Barrel nut for a 1917 action?

It could be done, but a custom job. Should have no trouble getting a normal barrel. It would save on some weight tho. What are thinking of building.

One other thing is the extractor cut in the barrel, you would have to fit it and chamber then tighten the nut. You need a way to keep the barrel inline.

Could just do a pin to hold the barrel, but as long your on the mark it does not matter. It sounds like a fun project. Keeping the cartridges with the same parent case should keep it feeding good. I've been wanting on to build a 375, wish sarco would ship here.

Might find this useful, https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/eddystone-1917-30-06-to-300-h-h.60586/

If the action is an Eddystone, be sure to Magnaflux the action prior to doing a lot of work on the action. Be sure to read these threads on Gunboards where a guy researching other topics at the National Archives found several memos post WWII addressing the cracked receiver problems from Eddystone--in one, an Ordnance memo dated in 1947, 26,000 Eddystone receivers were found to be cracked and returned to Columbia Arsenal. https://forums.gunboards.com/showth...1917-Research-cracked-receivers-and-headspace ( you may need to create an account at gunboards to see the rest of the complete documents but I have posted the first one here with acknowledgement to cplnorton on gunboards.com who has been conducting this research).



There are two schools of thought on this problem: a) that the barrels were overtorqued originally during WWI by Eddystone and during the WWII, many 1917's being drawn from war reserves were found to have ruined barrels requiring replacements from High Standard, and Johnson Automatics. If you remove an overtorqued barrel without making a relief cut in the shoulder of the barrel, you can crack a receiver when it "springs" back from the relief of stress on the receiver ring. The second school of thought is that Eddystone, being a new plant with a motley groups of new and old employees and going through a change in ownership from Remington to Midvale Steel in January 1918 might not have gotten the heat treatment right on the receivers. Either way, it is an issue.

My dad had a friend, think his dad worked at eddystone. He has pictures, you can see them putting barrels on with 4-5 foot bar.

This is peripheral to the thread, but the Remington Society has released a short history of Eddystone with pix. https://www.remingtonsociety.org/the-story-of-eddystone/

Just something so cool about gun factories, would be a dream job for me.

adcoch1 said:

Thanks Boomboom for the info. I have read a lot of it already but having the links all in one place is great. The relief cut is a good idea on any of the 1917 pattern rifles, but the vast majority of cracked ones were Eddystone's.

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A gunsmith familiar with the action (who appears in the Gunboard thread above as chuckindenver) is a crack gunsmith on these actions--he is in Denver, CO but you can google his name and business id; Chuck Moline of Warpath Vintage in Denver, CO. (720)-841-1399.
If you pose a question to him on Gunboards Workshop subforum, he might answer as he tends to frequent that area. Used to be on milsurps.com too.

Sarco and Apex has P14 bolts which already have the bolt face adjusted for your big boy cartridges. You are going to have to headspace the new barrel anyway to the action. Sarco did have some 1917 actions for sale buried in their website for around $100-150--you might have to call them for details if they are open.

I like this idea!
You might consider just going with shouldered barrels. Install chamber then remove, and as long as the shoulders arnt damaged and the threads clean they should return correctly just screwing them in. A witness mark, like you were saying, could tell you if they are in the right spot.
I generally dont go any tighter than i can get with a strap wrench, or by hand even, when installing barrels, but you could put a pair of wrench flats on the straight part to use an open end.

LoonWulf said:

I like this idea!
You might consider just going with shouldered barrels. Install chamber then remove, and as long as the shoulders arnt damaged and the threads clean they should return correctly just screwing them in. A witness mark, like you were saying, could tell you if they are in the right spot.
I generally dont go any tighter than i can get with a strap wrench, or by hand even, when installing barrels, but you could put a pair of wrench flats on the straight part to use an open end.

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The barrel blank would be small with his idea, that's the one problem with the us. Enfields the barrel shank is huge. You right on the barrel not needing to be to tight, if it's a right hand twist it will self tighten.

troy fairweather said:

The barrel blank would be small with his idea, that's the one problem with the us. Enfields the barrel shank is huge. You right on the barrel not needing to be to tight, if it's a right hand twist it will self tighten.

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oooooo that makes sense! i get it now.
Im pretty sure a good machinest could make the nuts if there arnt any options available.

LoonWulf said:

oooooo that makes sense! i get it now.
Im pretty sure a good machinest could make the nuts if there arnt any options available.

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The barrel nut is pretty easy, I think even on my dads clapped out old South bend I could make one if it had the gear set then I know I could. Should save some weight to. The shank on the 14-17 is 1.325 but with the nut it only need to be 1.125 for the threads.

troy fairweather said:

The barrel nut is pretty easy, I think even on my dads clapped out old South bend I could make one if it had the gear set then I know I could. Should save some weight to. The shank on the 14-17 is 1.325 but with the nut it only need to be 1.125 for the threads.

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yeah id completely forgotten how fat the shanks were on those tanks.

adcoch1 said:

I am pretty sure I can build the nut if my lathe has the right gear set for the threads. If not a tap can be had to do it. Maybe just a tiny flange to stop the threading in and a set screw in the receiver would work too. I just like the idea of a barrel nut on these huge actions. I know it isn't gonna be real pretty, but it'll be really functional for a working gun...

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There 10 tpi square threads, should be able to grind a inside threader or a pre made cutter. Could get a custom tape, but just be cheaper for someone to thread it if you cant.

Could even skip the flats and do the smooth nut, should be easy to make a tool to remove and tighten it.

adcoch1 said:

I am pretty sure I can build the nut if my lathe has the right gear set for the threads. If not a tap can be had to do it. Maybe just a tiny flange to stop the threading in and a set screw in the receiver would work too. I just like the idea of a barrel nut on these huge actions. I know it isn't gonna be real pretty, but it'll be really functional for a working gun...

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I keep forgetting you can do that kinda stuff! yeah should be easy peasy.