1917 double barrel date stamp

[levers]

Just bought a Winchester 1917. Beautiful gun with late 1917 serial number. Odd thing is that the W, flaming bomb, and date is double stamped. One date is 12-17 and the other is 1-18. Looks like the 1-18 is over and slightly below the 12-17. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Thanks

Information

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[sakorick]

Yes. Winchester had some major standardization problems with their early rifles. Rifles were prohibited from being sent to Europe until March of 1918 and only those made after Jan 1st by any manufacture. All units issued Winchester rifles were replaced with Remingtons and Winchester M1917 rifles were only issued to CONUS units. The issue wasn't resolved until April of 1918 when the AG office approved Winchester rifles made with a barrel stamp of 1-18 or later as approved for shipment to units in theater. There is a big write up on the Winchester problem in Scott Duff's book on the M1917. The bottom line is that Winchester had so many non-standard parts they could not meet the standardization criteria.......in other words, many Winchester parts would not work on Eddystones and Remingtons. Interestingly, none of the P14 rifles made by the 3 contractors were even remotely standard and the British simply didn't care. Regards, Rick.

[levers]

Yes. Winchester had some major standardization problems with their early rifles. Rifles were prohibited from being sent to Europe until March of 1918 and only those made after Jan 1st by any manufacture. All units issued Winchester rifles were replaced with Remingtons and Winchester M1917 rifles were only issued to CONUS units. The issue wasn't resolved until April of 1918 when the AG office approved Winchester rifles made with a barrel stamp of 1-18 or later as approved for shipment to units in theater. There is a big write up on the Winchester problem in Scott Duff's book on the M1917. The bottom line is that Winchester had so many non-standard parts they could not meet the standardization criteria.......in other words, many Winchester parts would not work on Eddystones and Remingtons. Interestingly, none of the P14 rifles made by the 3 contractors were even remotely standard and the British simply didn't care. Regards, Rick.

Thanks for the info. Have you seen other double stamped barrels?

[sakorick]

Thanks for the info. Have you seen other double stamped barrels?

No, however the SN on your rifle would help me. Regards, Rick.

[levers]

No, however the SN on your rifle would help me. Regards, Rick.

Serial is 54882

[sakorick]

Sounds like an honest mistake. The last serial number made in 12-17 was 53831 so your rifle was incorrectly stamped 12-17 when it was actually made in early January of 1918, so someone corrected it. Can you post a picture? You own a very interesting Winchester. Regards, Rick.

[budmant]

I have a barrel stamped the same way on my 15XXX Winchester that went thru rebuild.

[sakorick]

Hello Bud....picture please. Regards, Rick.

[budmant]

Here you go Rick
007_zps86f00741.jpg Photo by budmant | Photobucket

[sakorick]

Well, that pretty much clears things up.....it was a mistake corrected. I'll bet when the guy got to work with a New Years Eve hangover, he forgot to change the die. Very very cool! Regards, Rick.