Should I buy Eddystone 1917

[Aragorn243]

Went to a gun show today and was lucky to come across a rear sight to replace the broken one on my 1917. $5 all Eddystone and better condition than the one that was on it. No luck with the ejector however. The same fellow had one of them as well but was a bit pricey on that, surprising considering how much he sold the sight for.

[Mike D]

Dude, lets see some pics!

[Aragorn243]

I'll try to remember some pics on Sunday. I have a before photo, a photo with half the shellac removed and I'll have to take an after photo.

I've never posted photos here before so it might take a while to get them right. I have a photobucket account and I would assume you can link directly to them from here?

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Aragorn243,

It's easy to post photos here from 'Photobucket'

1) Copy the URL (Direct link) from your photo in Photobucket

2) Go to the message window under the posts and click on the 'Go Advanced' button under it.

3) In the next screen there is a yellow button with two little mountains in the menu above the text area just to the right of center. Click on it and a small box opens where you paste the URL from Photobucket -

4) The code/URL for your photo will be entered inside the text area wherever your cursor is flashing inside the text box.

5) Click the 'Preview Post' button under the text box, and at the top of the next page that comes up you can see how your photo and text will look like before you click the 'Submit Reply' button that's to the left of the 'Preview Post' button.

If you did something wrong, or you don't like the positioning, etc, you can do it over and keep previewing until you like it.

[Aragorn243]

This is the before photo of my 1917 as purchased for $299. It has a shiny, reddish cast shellac on it.






This is the after photo with half a dozen coats of BLO.






A close up of the finish and the extractor which has some uneven wear on it. I may try polishing it or replace it at some point. It works fine.






Closeup of finish after BLO






This is the first stage in removing the shellac using a knife blade and lightly scraping. I have worked it from the receiver to the butt.






After other side:






And my new sight installed:






The camera doesn't really give justice to how bad that shellac looked.

With the new sight, I have $304 into this so far. I had all the refinishing materials on hand. I still need an ejector. Might try converting the broken one into the compression spring type and getting a small spring.

[cpd109]

I bought a 1917 at CMP for $300 from the salvage rack. It looked better than any other and had good life left in the barrel. I did notice a scratch on the receiver, but felt it was superficial. Wrong! My son asked about it and said I needed to get a gunsmith to check it out. It was a crack. For $150 he welded and heat treated it and it shoots great. So it's a $450 rifle instead of a $300. Still a bargain. I will probably refinish it but have some other projects in front of it.

This is my first post by the way. I have a sick Garand that brought led me to this site. More on that later.

[Chuckindenver]

I bought a 1917 at CMP for $300 from the salvage rack. It looked better than any other and had good life left in the barrel. I did notice a scratch on the receiver, but felt it was superficial. Wrong! My son asked about it and said I needed to get a gunsmith to check it out. It was a crack. For $150 he welded and heat treated it and it shoots great. So it's a $450 rifle instead of a $300. Still a bargain. I will probably refinish it but have some other projects in front of it.

This is my first post by the way. I have a sick Garand that brought led me to this site. More on that later.

id like to see pictures of that, and know how someone reheatreated a receiver.

[Mike D]

Aragorn, I would have bought that gun for $300 in a New York minute! I used to have a Remington and I miss it. Nice wood by the way.

[Aragorn243]

Thanks Mike,

I think it came out pretty nice. One of these days I'll take it to the range and see how it shoots. I'm not much for open sights so I don't have real high expectations for a tight group. If I hit the paper and get a 5 inch group I'll be feeling pretty good about it. I have three Nagants and an SKS to take to the range to try out too.

[Aragorn243]

Hard to believe it's been almost a year now since I got this rifle fixed up. Never did locate an ejector for it so being it's a rainy day I dug out my dremel, took out the broken ejector, found an ink pen with a spring (probably the hardest part) and did the spring fix this afternoon. Works great and was a lot easier than I expected.

I still have one concern with it that requires some attention. The front sight is still loose. I see how all the parts work up there and the long pin that holds it in the groove seems to be too short. I doubt it moves enough to seriously impact the type of shooting I plan for it but it is bothersome. What would the proper fix for this be?

I also performed the bullet "test" on the muzzle, bullet does not even come close to bottoming out on the case so the barrel does not appear to be shot out.

Warm weather approaching fast so I hope to finally take it to the range soon.