Tag Archives: winchester 1897

CMP Production Inventory status on M1903, M-1 Garand, and M1911s

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From the latest CMP Director’s annual report on Production. Keep in mind that the NDAA also included the provision to transfer milsurp pump-action shotguns, which will probably start in 2027. 

Drill Receiver Reclamation Project: The Drill Receiver Reclamation Project is a landmark initiative designed to restore tens of thousands of previously deactivated M1 Garand and 1903A3 drill rifles into safe, functional firearms. With original receiver inventory nearly exhausted (note: CMP continues to work with the US Government to identify options for the return of US-provided M1s from foreign countries), CMP identified this project as a critical way to sustain future rifle production and preserve important historical assets. Extensive testing, engineering oversight, and transparent communication have positioned this program as a model for responsible firearm reclamation and safety assurance.

    • Scope and Inventory: Began with ~75,000 serialized drill rifles (M1 Garand and 1903A3)
      • 10,000 M1s classified as ‘good’ (Category A)
      • 26,000 M1s classified as ‘medium (Category B)
      • 15,000 M1903/A3s in a condition supporting reclamation
      • 24,000 as ‘scrap’ (Category C – deferred due to cost and condition)
    • Partnerships: CMP partnered with Heritage Arms (manufacturing) and Prospector Training of Florida (ballistic testing and validation).
    • Testing: A rigorous validation program included destructive testing and proof loads exceeding 80,000 psi—demonstrating exceptional strength and safety.
    • Production: CMP placed an initial purchase order for ~20,000 receivers across the recoverable categories.
    • Identification: All reclaimed rifles and receivers carry an “RC” item number prefix to clearly differentiate them from legacy products.
    • Customer Reception: Initial market skepticism was overcome through education, transparent documentation, and in-person demonstrations at the 2025 National Matches.
    • Sales Strategy: CMP introduced stripped and barreled receiver sales at low margins to build customer trust and demonstrate quality firsthand.
    • Sustainability: Sales velocity has stabilized, providing a multi-year supply of reclaimed receivers for production and sales.
    • The project inventory will support nearly 2-3 years of sales.
       

CMP 1903A3 Expert Rifle Program: A key component of the Drill Receiver Reclamation initiative is the development of the CMP 1903A3 Expert Rifle, CMP’s first bolt-action rifle to carry the Expert Grade designation. The project utilizes reclaimed 1903A3 receivers from the drill inventory, each carefully inspected and refurbished to CMP’s Expert standards. This launch expands CMP’s product line and appeals to collectors and shooters seeking historically accurate bolt-action rifles.

      • All supply chain inventory has been acquired, and the Armory is staged to begin assembly.
      • Production Start: Scheduled to begin in November 2025, with initial inventory and public release expected in January 2026.
      • Configuration: Each rifle features a new Criterion barrel, new Minelli walnut stock, refinished metal parts, and authentic GI-style hardware.
      • Grading and Finish: Rifles will meet the same cosmetic and performance criteria as CMP’s M1 Expert Grade rifles.
      • Variants: Plans include a scoped 1903A4 model using Hi-Lux M82 optics and potential chambering in .308 Winchester and .30-06 Springfield.
      • Strategic Impact: This expansion diversifies CMP’s product offerings and ensures efficient use of reclaimed assets while appealing to both historical and modern shooters.
         

New CMP M1 Rifle Project: The New CMP M1 Rifle Project represents a return to U.S.-based production of forged, USGI-spec M1 Garand receivers. This is CMP’s first move into commercial firearms manufacturing.  

We have partnered to manufacture parts and components for several years, but never receivers. This program ensures the long-term viability of M1 rifle sales after the depletion of legacy and reclaimed receiver inventories while offering a quality product for those who do not wish to purchase a reclaimed offering.  

For those more interested in performance over collectability, the newly manufactured CMP M1 is the clear choice. It delivers a product that is both faithful to the original design and built to modern manufacturing tolerances and materials standards.

    • Purpose: Ensure long-term rifle production continuity through a newly manufactured, USGI-spec forged receiver
    • Partnership: Multi-year R&D collaboration with Heritage Arms covering 3D scanning, CAD modeling, prototype machining, and validation
    • Prototypes cleared for test batch “T Lot” production in early 2025
    • Testing: Over 100 serialized T-prefix test rifles produced, fired through 16,000+ rounds during developmental validation
    • Numerous iterations and improvements between small lots within the “T” series
    • T Lot proving conclude mid-summer, and preorders were opened for eager customers
    • Founder Series: We received 607 preorders placed in 2025 under the FNDR prefix (231 in .308 and 376 in .30-06), representing the first commercial batch
    • Production Status: Full production underway. Initial Founder Series shipments began in early November 2025.  Standard production units will begin shipping early in 2026.
    • Specifications: Forged USGI Spec receiver, Criterion or Faxon barrel, forged reproduction stainless steel gas cylinder, and new walnut stock. MSRP: $1,950 for either caliber (.30-06 or .308 Win)
    • Future Models: Planned expansion to include M1D, and “Tanker” variants, as well as alternative calibers. Development is also underway on several other exciting variants that will be announced as we roll into the new year.
    • Strategic Value: Ensures a sustainable, U.S.-based manufacturing capability that preserves authenticity while meeting modern expectations for quality and precision

M1911 Pistols: Our inventory and sales of M1911 pistols remain strong. The limit of four pistols per person per lifetime remains in effect for 2026. We do intend to bring in-person sales to the Talladega Marksmanship Park store in the March/April timeframe and to the Camp Perry store in the June timeframe, and before the National Matches. More information on this will be forthcoming after the new year.

Defense Bill Includes Selling Milsurp Shotguns Through CMP

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230214-N-NH267-1484 INDIAN OCEAN (Feb. 14, 2023) U.S. Navy Fire Controlman (Aegis) 2nd Class Cody McDonald, from Spring Creek, Nev., fires an M500 shotgun during a visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) gun shoot on the flight deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Elliot Schaudt)

The military could soon begin passing on surplus pump-action shotguns to the public via the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

Both the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act defense policy spending bill for 2026, under Section 1062, call for the Army, Navy, and Air Force to transfer such scatterguns to the CMP.

The one-time transfer would cover guns that are “surplus to the requirements” of the respective service– including being surplus to military history and museum use. Further, they can’t be a shotgun that “is a modern ancillary addition to a service rifle” such as a “Masterkey” style gun that fits under an M16/M4. Also, guns that legally meet the definition of a “short-barreled shotgun” are barred from transfer.

The services would have to report to Congress, at least 60 days beforehand, the number of shotguns, including the make and model, that meet the surplus requirements and the number of which they intend to transfer to CMP.

Furthermore, the NDAA will modify the sale authority under U.S. law to permit the sale of surplus pump-action shotguns. Currently, the federally chartered non-profit, which is dedicated to promoting marksmanship nationwide, can only legally sell surplus rifles such as M1 Garands, M1903 Springfields, M1917 Enfields, M1 Carbines, and .22 trainers, as well as surplus M1911/1911A1 .45 pistols.

The U.S. military has been using pump-action breechloading shotguns for over 130 years, including the Winchester 1893, 1897, and M1912 Riot and “Trench” guns; as well as the Remington Models 10, 12, 31, and 870; the Stevens 520 and 620; the Ithaca 37, and the Mossberg 500/590– the latter of which are still under active contract.

“American M1897 Winchester Trench Shotgun, 12 gauge; American M1917 Enfield rifle; and M1903 Springfield rifle. General Headquarters, AEF Ordnance Department. Chaumont, Haute Marne, France, 4 January 1919.” Signal Corps photo 111-SC-154935. National Archives Identifier 313154926

Shotgun-armed Navy sentry on guard in port, August 1943. Navy Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress PR-06-CN-215-5

Dec. 1942 Production. B-17 heavy bomber Army sentry Boeing's Seattle plant Winchester 12 shotgun riot gun

Dec. 1942 Production B-17 heavy bomber, Army sentry, Boeing’s Seattle plant, Winchester 12 shotgun, riot gun

“PFC. Art Burgess, a candidate in the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP), 2nd Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), fires a Winchester-built Model 12 combat shotgun during special weapons training at Range 31, 13 January 1982.” The gun has been modified with a heat shield over the barrel, a bayonet lug/sling swivel, an over-folding buttstock, and a pistol grip. DA-SN-83-09168 Via NARA

As to how many of the above are still on hand in armories, depots, and arsenals– and are considered surplus– is anybody’s guess. Still, U.S. martial shotguns of any type are extremely collectible, leading them to be often faked (always be careful on a “good deal” M97 Trench Gun), so the prospect of a vetted quantity of these veteran guns headed to market is exciting.

The Republican-backed bill would still need to make it to President Trump’s desk and earn his signature, which is likely.

Now, if we can just get Congress to transfer all of those millions of old M16s that are in storage to the CMP, even if it is just the uppers, we’d really be cooking.

Could you imagine…(Don’t get too excited, these are over at Bowman Arms, or will be in early 2026)

12 Gauge on Watch

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Official wartime caption: “On Guard. Silhouetted sailor, rifle slung on his back, stands guard at a North African port as a huge ship is unloaded of its vital cargo, 31 August 1943.”

U.S. Navy Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress PR-06-CN-215-5

Note that the above blue jacket appears to be on the stern of a small escort, as a loaded depth charge rack and smoke generator are present. Also note the slung 12-gauge, which appears by its bayonet lug to be a Winchester 97. While the Marines had fielded the Winnie in the Great War, Prohibition mail duty, and the assorted Banana Wars of the 1920s, the Navy typically only used long-barreled sporting guns for recreation and hunting, with a few “riot guns” on hand at large brigs and aboard a few gunboats on the China Station.

As noted by Canfield, in January 1942, the Naval Supply Depot, Norfolk, only had 751 “riot type” and 134 “sporting guns” on inventory loaned out across the Atlantic fleet. This resulted in an immediate order for 8,000 Model 97s from the War Department as all stocks of shotguns were “exhausted.” This was in addition to the guns needed for training and to equip the Marines, who were soon issuing 100 combat shotguns per regiment.

The “scattergat” endures in Navy service both ashore with MA units and afloat in most small arms lockers. Today, the Mossberg 500/590 series, which has been acquired almost continually since 1981 in a revolving series of contracts, is most commonly encountered in Navy hands.

230214-N-NH267-1484 INDIAN OCEAN (Feb. 14, 2023) U.S. Navy Fire Controlman (Aegis) 2nd Class Cody McDonald, from Spring Creek, Nev., fires an M500 shotgun during a visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) gun shoot on the flight deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60). Paul Hamilton, part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, is in U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Elliot Schaudt)

The 1897 Winchester Trench Gun

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Americans live in a shotgun culture and we have long brought them with us when heading to war. Without argument, one of the most popular shotguns ever built in the United States was the 1897 Winchester and this work horse got called to serve in not only both World Wars, but in Korea and Vietnam as well.

The Winchester Company of New Haven, Connecticut, first breathed life into their 1897 model shotgun through a modernization of its 1893 series pump gun. Both were designed by firearms legend John Moses Browning. The gun was light and handy, at 7-pounds, and it was sold in a slew of variants with barrels ranging anywhere from 20-30.” One of the first pump action shotguns capable of shooting the then-new 2.75-inch smokeless powder shells, it was an instant hit at $25.

Users carried five shells of buckshot in the magazine tube and one in the chamber. Better yet it could be slam fired as fast as the pump could be worked, unloading 54 balls of 00 buckshot in about five seconds. The Army, needing some bad medicine to deal with Muslim insurgents in the Philippines and Mexican bandits on the border, bought several small batches of riot guns with the 20? barrel as early as 1900.  When World War 1 erupted and the US found itself in the worst of it in 1917, again they found they needed more shotguns; like 20,000 more.

Little did they know these guns would still be in use in Vietnam fifty years later.

Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com

1897 in vietnam