My Winchester 1897 was made, as near as I can tell, in 1904. It it an absolute hoot to use in the field, and does just fine on pheasants and grouse.....and the occasional duck. I've been using Baschieri & Pellagri 2 5/8 inch load of #5s on the upland birds, and RST's 2 1/2 inch Bismuth load (#5s also, I believe) for the ducks. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the B&P load. It smacks the birds with authority, and even functions well through my Remington M11 Sportsman. I use it in all four of my 16s. Oh, wait....I have 5 now. forgot about that other SxS I picked up last winter......

Kaiser Norton

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The Kaiser- "If it ain't broke, I can fix that!"