Re-barreling question: Why?

[jmoore]

I use the comparison simply to get to an answer which you guys are giving. It's not metal quality or the primers themselves so much, just that they were used much more extensively over their lifespan. That makes perfect sense. I'm not familiar with the British rebarreling situation. I have three and they all appear to have original barrels but I wouldn't know what to look for to be sure. My 1917 Eddystone has been rebarreled but my 03A3 has not. I don't own a Garand but almost every one I've seen has been rebarreled as have most of the Springfields and 1917's I've run across.

Extensively would be the clue. The US, the commonwealth, and Italy all continued to use the same rifles from WWI until the 1930s. The Italians completely reconfigured many of their rifles to shorter patterns. The US had need of reedily available WWI vintage bolt rifles until there were enough Garands to go around in WWII. Same for the SMLE and No.4. Post WWII the M1 coninued in use until the 1960s.

Conversely, German rifles largely did not continue in service Post WWI except for a very smll number as allowed by the Versailles Treaty. Japanese and German rifles post WWII saw no further use by their home countries to any extent. So no need for massive rebuild programs.