IAC Model 97 trenchsweeper

I recently purchased an IAC Model 97 Trenchsweeper, which is a Chinese clone of the Winchester WW1 and WW2 trench sweeper. It has an 18" barrel with cylinder choke and a 5+1 capacity for 2 3/4 inch shells. Also has a heat shield and bayonet lug. It is currently my only pump gun but I do own a Mossberg 930 SPX. What do you guys think of using it as a home defense shotgun? I tend to trust a pump vs semi auto and prefer a handheld flashlight vs a mounted one...I am interested in having some work done on it like lengthening the forcing cone and smoothing out the action etc if anybody can recommend a place to send it.

Should not be a thing wrong with it.

That type weapon served the military and police world for years. You will find that a handheld light and long gun do not do well together.

Should you feel you need it a simple sleeve on the buttstock could hold extra or speciality ammunition. I do not know what load you feed it for HD but avoid mixing and matching slugs and buck. In the heat of the moment you will never remember where you are at in the rotation. If you think you will need speciality stuff simply carry it along with the weapon and practice doing slug drills.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

Lengthening the forcing cone on a defensive shotgun probably isn't worth doing, unless the forcing cone is a "step." On a sporting gun it makes sense for improving patterns, but for something that will likely be throwing buckshot I doubt you'll see an improvement. Won't hurt, but probably won't help. Likewise, just shooting the heck outta the gun will smooth up the action. I'd save your money and buy a few cases of ammo for now, then see if the gun needs anything.

I'd go with gasmitty's advice. Just shoot it a lot. And for something that you are only going to shoot across the room, it really doesn't need the type of work that a sporting gun does.

Go hang-out with some SASS Cowboy Shooters. Some of them boys can make a M97 run life a Benelli M4. WhooWee!

Im gonna assume that you don't carry a semi auto pistol for SD either,Any shotgun with a HD barrel should be good to go for HD,and yes I carry one in the chamber on my 930,instead of a shick shick the first thing a Burglar/home invader will hear is boom and repeat as necessary

Pictures???? sounds interesting

As long as they stuck close to Browning's design, shouldn't be a problem.

Like any firearm you need to shot it to see if there any bugs in it And as gost tracker said go to SASS and read up and ask there. If it can be improved ,,they will know how to do it.

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Originally Posted by pgrass101

I'd go with gasmitty's advice. Just shoot it a lot. And for something that you are only going to shoot across the room, it really doesn't need the type of work that a sporting gun does.

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I'm with it there....................................+3

Take off the heat shield & bayonet lug and you have the pump gun my grandkids & I have put thousands of shells through in Cowboy matches. I wish my center fire rifles worked as smoothly as the 97 shotgun does. You can slick it up, but after several hundred rounds ours was as smooth and fast as we could shoot it.
Cherokee Slim

Nix on the bayonet . . . you'll poke your eye out!

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Originally Posted by OldVet

Nix on the bayonet . . . you'll poke your eye out!

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LOL thats a good one

If you are going to use a light handheld, practice with it. You may find a separate light is just too cumbersome.