1917 Eddystone Advice

[Aragorn243]

Several years ago I believe I brought my first rifle to the attention of this group. I sought advice on whether it was a good purchase or not considering it's condition. I did end up buying it and over the past few years just never was satisfied with it. The stock was heavily sanded, it has a WWII 2 groove replacement barrel that is pitted and while it looked decent and filled a spot in my collection I kept my eyes open for something better.

That came along this past weekend. This one also is not perfect but is a huge step up in my opinion. From an exterior inspection, every part could be identified as Eddystone with the exception of the safety lever, and nose cap which had no markings. The barrel is an original 9-18 barrel although it also has pitting. The stock is un-sanded, has the original acceptance stamps and two rebuild/inspection stamps.

On tearing it down I found replacement parts. A Winchester trigger guard, Remington spring, base plate and trigger and safety.

Here's where the advice comes in. I'm planning to sell the old one, but it has an Eddystone safety, trigger guard, spring and base plate although all but the safety are in worse shape finish wise than the ones it came with. It unfortunately has a Winchester trigger.

Is it better to keep it as is with mix matched but better finished parts or swap out all the stuff for the correct Eddystone. The safety is a no brainer, they look the same.

If swapped out, all that is not Eddystone is the trigger and that shouldn't be hard to find.

The old one was major mismatch. Remington stock, Remington bolt, etc so nothing lost there by taking a few Eddystone parts off it.

What to you guys think, I'm leaning toward going all Eddystone.

Information

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[mtoms]

Go all eddy - won't hurt the old rifle's value but should help the new one

[WarPig1976]

I think I'd go all Eddystone too. That way when you ponder the thing that little voice in your head won't say "yeah but its mismatched" you know what I mean? As you find parts in better shape you'll replace 'em but you'll already be ahead of the game. My 2c's

[vintage hunter]

Swapping parts just to make it correct would, IMO, be destroying it's history. If they are defective then that's a bit different. If you want an all correct example use the 2 you have now as trading fodder to get it. It is what it is and I'm in favor of leaving it as is, but it's yours to do with as you wish I reckon. Just my .02 worth.

[Aragorn243]

I'm not big on the "history of the rifle" so not really part of my consideration. The rifles history as I know it today is where and when it was made, where it was refurbished and who owned it before me. That isn't enough to prevent me from swapping out parts.

Don't get me wrong, I love history or I wouldn't be collecting these in the first place but the concept of leaving things as is just to preserve something which is complete speculation isn't history to me. If it had a paper trail, that's different but very few rifles have a paper trail. I have no idea if the guy that owned it before me swapped out the parts, or the guy before him. I can speculate that the parts were swapped out by the General Motors facility during the WWII refurbishment.

Sanding the marks off the stock would be destroying it's history, I can't see swapping parts as doing so.

[ssj]

Armourers would swap parts in and out so no biggee for you doing the same IMHO. If you are not that bothered about being that correct what about an after market barrel?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Sanding the marks off the stock would be destroying it's history, I can't see swapping parts as doing so.

The major feature of M1917 production was that, as far as possible, all parts from 3 different manufacturers should be interchangeable. So no US armourer fixing up M1917s would have worried much about matching E's or R's or W's. Part interchangeablilty was intended to be used to produce as many rifles as possible as fast as possible in the factory, and to keep up the maximum availability of functioning rifles in the field. Especially for the M1917, the snooty collector's attitude of "it's not all matching therefore not original" is historically incorrect. See Ferris "United States Rifle Model of 1917".

As to "history", nobody can tell now whether the parts were used in the factory, because delivery shortages required taking parts from one of the other factories, or "officially" swapped by a US armorer at a later date, or even swapped by you or me five minutes ago.

So go all-Eddy if you like. It's irrelevant for shooting anyway.

[Aragorn243]

Armourers would swap parts in and out so no biggee for you doing the same IMHO. If you are not that bothered about being that correct what about an after market barrel?

No, an after market barrel would be over the top for me. I believe the barrel is fine, it's just not as clean as I'd like. Rifling is strong and muzzle wear is not excessive.

[Aragorn243]

Patrick made some good points. I believe I'm going to replace all the internals and items of equal wear/quality with Eddystone. Still a little undecided on the base plate and trigger guard. The difference in wear between the old and new is considerable. The new is nicely parkerized and essentially unblemished. The old is stained, down to bare metal, etc. I may hang on to them until I can find someone that needs those parts and has Eddystone parts of equal quality.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I believe the barrel is fine, it's just not as clean as I'd like. Rifling is strong and muzzle wear is not excessive.

So shoot, clean, shoot, clean, shoot, clean...and enjoy!