1917

[troda]

Looking at a 1917 remington with serial # in the 1800s Looks to be in overall good condition. Bore appears sharp but a little dark. Ejector is not functioning and does not appear to be spring loaded. Forward stock( top) has a crack rest of stock appears solid with the usual dings.
Im looking for a shooter. Is there a problem with it being such an early serial number? What would be a fair offer?
Thanks Tom

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[jamie5070]

I haven't heard of any problems with the early remingtons. What kind of marks are on the barrel and on the stock? What kind of finish does the rifle have on the metal parts? I would say $450-$550 for a mix master shooter rifle. If it has mostly remington parts that appear to be original to the rifle, It maybe more collectable. The ejector can be repaired with a dremel and a coil spring or buy a replacement. I have two rifles with the coil spring modified ejectors. The springs are short and not very strong and they work very well. Some people have used the springs from a ball point pen.
john

[Patrick Chadwick]

Im looking for a shooter.

Then dings in the stock and a cracked handguard (easily repaired) are irrelevant.

Is there a problem with it being such an early serial number?

I do not know of any problems.

Ejector is not functioning and does not appear to be spring loaded.

Fixable. The spring tag often breaks. Stratton shows a simple fix on P.42.

Get Stratton "The Pattern 1914 and U.S. Model 1917 Rifles", North Cape Publications, ISBN 1-882391-29-2.
Read it to get an overall view. Then take it to the shop, sit quietly in a corner, and check out the rifle while referring to the book.

You want a shooter?
Then you MUST
1) check the bolt action for a possible safety-off fire (a "sure-fire" indication that the rifle has been Bubba-ed). That is a killer criterion.
2) look at the throat for obvious wear & tear (difficult to judge, except in extreme cases)
3) look down the barrel for ringing or score marks (Bubba likes to clean out muck and corrosion with a wire brush in an electric drill)
4) inspect the muzzle for worn or damaged crown. Can be fixed, but a "blunderbuss" muzzle is another killer criterion.
5) run a patch through the bore and see how it comes out. Black or gray - it's just muck, and will clean up. Brown - it's rust, caution! Brown with torn patch - serious pitting - forget it!

I have described elsewhere in detail how to conduct these checks, and don't feel like repeating it all just now (it's past 1 am).

I am not a collector, but a serious competition shooter with old rifles from flintlocks onwards. And I can assure you that just looking down a barrel and judging bore bright or dark may be OK for a collector, but is not very useful if you are looking for a shooter. I have rejected too many mirror-bright barrels that were bad and have too many (previously) dark barrels that are excellent to be impressed by the know-it-all spiel of someone who just looks down from one end and pronounces a pat verdict. That sort of thing is bluff. Get the book and read up in these forums on the methods.

And good luck!



---------- Post added at 01:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 AM ----------

P.S. While I was composing this post, jamie 5070 replied. The spring fix he mentions is the same as that illustrated by Stratton on P.42.

[mike16]

just curious but is there a stamp of a star near your flaming bomb stamp on your reciever?