M1917 finish question (pics of rifle now added)

[Claven2]

OK, well here are the pics now that I found time to over to my buddy's house and finish degreasing the action and re-assemble (he has a parts washer and it makes cleaning cosmolene off metal EVER so much easier. I still detail strip the action to clean the recesses and check for parts wear/breakage, but parts cleaners = good stuff.)

You can real see around the rear sight ears that the finish (which looks like very dark green parkerizing) is really some sort of applied coating. Paint stripper doesn't touch it. Also, some parts of the underside of the receiver are clearly NOT coated and are a black phosphate finish. The barrel is blasted (or shot peened?) and parked a dark greenish. The bottom metal is parkerized, but not blasted. The bolt is blued (cocking piece in the white). Safety retainer block is blued, as are safety, rear handguard retainer, front sight, and the non-polished parts of the rear sight. Both barrel bands are parked, but not blasted. Same for buttplate.

Every part is E-marked. Not mixed-maker parts anywhere. (as an aside, the Kerr is a WPG repro)

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[Patrick Chadwick]

You can real see around the rear sight ears that the finish (which looks like very dark green parkerizing) is really some sort of applied coating. Paint stripper doesn't touch it. Also, some parts of the underside of the receiver are clearly NOT coated and are a black phosphate finish. The barrel is blasted (or shot peened?) and parked a dark greenish. The bottom metal is parkerized, but not blasted. The bolt is blued (cocking piece in the white). Safety retainer block is blued, as are safety, rear handguard retainer, front sight, and the non-polished parts of the rear sight. Both barrel bands are parked, but not blasted. Same for buttplate.

IMOH, you can forget all discussion about what finish Eddystone applied when. The finish on this rifle is not consistent. Both on the wood (which looks like it has been varnished) and the metalwork it looks as if the newer finish has been applied over a rough surface.
Now it just so happens that I am in a very good position to make a comparison, as my best competition service rifle is a 100% Eddystone which is numbered 1299xxx with an 11-18 barrel. Kicked around the arsenals on the outside, but with an as-new bore. It most certainly does not have the hodge-podge of finishes one can see in these photos, and the number is absolutely straight and even, which does not appear to be the case in the example in the photos.

I think this is a rifle that was left in a corner, developed a lot of surface rust, and was then sandblasted etc by John Q. Bubba. Who missed out patches that are not normally visible. Not an original finish, and not an arsenal refinish of any kind.

But that is, of course, just my opinion!


Patrick