What late-night movie fan can forget Hollywood Director, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, and the assortment of authentic small arms used by the characters in that film? From the Colt Single Action Army pistol carried by gang leader Pike Bishop (William Holden) to the Winchester Model 1892 rifle used by Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine) and Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan) to the Browning M1917 machine gun used in the film's bloody finale, Peckinpah nailed the guns of that era.

One weapon in particular, the Winchester M1897 stole the show.

This famous, or infamous if you happened to be a German combatant, Trench Gun was used effectively during World War I by American forces. Alternately known as the Winchester Model 1897, Model 97 or M97, the Close Assault Weapon (CAW) was used with devastating close-quarter effect.

And it did a bang-up job in The Wild Bunch, in the hands of Pike Bishop.

The Model 1897 is a pump-action, tubular-feed gun chambered in 12 and 16 gauge.

Its exposed hammer design may well be one of its most flattering characteristics.

Produced from 1893 to the mid-1950s, the M1897 was issued to the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines. This war horse saw action in The Philippine-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. The military M1897 was fitted with a perforated steel heat shield (over the barrel) and a lug on which the M1917 bayonet could be attached. So if a Doughboy, the term afforded U.S. infantrymen during World War I, ran out of ammo, he could rely on the pig sticker to dispatch enemy Germans.

U.S. arms genius, John Browning and U.S. manufacturer Winchester Repeating Arms are responsible for the M1897, a spin off of the Model 1893. But unlike the black powder M1893, the newer, tougher M1897 shotgun version accommodated the new, smokeless cartridge.

One of its most lethal traits is the gun's ability to be fired 'non-stop.' The operator had only to keep the trigger firmly depressed while working the pump action to empty the gun.

The M1897 weighs about 8 pounds, depending on barrel length (i.e., from 20 to 36 inches).

It has an overall length of slightly more than 39 inches and holds 5 rounds in its tubular magazine with 1 in the hole. More than one million of these babies were made, and if you are the lucky owner of an M1897, you have a real gem - a functioning CAW and a very cool, collectible.