Warner & Swasey scope -2-

[Promo]

Finally found the thread with the guy who owns a M1917 and has a W&S scope on it. It was a Jouster thread. For having to fear that this forum might be down one day I'll quote the starting post as well as add the pictures to this thread here:

Hello , I am new to the site, but now from what the wife says I am obsessed . Any way the reason I am posting here today is 35 yrs ago I inherited a 1917 winchester , stamps are all W's . It is fitted with a 1908 warner swasey musket sight #201 stamped ( for rifel # 551.009) unfortunately not matching serial numbers. My questions ... can and where to find serial # info ? Srs? Military issued sniper rifel ? Value ? ... Any info opinions would be greatly appreciated thank you for your time .

Source: 1917 winchester /1908 warner swasey


Personal comment on it: the rail on this rifle is one from a M1903 rifle. It therefore is sitting much closer to the action, and it seems whoever outcarried the conversion placed the bracket more towards the rear, most possibly to not have to accomodate the front foot to the larger radius receiver ring.


The position of the scope rail is a result of the eye relief and whichever bracket you are using. Since I assume you want to do a build, I'd recommend once more to use the Ross bracket since this one has higher feet and IMHO more likely the one used in the two period pictures. If you btw do, then please do some pictures while doing your build and show us what you had to do to the receiver to make it work!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Promo]

For being years back I cannot tell you, sorry. I think there might had been another one since I recall someone milling off a small portion of the protection ears of the rear sight base, but that again is just from deep of my memory.


What is shown IMHO is not much work at all. Buy a Ross M1910 W&S scope rail (PM user Roger Payne, he made reproductions) and just accomodate the feet to the radius of the P.14 receiver, and then just mill off the part of the rear sight base which interferes with the scope. Seems what was done in my pictures above too, though the fitting of the feet wasn't as nice as it should be.

[Riter]

Thank you! It's a 30-06 M1917 and not a .303 calibre P-14.

I've no intention of building one and don't have a Warner & Swasey sight. It was the epiphany that the P14 with Warner & Swasey is the one sniper rifle that was not discussed in Chapter 13. I missed my chance on paying only $7.50 for the W&S because I wasn't born yet in 1939 when ads appeared in the American Rifleman magazine. I'll have to join Jouster's site and ask for permission to reproduce the images.

The K98k swept-back scope mount in the book was a photograph of a replica, but at least the text said it was for illustrative purposes as the original (hidden somewhere in the US Army's collection) couldn't be located at the time.

[Promo]

Thank you! It's a 30-06 M1917 and not a .303 calibre P-14.

NEITHER of the two rifles that I had posted pictures of is an original. BOTH are reproductions. NEITHER of the two is my rifle. Of course is the M1917 in .30-06. But due to that the calibration of the M1908 telescope should roughly work anyway :-).

[Surpmil]

Presumably the RSAF(E) base design did not require the receiver milling we see here; apocryphal simulation though this is.

I'm guessing whoever put it together couldn't quite bring themselves to butcher an original Winchester P14.