Question on combat Shotguns

[FastCars]

I am interested in starting a collection of military/combat shotguns. What should I look for when buying military guns? Are the trenchbrooms easily faked? If it has the bayonet lug and flameing bomb stamp is it the real deal?

Plan on buying the early more expensive guns first (I have the spare cash now and may not later). I have seen a couple of really nice Winchester Model 97 (I think, the one with the hammer) for around $1700, is this about right? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[fal308]

There is a large counterfeit market for combat shotguns, at least US combat shotguns. The US government bought few combat shotguns, a rather larger number was procurred through private channels (individual soldiers or units purchasing). The quasi-official market is much larger. Also there is quite a bit of overlap between combat shotguns and riot shotguns.
An excellent source on combat shotguns is The World's Fighting Shotguns by Thomas F Swearengen. I can't recommend it highly enough.