rifle No 362199

I have the soldiers handbook that a US soldier had issued to him. It has in the back shooters log pages that where used to fill in and record range practices.
It is for rifle Number 362199. doesn't say what make it was.

The book is bound in light brown canvas/cotton cover with all the spiel of how to use etc on the M1917 and pictures of different positions including firing from trenches.

The shooters log part was filled out from the 9th sept 1917 at Camp Devon.

if by any chance someone has a rifle with this serial number i am only to willing to forward this book on as it really accompanies it's history, No price except postage and maybe a swap for something if OK.

Let me know.
Cheers
Ned

rifle may be a 1903 Springfield or RIA as well.

why would the rifle be a 03 when the book is entitled M1917? just grabbed what they could at the time?

just the manual says 1917, the rifle he was using could have been a 1903 or a 17. unless it lists the manufacture..

the cover says.
SOLDIERS HANDBOOK of the RIFLE and SCOREBOOK for SPECIAL COURSE C.
arranged for
THE UNITED STATES RIFLE
MODEL OF 1917
Printed by ARMY WAR COLLEGE

or what you are saying that these where a generic book to all rifles?
it strange?
cheers
Ned

no i didnt say that... it is possible that the book had nothing to do with the rifle he was issued,

Chuck, all he wanted to do is to offer a book to someone who might owns a M1917 with S/N 362.199 - and he did not even want money for that. Of course we can discuss if it's for a M1903, M1917 or if it's connected to this specific S/N or not - but it doesn't change his really generous offer to someone who owns such a S/N'ed rifle :)

yes sir...i was just commenting that it could have been any one of those rifles. 17,s or 03,s to expand the field a bit...
hard to get that accross sometimes without seeming harsh...i found that the English lang, is taken different in other countries... my post wasnt harsh...only a comment on the serial.
i have my Uncles 1911A1, along with its D day bag, holster, pilots tracer ammo....and the manual that was issued to him..for a M1917 Colt pistol, lol.
has my Uncles name, and the pistols serial number listed as well, as does the WW1 holster he was issued..
what i found during war time..they issued you what they had on hand, and that was the ony point of the post...that indeed it may be a 1917. but may also be a 1903.
nothing more.

This sort of literature got used for many years after the war ... the one I've got has some pencil notes about how many point of windage he used that day, suggesting an '03 was used.

this also has the ammo used i.e. manufacturer. USG Co 1917
date used- 9/10th/9-10/ 1918.
not that it would prove it being for a M17,
I can understand a mis-spelling or something similar but not a complete book of instruction being wrongly issued for a different weapon? i have been issued gear that came with no manual, just a quick soldiers five as to how to use but never a wrong instruction manual, even in wartime.
There is only one reference to the M1903 and that is the difference between leaf sights and aperature sights of the 17.
I still believe that it is a M1917 rifle with this serial number that the book relayed to.

anyhow the offer still stands, even if it is a M1903.

Cheers
Ned

to ad more to the mix...could have even been a Mosin Nagant Dragoon rifle as well. many were used. and were refered to as the 1917 as well.
i have a Remington made Nagant, that never made it to Russia.
id bet its likely a Eddystone 1917 enfield, though all the rifles listed would have that serial number as well.

Assuming that the article in one of the other recent posts is correct and assuming that it is a 1917 (I suspect that it is) then we can rule out Eddystone. According to said article, Eddystone didn't deliver it's first run until the 17th of Sept. 1917. I'll work on this a bit more, but that narrows it down a little. To be continued,

I'm close, but no cigar.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...MG0874XL-1.jpg

Ned, first you said the September date was in 1917; later you said 1918. Want to take another look?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by firstflabn

Ned, first you said the September date was in 1917; later you said 1918. Want to take another look?

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sorry, yeah its 9-11 sept 1918 that has been entered into the book.

cheers
Ned

I presume 'Camp Devon' actually means Camp Devens in Massachusetts. Devens was used as an induction and training base during the initial buildup in 1917 and I would guess it continued as a replacement training center. The odds favor the M1917 both because of the proportion of M1917s to M1903s being produced, but also because almost all exisiting M1903s were already in France.

I presume replacements took their personal weapons with them on the boat ride (members of organized units did), so one guess might be to look at which maker reached your serial number close to September 1918. In no way does that prove the case, but it might make for an educated guess by playing the tendencies.