Download our Android App!
Sage's Android App
Download our Apple App!
Sage's Apple App

Donate to Sages

Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: 97 yr old 97'

  1. #1

    Title
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2021
    Location
    110 miles north of Texarkana in the green hell
    Posts
    191

    97 yr old 97'

    Mom handed me a box and says "the rust is bad , I didn't know the 97' was still in the box .

    Like all things there's more to the story. Circa 1960-62' when 97' Winchesters were still cheap and everywhere my Dad picked one up , being a quite reliable arm , he felt it would be a good fowler for Mom and it fit her pretty well . Of course the full choke was lopped of at some point and a Poly Choke fitted . The Poly Choke is of course stuck as of now . The bluing wasn't great 40 yr ago but wasn't a collector then either . Just another working gun built in 1927.

    Dad made the take down sized but very spacious box with brass fittings from the leftover birch plywood he built the cabinets from in our first house circa 1969-70' . 6 sides all mitered together with perfect fit top and bottom. A little free hand art and a couple of coats of Vari-Thane . Red flannel and upholstery foam rubber lined . I didn't get those skills .

    Basically this stuff has been around as long as I can remember. It might have a little personal connection.

    The rust wasn't more than 10% of the anticipated horror . No barrel pits , dabbing the moving parts in Kroil brought overnight gratification for those that wouldn't move 0000 steel wool and 3 in 1 fixed most of what remained. Lots of dark spots but no depth . Well none deeper than the adjacent beauty marks . The woods not much to look at just basic factory mostly straight walnut .

    There's just nothing really remarkable about it other than being a 97 yr old serviceable 97' Winchester. Maybe it does have something. As I marvel at the old girl something looked off about the line . Sure enough I picked her about a minute ago and she has about 3/8-1/2" of cast off ....... Yep somewhere along the line the stock got either by age , accident or a deliberate act fitted for a lefty .
    IMG_20231029_151240156_HDR~2.jpg

    IMG_20231029_153152080~2.jpg

    IMG_20231029_151441694~2.jpg

    IMG_20231029_151358343~2.jpg

  2. #2
    JeffreyDeGraff's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    2,367
    That’s awesome!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Flyeralan's Avatar
    Title
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    SE PA
    Posts
    404
    Very cool story, thanks for sharing!
    "Long range shooting, It's like golf, but for men"

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •