Recent addition - Remington M1917

[fernleaf]

I picked this up at a local swap meet last weekend...



The bolt is Winchester but every other part is blued, unrefurbed Remington - seems it missed the overhaul programs after WW1..



Barrel date of 7-18



I've lost track of the website that told us the month of receiver production - I'm gonna guess August 1918.



For a rifle that I mainly bought as a shooter, the bore is poor. It looked better before I cleaned it. I'll be getting shot on Sunday, so we'll see how she goes.....

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[fernleaf]

Shot this rifle today. Unfortunately I'm a bit disappointed...

The groupings were about two feet at 100m, and I had difficulty extracting cases.

Here's some photos of the fired cases......







There is a ring about 3-4mm down the neck from the case mouth, along with a mark further down the neck. I suspect my chamber is ringed, causing the extraction issues.

I'm guessing the rifle has had too many blanks shot through it, cutting the chamber?

[Patrick Chadwick]

I'm guessing the rifle has had too many blanks shot through it, cutting the chamber?

You could well be right. Firing blanks charged with black powder and then sticking the rifle back in the cabinet uncleaned until the next event is about the worst way you can handle a bore.

Sad, but that looks like a good illustration of the reason not to buy shooters on the basis of external photos alone. Outside, with the finish, it looks like 500-600 euros (over here). Inside, well recrowning + bore lapping might improve the barrel a bit, but you still have the poor chamber. OK, you could polish that up as well, but...

If it was a really rare type, you could persevere. As it appears from the photos, I would cut my losses and sell it a.s.a.p. If you want a shooter, you must have it in your hands for a good inspection (including cleaning the bore!) beforehand. Anything else is a gamble. I speak from dire experience!

Some of my rifles look like scrap on the outside, but pico bello inside. And they were cheap, because of the poor looks. And some of the nastiest shooters were the prettiest ones. Because they lived in a safe or display cabinet, were never shot properly, and thus never cleaned properly either. Good shooters tend to get used!

Thanks for sharing your problem. One learns more from this sort of thing than from photos of yet another pristine safe queen.

FWIW, the date is about right.

[Skip]

That is one of the best replies I have ever read when purchasing a firearm. Reminds me of the saying:

Beauty is only skin deep. Good one Chad.

[Calif-Steve]

I own the nicest Norwegian K98k I have ever seen. The bore is a mess. Don't know what to do about it, just hang on to it I guess. That is the way it goes.

[RC20]

It would be a good candidate for a re-barrel if you want to turn it into a shooter though the value would only be that.

You could break down for parts. If the stock is an R I would be interesting in buying that.

[fernleaf]

If it was a mix of parts I would consider hunting down a NOS barrel, but seeing as its mostly original I'm loathe to do so.

I gave the chamber neck a tickle with a .50cal brush with JBs on it in a drill last week, and shot it again today. Got some OK groups, and extraction was easier but not perfect. I'm going to persevere with it a few more times, and if it doesn't get better it'll be sold....

[RC20]

I would try to maintain the gun as is. While it may not be a shooter the finish looks to be original and that is unusual and has value beyond a shooter. I think we owe the guns their history at this point and try to maintain their historical value if we can. Obligated no, but hopefully try.

If you sell I would try to sell to someone who collects them for their history not the bore condition.

An oddity to explore if you keep it as a collector is the Mfg date per the serial is 10 of 1918 and the barrel is 7 of 1918.

I am not familiar with the range of 1917s, but so far the barrels seem to have been a month earlier at most to the receiver.

3 months could be normal and it could easily vary from R to E to W. Be good to know for authenticity assessment as we come across these.