had any problem with them. But everybody is different.
I can see where that'd put an end to my love of the 97 if it happened to me!

Have a not-often-seen Police Model 20" Cyl. from the 1930's.
For some weird reason, it shoots rifled slugs like a rifle.
It would take a bit to get it from me.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

I bought a M97 that had a 26" Full choke barrel. I found a 20" barrel and trimmed it to 18 1/2". I carried it in my patrol car before (and after) the PD provided shotguns.

I was doing a qualification one time where we were given five 00 buckshot shells and five slug rounds. We put the 00 in one pocket and the slugs in a pocket on the other side. We were to shoot the slugs at 50 yards and the 00 at 25 yards. Well, I got a mite confused and fired my 00 at 50 yards. I told the range officer and he laughed at me. He quit laughing when we checked the targets and I had put all 45 buckshot into the 50 yard target. And this was with an open choked barrel.

My old M97 now guards my bedroom and it ain't for sale!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Somewhere, I read the '97 got a lot of use in WWI as a "trench gun" that was so lethal in close quarters that the Germans sent out notice they would execute anyone taken prisoner who carried one. Fact or fiction?

My 97 short barrel is Cyl, or no choke. Shot patterns are outrageous. I once took careful aim at a jack rabbit somewhere around 25 yards using #6 shot. After the dust cleared he was still there untouched. He casually ran away. I think most modern HD shotguns have some choke in the barrel but I don't own one so I don't know. Cyl will take out a lot of stuff inside of 10 yards. I have a sxs gun with Cyl and Mod for ruffed grouse that's magic for those close shots. Makes me look like Wild Bill Hickock.

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That's just somebody talkin.

I really like my 97. I bought mine for CAS about 20 years ago, for about $500 because they were really desirable for CAS. Mine was one of the last made, in the early 1950s, with a 30" full choke barrel. I had it knocked down to 18" with a bead on it. It's a great shooter, and very fast.

The story aout shotguns (not just model 97's) was true. A popular technique was for two (or four) guys with shotguns to go into a trench and stand back to back and "slam fire" their shotguns. If four guys, two would stand and two would kneel. One set (i.e. the standing pair, facing opposte directions) would fire while the other pair would reload.

Germany complained that shotguns were cruel and inhumane. The US argued that so was poison gas. If Germans started executing Americans with shotguns, we were going to execute Germans with gas masks.

BTW: The World Court said that the 1903 Springfield was a patent violation and so we had to pay Germany a royalty for every 1903 made.

I don't know the historical facts, but in several places I have read that General Pershing's response to the German threat of summary execution of American soldiers in possession of shotguns who were taken prisoner was that should any such executions occur, he would immediately issue a "take no prisoners" order to U. S. troops.