M1917 Enfield - What to do with it?

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Swampert

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Last week, I visited a gun shop that exclusively sells hunting weapons, and I kind of bought an M1917 Enfield on impulse. Yes, I know that the title of the thread says 'M1917 Enfield', but the gun was labeled as a 'Remington 1917 Enfield', and I genuinely don't know what to call it. In fact, I don't know anything about the weapon at all, except for what Wikipedia could tell me anyway, so I turn to you for inspiration and advice.

The gun is mechanically well and sound, but it looks awful. It has been used as a hunting rifle for the last 50 years or so, which means that it has been carried a lot, shot very little and have been properly cared for, although the previous owner has cut away the peep sights and replaced them with a scope mount, leaving the rifle worthless as a collectors item.

Is there somewhere from where I can buy spare parts and restore the weapon to a collectible condition? Or can i rebuild it into something that I would be able to use as a range toy or even a hunting rifle? Or is it best to simply slap a scope on it and have fun with it on the range?

What would you do with such a weapon?

PS: I would love to post pics, but I don't have it yet. Im still waiting for the police to process my permit.

PPS: If anyone can link me to a guide on how to field strip the weapon, I would be most grateful.
 
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I own a M1917 and it is one of my most accurate rifles. I have a small lot of spare parts for the rifle that I obtained at gunshows. You should be able to find parts such as the stock, firing pins, extractors, etc. at many gunshows. The CMP
http://thecmp.org/Sales/rifles.htm
and
Numrich
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Search.aspx?filter=M1917
should have parts.
Many M1917's were sporterized years ago. I am not sure it would be worth bringing it back to original condition - you could probably buy one for less. In either case, I bet your rifle is an accurate one and you should enjoy using it on the range or for hunting.
 
please note that he lives in Europe and both Numrich and CMP afaik do not sell overseas.

Mine has also been sporterized. They are a mix of Mauser and Enfield, best of both is you ask me and the action is great, just use some good grease on it.

You'll love it so don't worry about buyer's remorse.
 
Thank you for your answers!

I am considering to rebuild the rifle into a range toy, possibly mounting it on another stock. I don't know wether or not I will keep the original barrel, but I think I will put off making that decision until after I have been to the range with it. After goggling for rifle stocks, I have found quite a few manufacturers, but I am unsure as to which stocks the M1917 action will fit into. How can I tell?

EDIT: Oh, and there will be no buyers remorse, the rifle was so cheap that it was virtually free! Registering it at the police station was more expensive than the rifle itself. I brought it as a toy, and I did not expect it to be able do anything useful, and all of the sudden I am in the process of building my own DIY rifle! Frankly, Im very happy about my purchase.
 
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First a little history: The M1917 is a modification of the British P14 (which in turn was a modification of the British P13.) During WWI three US plants manufactured P14s for the British; Winchester, Remington and Eddystone. They had just completed their contracts, producing a couple of million for the British, when the US entered the war. The US Army contracted with those three plants to continue producing rifles, but in the standard US caliber .30 (.30-06.) They are properly called Enfields because that's where they were designed. Your rifle was manufactured by Remington.

These are very strong rifles, and since the P13 (from which it is derived) was designed for what today we would call a "magnum" round, the receiver and magazine are longer than those of the Springfield or Mauser, so the rifle is more adaptable to larger cartridges.

They are, however, difficult to rebarrel -- some of them have been fractured because of the tight fit of the barrel and the extra-hard receivers. The accepted method of rebarreling is to chuck the rifle in a lathe and cut a relieving groove in the barrel where it enters the receiver before attempting to unscrew the barrel.
 
EDIT: Oh, and there will be no buyers remorse, the rifle was so cheap that it was virtually free! Registering it at the police station was more expensive than the rifle itself. I brought it as a toy, and I did not expect it to be able do anything useful, and all of the sudden I am in the process of building my own DIY rifle! Frankly, Im very happy about my purchase.
Click to expand...

:D

Have done that myself:)
 
If the rear sight base has been cut off, you could put on a Parker Hale rear sight made for the P14.

I don't remember the details, but it mounts using the ejector spring of the rifle. You would have to cut down the original spring to fit or just use the spring off a P14.

It would be relatively easy to have a gunsmith replace the front sight.

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Other pictures here:
http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=29122
 
I believe it was only the Eddystones that ever had receiver problems cracking during arsenal rebuilds. I have never heard of a Remington having that issue? It had to do with the heat treating scenario (double heat treated, and some not done well) and the 300 lb ft of torque used by the armories to get the new barrels to seat and index right. Anyway, AFAIK it won't be a problem on his.

The action will accept anything up to 300 H&H or maybe 375 H&H - can't remember which. But the 06 is a plenty potent cartridge for most uses. What condition is the front sight? If it's tall enough, adding a rear peep as suggested would be fine for a long site radius and plenty of accuracy for 200 m or so without the weight of a scope.

Some of the old sporterizing services used to mill the top of the receiver to Remington 700 contours so that bases for that rifle would fit. The front of the receiver will accept a Rem 700 base, it's the rear that needs to match. A lot of machine shops with a horizontal mill could do that for you. I prefer Weaver two piece bases as it leaves plenty of room to load and unload. But a cut away Picatinny rail would work and protect the bottom of your scope tube from ejected shells.

There are still triggers for refit to get that all dialed in. There is a conversion kit for cock on opening, but I never cared one way or the other. I'm pretty sure there are lightweight aftermarket synthetic stocks that will almost bolt on.

You might measure the barrel length and advise? We can tell you if it's close to original armory or not. I usually trim to 24 inches and recrown with a recessed face. that will get you into real clean and deep rifling so that accuracy will go up :)

These are some of the best actions out there to build a true custom magnum rifle. With machine work on the action, I think they will go out to 416 Jefferies or there abouts without failure issues. Hell for strong :)
 
Here's a '17 Enfield that has been sporterized. It shoots into 1.25 moa with no load development at all. It has a GI barrel that was replaced long long ago and not shot a lot. Dayton Traister trigger & cock on opening mod. All metal work was done by hand, files & saw.

Roger
Enfieldrifle001.jpg
 
There are people who custom make milsurp rifle stocks, this guy is one and I think he does 1917 Enfields:
http://rifle-stocks.com/
Click to expand...

I have a richards stock and couldnt be happier with it.....

however, you will be waiting at least 3 months and it will require some extensive finishing and fitting.....

if you cant find the stock you are looking for anywhere else, and arent afraid of a bit of wood work......ide say they are the way to go.
 
Very nice rifle velocette, and shows what can be done with what is one of the uglier US military rifles. I did one in the '70s. Contoured the receiver to accept Win. Mod. 70 scope bases, straightened and contoured trigger guard/floor plate, barrel cut to 24", built a sporter stock with checkering and glass bedding from northern black walnut, and added a Timney trigger. It was all done with hand tools except that I farmed out the drilling for scope bases as I didn't have a good enough drill press then. Lots of work doing everything by hand. It would shoot into 1" with 150 gr. Remington ammo then and will still do it now. I never bothered to work up a load for it. It's my oldest grandson's rifle now and he is proud of it.
 
The paperwork says that the stock barrel is 64 cm long, which is just short of 25.2 inches, and the original front sight is in a decent condition, though it could use a new finish like the rest of the guns metal parts. Keeping the iron sights is definitely an option to consider, but right now Im leaning towards cutting the barrel right behind the front iron sight and mount a scope.

I like Richards stocks a lot, especially the Mordern Classic and Monte Carlo models! The woodwork won't be a problem at all, and I can wait a few months for the stock to ship. Yeah, I´ll probably do that.

Would you mount a scope on scope rings, or on a Picatinny rail?

Also, velocette, that is a very nice gun! I hope that mine will turn out just as well. Time will tell.
 
Swampert

After WWI Remington Arms continued to manufactured a "slimmed down" version of the robust British P14/M1917 Enfield rifle and it was called the Remington model 30. Of note is the fact that approximatly 75% of our American troops carried the M1917 in WWI due to shortages of the 03 Springfield rifle.

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Finally! The permit came through, and the rifle is in my safe.

Upon closer inspection I see that the barrel is very worn, and I suppose that if Im going to rebuild it into an accurate hunting rifle, Im going to need a new barrel installed. Does any of you know of a place that sells barrels for the M1917, and can deliver them overseas? I don't care if its 1st, 2nd or 3rd party, or if it is new or used (but in good condition), I just want my rifle to shoot well.
 
Upon closer inspection I see that the barrel is very worn, and I suppose that if Im going to rebuild it into an accurate hunting rifle, Im going to need a new barrel installed.
Click to expand...
Have you shot this rifle yet?

I would never replace a "worn" barrel based only on visual inspection. Many barrels that appear to be worn actually shoot quite well.
 
Darn, I posted this morning and it didn't stick :(

Oh well, regarding barrels - Numrich probably has some. eBay may have take-offs, but be careful to get one without the relief cut. Of course Pac-Nor or any of a dozen others will make one up in the contour you want.

But, if you have a full range gun smithing service within a reasonable distance, you may be better off getting it rebored and rifled to something else. Maybe 338, 8mm or something. The barrel has plenty of meat for that :)
 
Bought my Winchester in a sporterized condition for $150. Did not know they existed but knew it was well worth the money paid. It is very accurate and may end up a 338. Hard to beat the venerable old '06 and that is the reason I bought it. Like them no matter what "shell" they come in--lol.
 
But, if you have a full range gun smithing service within a reasonable distance, you may be better off getting it rebored and rifled to something else. Maybe 338, 8mm or something. The barrel has plenty of meat for that
Click to expand...
Good advice -- Bigfoot Wallace, my elk rifle, is a custom '03 Springfield rebored, re-rifled and re-chambered to .35 Brown-Whelen (the most radical form of the Whelen.)
 
Shoot it before you do anything! You may be pleasantly surprised. My M1917 is a 1918 Remington with original barrel and it is very accurate. I came to this rifle late (after years of Garands and '03s) and now I'm hooked.

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Tinpig
 
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