I picked up an Eddystone

[shop tom]

I picked up a 1917 Enfield, Eddystone manufacture. It seemed untouched except the stock has been sporterized.

Upon tear-down and inspection, I found a few things. The barrel is marked JA, indicating that it was replaced, probabaly at arsenal rebuild, with a Johnson Arms barrel. The bolt, receiver, trigger guard, bolt stop, and magazine floorplate are marked with the Eddystone "E". The ****ing piece has a Winchester "W" on it, the magazine follower has a Remington "R" on it, and the extractor has "MSP" on it (?). The frond sight, sight base, and micrometer rear sight are all marked "R"

Overall, the action, barrel, bolt, and sights are in quite good shape.

My guess is that the gun was arsenal refurbished years ago and sporterized some time after that. The original sights are still intact, there are no holes drilled for 'scopes or other sights.

The stock really doesn't look bad, some scratches and dings. Since it has already been altered, I'll go ahead and refinish it and perhaps True-oil it or maybe polyurethane. I would like to locate an original stock for it, but that may be out of budget.

I DO plan on shooting the heck out of it.

Pictures soon to follow.

tom

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[rovin32]

Shop Tom,
Sounds like you have a nice rifle. Is this your first M 1917. If so you are really going to fall in love with this rifle. Real cool to shoot and they get noticed real fast at the range. Regarding the stock, I would give it a good cleaning with mineral spirits first and not use any sandpaper on it or else you will remove any patina on it. Use 0000 steel wool dipped in boiled linseed oil and rub gently into the wood. Put it on let it sit for about an hour and wipe off any excess and repeat the process until you have the finish depth you like. Boiled linseed oil was the original finish used. You could use true-oil too if you like. Good luck on your purchase!

[shop tom]

Shop Tom,
Sounds like you have a nice rifle. Is this your first M 1917. If so you are really going to fall in love with this rifle. Real cool to shoot and they get noticed real fast at the range. Regarding the stock, I would give it a good cleaning with mineral spirits first and not use any sandpaper on it or else you will remove any patina on it. Use 0000 steel wool dipped in boiled linseed oil and rub gently into the wood. Put it on let it sit for about an hour and wipe off any excess and repeat the process until you have the finish depth you like. Boiled linseed oil was the original finish used. You could use true-oil too if you like. Good luck on your purchase!

Yes, it's my first. As far as the stock goes, it has already been cut down and refinished, there is nothing original about it except for the buttplate.

tom

[RC20]

Sounds like you have a good shooter. The JA barrels are reputed to be good. Definite improvement over one thats been shot a lot and has muzzle wear (throat erosion not as much an issue but a factor at some point). Fun guns. Not as confusing as the 1903s!

I did get a chucked about it being an untouched Eddystone though.

Pretty much everything has been touched. Typical and would expect small parts to be changed. Yours has had quite the make over on the big stuff and the usual eclectic mix of the smaller parts.

I picked up an Eddystone that is pretty solid E type, but digging into the bolt the firing pin is a W as is the bolt sleeve. Have not taken it down for the rest.

Same with the Remington. Mostly R, but a lot of small stuff is E or W. Extractor is a CV which makes sense as thats a common replacement.

Enjoy the shooting!

[shop tom]

.......

I did get a chucked about it being an untouched Eddystone though.

................

Enjoy the shooting!

Yeah, once I got into it I realized that it is a bit of a mongrel.

tom

[shop tom]

Has anyone slugged the Johnson barrels to check the sizing? I know some of the 1917s had bores sized for the 303 British bullets.

I could, but my shop is a whopping 8 or 9 steps away.

tom

[Richardwv]

Never met a Johnson Automatics Rifle Co. barrel that wasn't .308 max diameter. The only barrels I'm measured that are Brit spec are on P14 rifles where they belong.

[shop tom]

Never met a Johnson Automatics Rifle Co. barrel that wasn't .308 max diameter. The only barrels I'm measured that are Brit spec are on P14 rifles where they belong.

Well now that's good news and bad news. The good news is that I may not be tempted to pound a sinker through the barrel and it's probably not oversized. The bad new is that I have a LOT of bullets for my Mosins and No4Mk1* that are .312".................................

tom

[RC20]

Yeah, once I got into it I realized that it is a bit of a mongrel.

Its just got unusual character!

[Col. Colt]

It's my understanding that the "oversized bores meant for a P14" myth is just that - a myth. If anything, the rifling of the M1917s is a little "tighter" than an M1903. So I would NOT be using larger diameter bullets in one. CC