Remington M1917 Serial Number (High serial number)

[roadking]

Hello,
New to the forum and hoping someone can help me with a date of manufacture on an M1917.
I inherited the gun from my father and my recollection is that it was given to him by my aunt in the late 60's early 70's as a birthday gift. The gun was sort of a "finish it yourself" sporterized "kit rifle.
It has what I believe to be a commercial barrel (chambered in 30.06) and came with an inletted unfinished sporter stock with a rollover cheek piece.The rear sight ears were still on it however my father many years ago had them milled off and the receiver drilled and tapped for a scope mount.
the front receiver ring is marked:
US
MODEL OF 1917
REMINGTON
680236
The serial number is way higher than any serial number I've seen attributed to Remington M1917 production. I know that they had some leftover parts some of which were assembled into rifles, and some of which were perhaps sold off to the commercial market.
Any help the members can give me on a manufacture date of this gun (receiver) would be greatly appreciated.

Information

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[Richardwv]

In theory the last Remington produced under the gov't contract was serial# 545,541. However when one ceases a contract suddenly on a given date (11 Nov 1918) you just know there were a ton of parts left to be assembled. It is documented that Winchester assembled rifles until April hoping that the M1917 would be adopted as US standard. Remington of course likely did some additional assembly and for a fact actively marketed the rifle elsewhere, ultimately selling some to Honduras. Of course they also used their parts to continue the M1917 line as a civilian sporter, the Model 30. Since it came originally with ears, it was certainly a military action most likely assembled from parts on hand. I too have a high number Remington outside of the gov't contract and bought is as a new in the wrap receiver from SARCO in the late 60s or early 70s. I had the rest of the parts on hand and built it into a sporter. Now I could kick myself for not buying some of the new barrels that were also available at that time.

[roadking]

Thanks for the reply.
Any idea of when a receiver with that high of a serial number would have been manufactured?
Am I correct that none were produced after 1919?
I was just doing some more in depth examination of my rifle and I've determined it was most definitely assembled by some entity out of surplus (overrun) parts.
The receiver obviously is a Remington, the underside of the bolt handle is stamped "R" so the bolt is also Remington, the bolt release, safety and magazine box are all stamped "E" (Eddystone) while the magazine follower is stamped "W" (Winchester) so the rifle is a mongrel.
Also where I had thought the barrel was a commercial barrel I see that just ahead of the receiver it has an ordnance mark (the flaming bomb) and ordnance proof marks, as well and the index mark from barrel to receiver so I now believe it is an original barrel that was cut down and had a civilian front sight installed.

[Richardwv]

In regards to the military style receivers (vs. the Model 30), I think it is safe to say no receivers were made after 11 Nov 18. Rifles were assembled after that, but from receivers already made. Knowing Remington's capacity at the time, most of the receivers...at least in raw form...were likely made within a few months of starting the contract. Once the contract was cancelled, there would have been no reason to continue the US contract serial numbering or stamping of the model designation for that matter.

[oldfoneguy]

Based on a Remington Society Of America article I read a few years ago but can't find production went as follows:

Eddystone continued production until Dec 30 1918 then ceased operations completely.

Remington continued production until Feb 1919 for the same reason as Winchester, then rolled production over into the Model 30 which continued with various modifications until 1940. It was Remington's first commercial bolt action rifle and sold with great success.

Winchester continued production until April 1919 with the thinking that it would be adopted to replace the 1903 due to it's more robust construction and accuracy. It never happened so with modifications it went into production as the models 51 & 54 and with more modifications in 1936 it became the Model 70.

You will find more post war production Winchesters but the Remingtons are not unheard of. I have a Winchester with a 12/18 barrel date and a serial number of 507xxxx. With a serial number that high I would approximate yours was made in Feb 1919.

By never having seen service most of the post war made rifles I have seen have excellent bores and are great shooters regardless of their configuration. Bill

[roadking]

Thank you,
Based on the research I've managed to find I was thinking Feb 1919 also.
Since this is a post war mixed parts already sporterized rifle my plan is to eventually build it into a 375 H&H. I always wanted a 375 and this would be a great platform for it.

[pickax]

Interesting rifle. I looked up Remington production numbers in Nick Ferris' book on the 1917.

After the 12/18 cancellation order by ordnance, a new contract was issued to allow payment for already machined parts on hand. The last rifle accepted was serial #647358, packed on Feb. 8 1919.
An unknown number of completed non assembled parts were designated as scrap, and could have been sold off to the secondary market, which could well explain your receiver or barreled receiver.

Ferris also shows a table of observed rifles with the highest serial of serial #655243 and bbl. date 9/18. This is quite a leap from 647K, and your 680K is quite a leap from that!

Glad to see you are keeping the rifle shooting with a new build, your dad would be proud.

[Calif-Steve]

Remington had tons of finished and semi-finished parts on hand at the end of production. They shut down the Forge House in 1919 and didn't start it up again until the British M1903 contract. Springfield bought a ton of finished parts immediately after WWI in order to rebuild all of the returning '17's from Europe. No other parts contract were let after that one contract. Remington then made Model 30's from left-over '17 parts. When the Depression hit in 1929 no one could sell any new guns and things fell apart. The '17 was a good gun, but Springfield was not about to allow commercial factories make the standard Infantry rifle.

[roadking]

pickax, thanks for the info. I'm by no means an expert on the M1917 and was not aware that production went past Feb 1919. And yes it is interesting because in the, albeit limited, research I have done I have not found any serial numbers even approaching 680XXX. So my rifle was I'm sure now a 1919 build. How far into 1919 I don't know. And with the mixed parts I'm assuming it left the factory as just a receiver or possibly a barreled receiver. With the serial
being that high I'm also assuming it must have been among the very last ones made.

[Surpmil]

Remington had tons of finished and semi-finished parts on hand at the end of production. They shut down the Forge House in 1919 and didn't start it up again until the British M1903 contract. Springfield bought a ton of finished parts immediately after WWI in order to rebuild all of the returning '17's from Europe. No other parts contract were let after that one contract. Remington then made Model 30's from left-over '17 parts. When the Depression hit in 1929 no one could sell any new guns and things fell apart. The '17 was a good gun, but Springfield was not about to allow commercial factories make the standard Infantry rifle.

I suspect that being a British design (beyond the obvious Mauser bolt system) was probably the biggest obstacle to adoption of the M17 as the US service rifle. That and the fact that Springfield was tooled up to produce the M1903.