Picked up a M1917 what do you think?

[3ky]

I picked this up at a gunshow for 450. One of the nicest looking M1917s I seen. Looks like it was rebuilt with new wood added. Stock has E. I havent taken it appart but parts you can see have E except the bolt which is R. Has black park. Park original from factory? Screws have great slots in them showing it wasnt taken apart after rebuild, still showing park in the slots. Came with a late M1 sling. No rebuild marks on the stock. Only mark is the E under the barrel. What do you think?













PS I forgot. The bore was alittle dark but very strong rifling. Im still cleaning on it. Doesnt look like it was shot much. Just not cleaned. Passed a 30-06 bullet test in the muzzle. I'll borrow a friends gauges to test the rest.

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[Col. Colt]

Looks nice - possibly you have a post WWI Rebuild that needed a new stock, during rebuild parts got mixed, of course. I believe Black Parkerizing could be original, would have to research the literature - you might do a search here on the finish. Mine had mostly Eddystone parts on an Eddy reciever, with a replacement Winchester barrel and bolt.

As for the bore, I used WipeOut Foam on mine - and the first time it looked pretty dark. Let it set for a few hours, punched it out, lots of black gunk on the patch. Foamed the bore again and let it set - some blue on the next patch! Foamed it again - black, again, next time more blue, next time more black - about five or six times. Layers of old firing residue! Rifling got stronger and the patches cleaner as I went, of course. It seemed to have been shot quite a bit - but never cleaned - at some time in it's lifetime. Shoots pretty well, although I need to find ouit what ammo it likes before I know what it is really capable of. CC

[Chuckindenver]

nice looking rifle, Parkerizing is a rebuild finish. should be blue in color...but thats ok... i like it..
take it out and shoot it...was never a big fan of the 17 until i spent a day at the range with one...it grew on me.