Sirius Dog Sled Patrol m1917

[Mbechmann]

Hi all
First post here.

I just bought a very interesting Winchester m1917 rifle (Serial number 20406) here in Denmark, Europe. This rifle has a very cool history. Its built in September 1917 with a barrel made in July 1917 and this rifle has loads of history. I think it was shipped to Camp Humphreys Oct 4th 1918, and it was used for training there until it was shipped to Canada in 1941. It arrived at the "Long Branch" factory in Toronto.

In 1953-54 Canada donated 38395 m1917s to the Danish Home Guard as a part of the ww2 relief fund.

In 1960 the Greenlandic Sirius Dog Sled Patrol contacted the Home Guard through the Danish Navy. The Danish Home Guard ended up donating 40 rifles to the Sirius Patrol.

My rifle... well thats one of the 40 original Sirius rifles. Not only does it have the Canadian acceptance mark + it has the logo from the Danish Home Guard. But thats not all

Now, when I checked for any markings under the ammo pouch I got a big surprise. It has an outlined carving of Greenland + carved or written initials from the people who have used this rifle. It absolutely blew my mind when I saw it. Thats one of the coolest things I have seen. I found out what it says: Kalaallit Nunaat: The Land of the Kalaallit Inuit People aka Greenland.

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