I want to modify an 870 to shoot like the old mod 97 trench gun. (if you hold the trigger back while pumping the gun will fire when the bolt closes without releasing the trigger and pulling it again) Anyone have any info?

Jimmy

jlowens---

You can't do it with an independant sear gun. It only works on guns that have the trigger as a searing surface.

Allen Timney at timneygunsmith.com says he can do it on one of his steel trigger groups. (He makes release trigger groups for 870's) and says he can do it with a pull trigger, but he didnt sound like he had done it before.

jlowens---

I made a mistake.

You CAN do it by making a new trigger group that does away with the independant sear and uses the new trigger to capture, hold and release the hammer.

The cost would be approximately the same as a dozen Model 12s.

I didn't realize you REALLY wanted one.

he says he'll do it for $195, thats at the limit of how bad i want it.

I don't know why you want to waste ammo like that, but why not get a 1100 or other auto loader, and learn to bump fire it. No mod.s needed, and just as wasteful and inaccurate as what your suggesting doing to your 870.

Weren't some Ithaca Mod 37s prone to this(possible design flaw)?

Supposedly, the new replica M97 "retained" this "feature". Some might say they didn't fix the problem. I remember discovering this "feature" by accident, and kept that old 97 for many years after. I always thought you had better control with the pump action, getting back on target, than a semiauto. Maybe it was just more fun!!

I was just gonna say like Nebraska did, find an old Ithaca 37 (like mine) that'll do it. Some of their AOW's were lots of fun to shoot this way.

Redial

All of the trigger-fired pumps fire with the trigger pressed when the disconnector falls off the action bar cam, but you can't engage the safety on an uncocked gun. That means the gun *has* to be put in an unsafe condition *before* the manual safety can be engaged.

The guns that DON'T "slam fire" can be cocked with the safety on because they have an independant sear that can recapture the hammer with the safety engaged.

Both designs are subject to unexpected firing.

History indicates an independant sear is more *dangerous* than the ones that have scared the bejesus out of four generations of hunters because the independants can fire at any time *without* the trigger being pulled, AND with the safety in either position.

That indicates to me that shooters are more careful when loading and shooting than they are while carrying.........but that could be wrong.

With all the old M12 Field guns coming out of Canada in the 200-dollar range, why not just get one of them?