I have a theory and ?'s on my Model 1917 quirks.

[Patrick Chadwick]

There is the eagle proof 339 cartouche in front of the triggerguard so it went through rebuild....right?

Sorry, that just means that that part came off a rifle that was so treated. The metalwork was not parked at rebuild, because it came off a rifle (or rifles!) that was not rebuilt.

First off: the red stripe on the handguard does not match up with the red stripe on the fore-end.
Secondly: to paint a red paint stripe round the wood, there is no reason to dismantle the rifle.
Ergo I would expect the stripe to match around the wood.

This was the case on every "red-stripe" example" I have seen here in Mauserland. They are plentiful here, and you have to look very closely to find one without any hint of a stripe. The stripes have often been removed by previous owners, so you have to look with an eyeglass to find traces of paint in the pores of the wood.

And why worry about the paint? Because the ones in British hands were apparently handed out to the Home Guard (Dad's Army!), not to serious shooters. They tend to have brilliant bores with blunderbuss muzzles - the result of years being polished to death for inspections, using that well-known crown-killer - a wrongly applied pull-through. So check these aspects most carefully.

My verdict from experience, not armchair theory: that rifle is a mixmaster. Particularly when you consider the bolt system. Although the theory of M1917 specification and fabrication was to have (as far as possible) interchangeable parts, I seriously doubt that this would go as far as mixing up bolt assembly components. Of course, no-one now can say who did this. It could have been an armorer or civilian gunsmith matching up bits to make an excellent shooting rifle. Or (unfortunately, this is more likely) someone scraping out the parts drawer to make something sellable.

After all that negative comment, I would like to say that the wood on the butt looks lovely. If it was mine, I would totally forget the futile "who did what when why" aspects, just accept it as it is, clean off the red stripe, check the crown, muzzle, head clearance etc, and do my best to turn into a beautiful-looking shooter.

Patrick