Winchester M97 trench gun, M1A1 carbine, M1911A1 Colt – my U.S. collection favourites.

[Datrus]

M97, my favorite shotgun of all time. I have shot one and they are cool. One of the few where you can hold the trigger and pump away

[Dean]

I can see where you're coming from as well. as a collector of course. I wouldnt just wear my panzer beret around, not with a $10,000 + price tag on it.

Dean,

I think I understand what you mean.
I used to shoot the 58 Remington revolver with my Father shown below back in the 60s-70s.
I cringe when I think about it now.

I guess I became more of a collector than a shooter.
My collection is more collector oriented than shooter oriented.
That is why I will not shoot certain pieces.

I have many guns where I don't have the same concerns.
I could shoot them all day and not care.
Different strokes I guess.

David



I would shoot this cyq code P.38 all day and not be concerned.

[Torch]

Fantastic weapons,am green with envy...

[sebfrench76]

In France,this kinda collection is simply like collecting Roswell UFO's parts,héhéhé...
For each gun,1 year of jail+gun taken by gov+your car and your home taken by gov+your family forced to work in a salt mine+the loss of your civil rights,that's what we call democracy,hihihi...
Seriously,these things are designed to kill,sure it's not gentle,but,the hell,how beautiful they are!!!
I shoted a couple of years ago a 38 colt black powder replica,a lot of work but what a fun!

[MarkV]

Very nice collection, David. Thanks for sharing them with us!!

I am also in the "shoot them" camp - at least for those I have. I only have several that have any great collector value - the rest are nice examples and I like to give them a little exercise from time to time. For me, there's nothing like putting a few rounds downrange with my Finnish M39 built from an 1895 produced Russian Mosin Nagant receiver. I always make sure I fire properly loaded ammo that meets original specs, though.

I assume you know but wanted to mention that the magazines displayed for your M911A1 are commercial post-70s manufacture. The WWII magazines were not marked on the bottom of the floor plate - rather, if they were marked (some Colt mags were unmarked), they carried small letter(s) on the top rounded front lip of the floor plate. The ones you have - without a "." in front of the 45 many times will not properly feed and are not made by Colt.

Again, thanks for sharing your collection with us. The fire-no fire debate rages everywhere among collectors. No different here - and that's one of the things that makes collecting so personal.

[Scout]

All very nice guns. Great to see them. In firing condition too - even better. Thanks for showing.
Of course you shoot the non-mint non-collectors guns - thats what they were made for!
A mint matching number P08 with matching mags, I would not fire how ever. They can be worth a LOT of money and further more, there were millions of P08 pistols made, so why not just buy a generic one and shoot that a couple of times a year (with soft loads because of the toggle mechanism).
The M97 is an absolute favourite of mine (with the M87 close behind - what a geeky shotgun!).
Imagine the 'impact' of the M97 in France (sorry for the pun). Im a big fan of the Bergmann MPi18, which would have been good for cleaning trenches too. But speaking of cleaning; I believe the MPi18 is more finicky and would have been more prone to toppage in the mud and grit warfare of the trenches, than would the M97. Expecially if the complicated and cumbersome snail drum mag was used (imagine navigating a trench with that thing sticking out). The M97 is more of a brute and would have less prone to jamming than would the Bergmann. For a trench sweeper, the M97 is hard to beat. Small wonder, that the Germans complained about it.
Really like the 1911A1 warhorse too. They are of course great and one of he best - if not the best/most proven - handgun(s) EVER.
You need a 1911 to compliment the Trench Gun though!

[Scout]

SteveR,

I agree, I will not shoot collectable guns...be they WWII or U.S. Civil War.
The German guns with serial number markings on different parts ....like a nice collectable Luger....I would never shoot.
There are guns that you shoot ...and there some that you don't.

These guns I would not ever shoot.
A luger with two matching magazines...you don't shoot.

David

Amen to that. Especially when one can just buy a mixed number generic well used P08 and shoot the sXXt out of that.

[Scout]

I like the shotty, kinda reminds me of my model 12- 16 gauge win from 1927. it has a choke adjuster that i havent seen on another.

Difficult to see from the pics, but looks like it could be a variation of the PolyChoke comp. You turn it to adjust the choke. There are several variations of vintage PolyChoke/Lyman/Cutts Compensaters floating around.
Does it say:
The POLY CHOKE CO. Hartford Conn.", "SUPER", & "Pat. Pend?"
And have a threaded body with the choke's 'petals' & a reference mark for the degree of choke, which screws into the main body which has the choke markings ( 1, IMP. CYL., 3, MOD., 5, & FULL)?
Could you post a better quality close-up please?

[Scout]

David

I noticed your Canuck A1 on GunBoards - what an interesting story. Always great when there is provenance to a gun.
You should post the background here, unless you mind.

[António Fragoeiro]

Beautiful guns.
Those are outstanding pieces.
Thank you for showing.
Cheers.
Nuno