My 1897 is the take down model and I’ve been searching for a non-matching takedown barrel assembly for years. No luck.

I have the 1897 (it’s beat to absolute shit, is a pawn shop find, not a crazy rare year) and I have this exact heat shield…………

But every time the garage beers start flowing, and the Creed starts to jam a little to fuckin hard, I get all my supplies together and attempt to begin my master plan of cutting the 1897 down to true size.

I arrange my tools lovingly. My 1897 is ratchet strapped to a few milk crates that will serve as my vice (or altar depending how much religious indoctrination I wish to infuse in my creation). My sawzall, equipped with what ever blade I can find, sits with anticipation. An assortment of wrenches, screw drivers, chisels, and a regular roofing hammer are also in place should they be needed. There is also a Dremel tool in attendance…. Because gator ain’t never been about playin no shit and Dremel ain’t never been about playin with no “stripped screw”.

But I always wake up the same way the next morning. Empty Montucky cans everywhere, a pipe wrench sized hole in the wall above my work bench, my wife screaming “therapy” and “problem” over and over again, and there sits my 1897…… perfectly intact. Not a new scratch or dent on her (like I would notice. She is truly beat to shit). And then I put her and my heat shield back into the gun safe….. to await their next brush with the drunk gun smiff.