gunsngear:The Model 1917 Trench Gun“The model 1917 trench gun is a result ofa collaboration between

gunsngear:The Model 1917 Trench Gun“The model 1917 trench gun is a result ofa collaboration between the United States Army Ordnance Department and the Winchester Repeating Arms company to produce an ideal weapon for close range combat during World War I.The adaptation of a combat shotgun was suggested by General John Pershing who , after witnessing the devastating effect of 00 buckshot on the Morotribesman during the Phillipine Insurrection felt that the American Doughboys could effectively use such a weapon in the trenches. Ergo, the Ordnance Department basically took the preexisting , John Browning designed Winchester model 1897 Riot gun and through a few strategic modifications perfected it for a soldier in, what is today called CQB – or Close Quarters Battle.One of the desired modifications was the removal of the riot guns disconnector mechanism. This would allow the user to maintain a constant pull of the trigger while he worked the pump to cycle, chamber and fire as round as fast as the action was manipulated. – This modification did allow for a faster rate of fire, but the problem was that the barrel would heat up so much that it couldn’t be touched with a bare hand. To rectify this issue, Winchester installed a ventilated heat shield on the top of the barrel so that it could be gripped safely.The Ordnance Department also requested that the new model come equipped with a bayonet mount, so Winchester added a mount that would fit the same bayonet being produced for the Enfield 1917 rifles that the company was also producing that year. One bayonet could efficiently fit on two seprate weapons. By the end result, one could tell the Trench Gun was a weapon designed for close range encounters just by looking at it. Here you had this short barreled, 12 gauge shotgun with, at the time, was a high capacity five round tubular magazine and a 17 inch blade attached to the muzzle, which almost doubled the length of the gun overall.Winchester delivered 20,000 of these guns to the Ordnance Department during the Great War, and the Trench Gun gained such a positive repoire that subsequent, slightly modified trench guns were used by US troops during World War II, Korea and even up through the Vietnam War.” -- source link

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