Model 1917 Advice

G'day all,

I've only recently gotten into milsurps and so far I've been completely hooked, in 12 months I've gone from one old SMLE rifle to compete in a few friendly service rifle shoots to now number 4 with number 5 on the way.

speaking of number 4 though, its rather unique on in my part of the world (far north Qld, Australia), its an Eddystone Model 1917 i found by accident in the back of a pile in a small gunshop in a nearby regional town, it was dirty and a bit questionable looking but i decided to re-home it none the less.

With only a light clean it looks a hellava lot better most most significantly had a very good bore and nice rifling with no pitting and could make for an excellent shooter one day. It was E marked on most pieces besides the incorrect front stacking swivel (which I've found a replacement), however the main issue with the rile was the stock, the stocks been repaired by using some sort of bedding compound to build up the front end (which leaves the nose cap a little lose) and in around the receiver, some of which appears to have got onto front sight. The the barrel is clear of the stuff to the receiver but the receiver is stuck firm in there.

Being only a newcomer to this stuff I'm reluctant to attempt to separate the stock without seeking some advice for worry of damaging it as it may be quite some time before any kind of non-sporterized replacement comes my way. As much as i'd like to check under the stock at this stage i'm inclined to leave it alone until i source a replacement stock

Any advice on continuing the cleanup on this rifle or other things i should check (head space is good), would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

G'Day Oysters,

Wonderful find, that Mod 1917 is in brilliant shape. Some one's had a crack at getting the barrel off by the look of those jaw marks on the reinforce. These barrels are a real challenge to get off, they are on real tight. In ital thoughts are no need to get too concerned about head-space, they don't change much and are not as critical as a rimmed cartridge that is set up on the rim thickness for headspace. There is plenty of give in a 30-06 neck for 'allowance.'

Like all new member introduced to the safe:

1. Strip and disassemble completely.
2. Wash the steel parts in kero and scrub the crevices of gunk and grease. Dry and see what "white" shows up - it's dirt that absorbs moisture and causes rust. Repeat until there's no visible "white" left on the dry steel.
3. Scrub the barrel with kero and a bronze brush at the same time.
4. Disassemble the bolt. (You'll need some guidance on how they come apart and Ian Skennerton's Handbook No 2 is what you want (don't be off put by the title, as the Pattern 14 and M1917 are nearly identical, save caliber). Inspect and clean thoroughly.
5. Clean the timber with a good lint-free cloth saturated with acetone. Yep, it cleans off all the unwanted oil and dirt like a beaut. It won't damage timber (despite what some will suggest) Clean in the action bedding area too, paying attention to the wearing surfaces to see if the're deformation or cracking under the steel rubbed surface.
6. Inspect the steelwork from top to bottom, inside to out. Then do it again.
7. Inspect the dried and clean timber in same slow and fastidious manner. Look for cracks and deformations that upset the support and bedding of the action and trigger group.
8. Oil the stock with your preference of Raw or Boiled Linseed oil. There's plenny of arguments about which is best and I'm not going to start one. But it has to be linseed oil and it has to be used. Oil the inside of the stock very liberally and ensure you apply it the same as the exterior. Apply, let soak in, when the surface isn't moist or slick, repeat until it remains slick. Wipe excess oil off timber and you're done for the moment.
9. Reassemble rifle (correctly, with no spare parts due to your innate desire to make the machine more efficient with fewer components...)
10. Repeat oiling timber exterior for next week.
11. Give the barrel a good scrub, starting with a dry patch, then Sweets, then patch then your favourite bore solvent. I'd caution against trying to de-carbonise this old girl. The pitting in the barrel at microscopic level is quite something. Most of its filled with carbon and copper. Let it be, it's not meant to be a precision fly shooter. Oil it with the final patch before completion.
12. Stand back and admire your work.

If there's any spares needed, send me a PM and I'll put you in touch with a good source in our state. :thup:

.

Many thanks I really appreciate it, I'll follow all that and see how she turns out, and dont worry, I share the opinion that these stocks shouldn't be sanded, every little imperfection is a story

I bet bubba didn't use a release agent. I would see if a heat gun softens the bedding material. Not a hair dryer but a proper heat gun. Another good idea is to protect the wood with Aluminum foil and a little masking tape. One can use Aluminum tape too it's a little less fiddly.
Heat the receiver not the wood. Don't go nuts or nothing, but put some good heat on.
Of course you've got to test some exposed bedding material first to see if it's susceptible to heat. If it's a proper bedding compound like Acraglas "which this looks like it might be" you're out of luck. If it's a regular epoxy you have a fighting chance.
One could also try holding the gun upright in the air over a padded surface and whacking the muzzle with a dead blow hammer a few times to free the stock.

Got the receiver out of the stock, using the heat gun and a few light taps with the dead blow hammer, quite a bit of clean up required but it looks a lot better than i thought it would. It should come up great, thanks gents!

Bear,

I was replying to an earlier comment which seems to have disappeared. Jim's comment came after it, hence the confusion. I've subsequently deleted mine to remove further concern.

Too bad for those who come along later and get confused over a deleted comment! ;)

And I have deleted my post so I don't get confused again:madsmile:

Hi all,
Just wanted to drop a quick thanks to everyone here for their advice, was a slow project in the end, but finally got some rounds down range a few weeks ago, the gun has turned out looking very nice and shot well, i'm very happy with how it all turned out.

Cheers all,
Oysters