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A Trench Gun From Parts


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A few years back I picked up a 'commercial' trench gun at a show down in Temple. It was in pretty rough shape - not much in the way of finish, wrong forend, and a heat shield that broke into three pieces during the disassembly process. Also, a prior owner had applied an undersized U.S. marking below the ejection port. With hand stamps, I might add. Crooked. And in the conversion process had cut the barrel about an eighth of an inch further back than they ought. It also fell well outside the established trench gun range.

 

On the other hand it was a Winchester Model 12, at a good price, and I figured I couldn't really hurt it. So off it went with me to gunsmithing school, where it sat for months upon months while I chewed through other, less interesting projects.

 

Here it is shortly after the purchase, wearing a heat shield borrowed from another gun.



http://img673.imageshack.us/img673/5096/dtbacm.jpg

 

 

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And here it is today, after considerable work and entirely too many trips through the park tank in pursuit of colors that more or less matched. I doubt it wins any beauty contests, and there's no chance it'd fool anybody with even a passing knowledge of Winchester's wartime shotguns, but it'll do for making smoke and noise.

 

http://img540.imageshack.us/img540/5/PaqDGq.jpg

 

http://img540.imageshack.us/img540/5751/PBFuLC.jpg

 

http://img909.imageshack.us/img909/5521/aFoj55.jpg

 

http://img911.imageshack.us/img911/9291/wcvm7h.jpg

 

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Neat! I "built" a trench gun out of a commercial '97 but had to use a repro heat shield. Didn't duplicate the markings or anything. Total cost was less than the Chinese repro, by the way. Reason I used the '97 was because it can allegedly be "slam-fired" (hold the trigger back and work the slide and it will fire as fast as you can work the slide) but I never tried it. . .might be fun, though. Wonder how dangerous this would be (vis-a-vis the firearm. . .not range safety)?

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So far as I know all of the Models 97 and 12 will slamfire, including all the Chinese copies I've picked up. Rumor is they changed it on the later ones but I can't say as I've ever tested that.

 

I don't believe it's actually dangerous to the gun...doesn't do much for accuracy, though.

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Only "fan" (slamfire) from the hip for better control. Not from the shoulder like the idiots on 'youtube' good way to hurt yourself.

When you tell the a friend that a model 97 or 12 have no disconnect and they ask with a puzzled look"what does that mean?". You "fan" the magazine and the grin on yours and their face would cut off the top of your heads if it didn't stop at your ears.

Remember "fanning" is only for up "close and personal". Doing it right is a whole lot of fun. Learn the right hold to fire from the hip for the best control.

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  • 1 year later...

To dredge this one back up, towards the end of my time at school I got an itch for a trench-configured Model 12 in blue. I thought on building another one, but being pretty well broke kept that idea from going too far. So out to the blasting cabinet and the polish wheels we went.

 

Here, the project gun as she looked after the initial refinish.

 

13754549_650353361663_710653770421066051

 

 

Here, the more or less final result. Still need to find a spare stock that I can inlet for a sling swivel, but it'll do for now. Also learned that one of these turns a whole lot more heads blued than parked. Go figure.

 

13892017_650353396593_455449982128006646

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