First post and P17 sporter question

[oldfoneguy]

I've had my sporterised 12/18 built Winchester M1917 since 1984. It came in a poorly finished NRA stock and I believe that it was part of a batch of post war built never issued rifles sold through the NRA as a sporter kit in the early 20's.

This rifle has been through many incarnations in our time together, multiple stocks and even a free floated, glassed and aluminum pillar bedded black walnut stock but never achieved its peak accuracy until it found its way into a full military stock!

It seems that these full length military barrels have to much whip for serious accuracy unless supported near the muzzle as originally designed. Once completed in what I assumed would be the ultimate combination for it, while using it at the range one could actually feel the barrel whip down and to the right as the bullet exited the muzzle. This was not only felt by me but also my brother several friends and even 2 range officers, all of us very experienced 40+ year shooters. A genuine fear I had was the possibility of receiver cracks from this exaggerated barrel motion.

By chance I happened to buy a Remington P14 that came in an Eddystone M1917 stock. Not one to leave such a situation alone I purchased a correct stock for the P14 and on a whim put the M1917 in the spare military stock. A small amount of barrel channel sanding and some thin shims under the centerline of the bore and this rifle finally achieved its true capabilities.

As the ears were crudely hacked off I had done much metal finishing work years before. Since it could never be a true restoration I decided to make it into a tribute to what might have been the greatest US Military Sniper Rifle that never was the US Model 1918. Obviously going with all original ridiculously expensive parts would have been foolish. I settled on a Weaver detachable side mount and a 3x Weaver 60 series scope with post reticle. The beauty of this setup is the ability to use several different scopes on it for different purposes. This side mount system is amazing in that it holds its zero perfectly with a scope change and never needs to be redialed in.