Help with M1917 US serial # 491665 Remington

[neeciemj]

Moderator Edit: This member is looking for feedback on emails she originally through user feedback. I've copied them here and added photos she emailed Claven2 so other members can jump in and help her, if they can.

First email: I'm having trouble searching info on the Lee Enfield I inherited from my Dad. It has 1917 on it and US serial # 491665 Remmington. Where do I start looking?

Follow up email : I apologize. When I got these rifles my brother-in-law described each of them to me while I wrote down his discription. Obviously he was wrong. There's nothing on this gun that says Lee Enfield. Sorry. I have attached pics and yes there is a flaming bomb w/an R over it at the end of the barrel with an 8 - 18 under it. And it is a 30.06

Thank you

Neeciemj

Information

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[Kidurham]

Just happened to see your post. Looks like you have a nice U.S. made Remington. The links below will get you started learning about the 1917 rifle. Dick Culver's article will explain the "Enfield" connection.

http://www.odcmp.com/forms/m1917.pdf
M1917 Enfield

[Dan Wilson]

Well to start with its a pretty nice looking rifle.
I cant see the manufacturers mark on the barrel but the Serial Number dates it to Aug 1918 (8-18) so if there is an R above the date and flaming bomb on the barrel its going to be an original barreled receiver combo which is really good

Overall it looks like its well maintained from what I can see from the pics, and the term "enfield" is actually correct when talking about this rifle. It was developed from the British P-14 rifle which was designed at Enfield Lock.

So the Model 1917 rifle is often called the American Enfield.

Value can fluctuate greatly with geographic location but a general guess on value would be 500 ~ 700 dollars, if the bore is really good.

Hope this helps a bit.

Dan

[A square 10]

a couple nice books that will also help are -

"UNITED STATES RIFLE MODEL OF 1917" by c. s. ferris , can get it thru scottt duffs publishing

british enfeild rifles , volume 4 , "THE PATTERN 1914 and U. S. MODEL 1917 RIFLES" by charles r. stratton , north cape publications

both are reasonable and and very informative ,

these were made by three US companies , and represent a leap from arsenal production of military arms to the contract production by commercial manufacturers ,

2,193,429 were made by the three - as of the end of contract in nov 1918 ,
winchester - 465,980
remington - 545,541
eddystone - 1,181,908

but production continued till february of 1919 at remington , with 654,149 rifles finished , at a cost of $25.87 each

and a total of 2,556,274 as of may 3rd 1919 inspected
and accepted from all three ,

the rifles left the factory with various markings but no cartouches on the left wrist as arsenal rifles have , if there are cartouches on the rifle it was put there durring 'rearsenal' which may have been nothing more than inspection and preperation for storage , they were again used in WWII , a lot of them went to our allies as aid

one easy marking of originality would be an "R" stamped into the muzzle end of the stock right above the bayonet boss and below the barrle , each company stamped their stocks and there was no shareing going on , but many did get switched in the feild and at rearsenal

congrats on a very nice rifle -


heres a pair of M1917s for comparison , both are 2/18 dated ,
winchester-top
remington-middle [with canadian service marking]
and eddystone P1914 - bottom

[Dan M]

Neeciemj, you have in your possession a very nice United States Magazine Rifle, Model of 1917.

My M1917 is a fairly close to yours: