Weatherby Japanese Pump Shotguns

Weatherby Japanese Pump Shotguns

This will cover the Patrician, Patrician II, & 92 semi-autos
made from 1972 thru 1989

There are many photos in this article so load time may take a while

These pump shotguns are discontinued & have been for years, with most parts being obsolete. The semi-autos were a parallel gun to these pumps, as they utilized many of the same parts. All these guns have the model designation engraved on the LH side of the receiver.

You may want to take a look at the exploded views page CLICK HERE as much of the nomenclature used by Weatherby on these guns do not match what we normal associate with US made forearms.

The one part that seems to give the most trouble, is the slide bar will break, and welding usually is not successful. The main reason I believe, is that there was no provision for a recoil buffer in this firearm. Also we have found that possibly on a batch of slide arms that the factory may have manufactured them by cutting the material cross grain instead of with the grain of steel, resulting in a weaker part.

These firearms were made by 2 different manufacturers, with even a phase-in / phase-out overlap. We have not been able to find any differences in parts between the 2, as the firearms appear identical except the serial number prefix.

Wisner’s Inc. 306-748-4590, is making replacement Patrician / model 92 slide assemblies. They are different than the semi-autos in that they are longer & are threaded on the front to accept the magazine nut. Wisner's also make locking blocks, extractors, firing pins, etc. for these firearms, and some other discontinued Weatherby models.

PATRICIAN - This model pump was a companion to the semi-auto firearms of the same time frame. Many parts were the same & interchanged where possible. It also had a gold plated lever that was in the same location as the Centurion's rear trigger plate pin and acts as a slide lock.

The one difference was that the slide assembly was longer & threaded on the front to accommodate the pump handle nut. Also on the side slide arm, it was angled slightly & acted as a slide stop when the firearm was closed & locked up for firing.

These guns used a aluminum receiver, ventilated rib barrel, & had a nicely finished checkered walnut stock that had a white line spacer between the rosewood grip cap. The locking system & operating handle was quite similar to the Remington 870. Fixed chokes in the barrels.

The forearm front was counter-bored to accept the magazine cap so the cap was not protruding from the wood. The magazine cap was knurled so it could be tightened & or removed when the pump handle was retracted.

PATRICIAN ACTION SLIDE BARS - The Patrician needed a LH slide bar that was angled off on the rear to act as a slide stop. This necessitated the need for 2 different bars if the factory was to use them in conjunction with the Centurions in production. Later they simply used the angled Patrician bars on both the guns. The Patrician series had an additional milled cut in the bottom of the RH bar to activate the cartridge cut off.

The slide tube was 7.50" long & threaded on the front to match the magazine cap.

In the above LH photo, it shows a broken model 92 on top with a original one on the bottom. The part that is broken on the 92 is the thin web that is missing on the upper RH part of it. The Patrician did not have this milled out slot so was stronger. The reason for the slot was that the 92 lifter (the metal part that raises the ammo up to the chamber) had a tab on the front RH side to keep the live ammo from falling out if the shooter was shooting at a high overhead duck. This tab held the ammo in the action as the action was being operated & before it got far enough closed so the ammo was entering the chamber. Therefore this slot was needed in the carrier to give clearance for the lifter so that ammo could be loaded into the magazine tube. The RH photo shows the same parts, shown in same sequence as on the LH photo, except from a top side view

PATRICIAN II - The Patrician IIs have the same receiver configuration as the regular Patrician & will have that model engraved on the LH side of the receiver. Internally they are basically the same as the regular Patricians, with the exception of an ejector that can accept 3" ammo.

They were made in either 2 3/4" or 3" barrels. The ejector is slightly different than the regular Patricians in that it's tail was shorter by .200. The reason for the shorter ejector tail was apparently because these guns could have been had in 3" & this one part could function for either depending on the barrel it was fitted with.

MODEL 92 - The model 82 semi-autos were introduced in 1982, the thought as these pumps were companion guns that the next step up seems logical that they just named this model the 92. These pump model beinbg a counterpart to the then current model 82 it used the same configurations of the receiver & buttstock.

These were made in either 2 3/4" only or 2 3/4" & 3" chamberings, with screw in chokes while still using the ventilated rib barrels. The screw in chokes were installed into a swaged up bore to accept the threading for these chokes. These barrels could have been had from 26" to 30" & the muzzle was swaged from about .830" up to .905" at the muzzle where they were threaded for the screw in chokes.

The 92 receiver was again made of aluminum & was slightly modified to a semi hump-backed rear. Stocks were pretty much the same configuration & design as the Patrician series however they appear not quite as bulky. The forearm was shortened allowing the magazine nut to protrude forward, which made it easier to take down as compared to the Centurions.

The above model 92 was fitted with aftermarket sling swivels, which was not a factory option. Note the gold colored slide release lever just above & behind the trigger.

Year	Mfg Weatherby model Serial Number range Gauge
1972 - 1974	KTG Centurion Auto AO00001 - A07405 12ga 2¾”
1973 - 1975	Nikko Centurion “ NA00400 - NA10091 “ “
1976 - 1979	Nikko Centurion II “ NA10884 - NA17754 12ga 2 ¾”
1976 - 1979	Nikko Centurion II “ NA10884 - NA17754 12ga 3”
1979 - 1981	KTG Centurion II “ A17755 - A18878 “ “
1982 - 1989	KTG 82 Auto 82-00001 - 82-11527 12ga 2 ¾”/3”
1972 - 1976	KTG Patrician Pump SO00001 - S05089 12ga 2 ¾”
1973 - 1975	Nikko Patrician “ N00001 - N00011 “ “
1973 - 1975	Nikko Patrician “ NS00500 - NS12863 “ “
1976 - 1981	Nikko Patrician II “ NSI2922 - NSI8148 12ga 2 ¾”/3”
1982 - 1989	KTG 92 Pump 92-00001 - 92-11990 “ “ “

Top is a good Centurion, bottom is a broken one off a model 92	Patrician trigger group assembly, note tab on RH end of lifter

Bottom view of carriers	Top view of carriers