spot in bore?

I'm looking at an M1917 as a first centerfire (only been shooting rimfire target since last fall). I found a 1918 Winchester M1917 at a local gun shop. One thing I found odd: the rear sight aperture is so large, that the front post seems to be swimming in space.

The barrel looked uncleaned (they pulled it out of the "trade-ins" pile for me). I asked them to clean it up a bit, and they did. Looking in the barrel from the action, it appeared that there was a spot a couple of inches in; but the rest of the grooves looked fine. It seemed odd that it would look clean, except for one spot. Any thoughts?

This is the only M1917 with stock front and rear sights I can find in my area at this time, so I don't have many to compare with.

Hard to say, can you hold it a bit closer to the screen? It may just be some crud, they won't be too eager about cleaning, they just want you to buy it then you can clean it. If you want to work a bit, take your own stuff and ask if you can run it thropugh a bit more. They'll probably let you. It could also be a bit of rust, that happens. You'll have to decide.

Thanks, I think you're right about them not being eager. I asked I they had a bore scope, and they said "yes," but it turned out to be a light, not a scope. I asked if they had a throat gauge or headspace field gauge, and they said no. Yet they have a sign over a door claiming "gun smithing".

It's under $500 and appears complete, so I think I'll take a chance.

You'll probably be OK.

I picked up a used JA barrel that I was going to use on one of my 1917s that had a sewer pipe fpr a barrel. It had one rough spot. I soaked it with a patch soaked in Kroils for a day and then scrubbed it with a bronze brush. No more rough spot and the bore shines like new.
john

Thanks, folks. I put a saturated boresnake in and pulled about 2 inches every five minutes, while working on another project. When done, I pulled it through five more times. The spot I saw before is gone, and I'm a happy camper :) I guess it was just crud.

BTW, the bolt appears to be filled with grease, and there was grease filling the the ball at the end of the bolt handle, and around the barrel throat in the receiver. The first pass with the boresnake picked-up some from inside the barrel, too (might have been the spot I saw. Is that something people do when they store for a while, like a D-I-Y cosmolene?)

It may be long term preservative like cosmoline or some close family member...

If it was gooped in cosmolene, chances are the previous owner never cleaned it properly since acquiring it and the preservative is likely from miliatry storage god knows where. The US sen these as war aid all over the world, so no telling where yours ended its service.

Yep, some friends looked at it, and declared it to be dirty Cosmoline.

If your rifle was filled with cosmolene or equivalent, then it may also be filled in the barrel channel. While this may preserve the metal, if you leave it there and shoot the rifle, the grease will melt and slowly seep through the stock until the wood is soaked through with molten grease and surface stains appear. You will then have a tough time getting the grease out of the wood again.

It sounds as if your rifle should be completely stripped, cleaned, and lubricated just there where it is required.