+ Reply to Thread
Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 52

Thread: 1917 Eddystone Advice

Click here to increase the font size Click here to reduce the font size
  1. #21
    Legacy Member WarPig1976's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Last On
    01-30-2023 @ 05:49 PM
    Location
    Delaware county, PA just outside Philadelphia.
    Posts
    2,659
    Real Name
    Jeff
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by l1a1 breakdown View Post
    Aragorn & Warpig, let's meet to compare dings, shine, marks
    Ok, but I must warn you first. My profile file picture is 20yrs old in reality I'm fat an hairy, I smoke 2 packs a day and I drink too much!!!...:mad smile:.."it's a shame really.."

    Maybe we can get together at one of the shows, after the holidays of course..

  2. # ADS
    Friends and Sponsors
    Join Date
    October 2006
    Location
    Milsurps.Com
    Posts
    All Threads
    A Collector's View - The SMLE Short Magazine Lee Enfield 1903-1989. It is 300 8.5x11 inch pages with 1,000+ photo’s, most in color, and each book is serial-numbered.  Covering the SMLE from 1903 to the end of production in India in 1989 it looks at how each model differs and manufacturer differences from a collecting point of view along with the major accessories that could be attached to the rifle. For the record this is not a moneymaker, I hope just to break even, eventually, at $80/book plus shipping.  In the USA shipping is $5.00 for media mail.  I will accept PayPal, Zelle, MO and good old checks (and cash if you want to stop by for a tour!).  CLICK BANNER to send me a PM for International pricing and shipping. Manufacturer of various vintage rifle scopes for the 1903 such as our M73G4 (reproduction of the Weaver 330C) and Malcolm 8X Gen II (Unertl reproduction). Several of our scopes are used in the CMP Vintage Sniper competition on top of 1903 rifles. Brian Dick ... BDL Ltd. - Specializing in British and Commonwealth weapons Specializing in premium ammunition and reloading components. Your source for the finest in High Power Competition Gear. Here at T-bones Shipwrighting we specialise in vintage service rifle: re-barrelling, bedding, repairs, modifications and accurizing. We also provide importation services for firearms, parts and weapons, for both private or commercial businesses.
     

  3. #22
    Contributing Member Aragorn243's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Last On
    Today @ 08:31 AM
    Location
    Pennsylvania, United States
    Posts
    6,974
    Real Name
    Steve
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    02:23 PM
    Thread Starter
    I generally go to the Harrisburg and Philly area shows. Not always but usually.

  4. Avoid Ads - Become a Contributing Member - Click HERE
  5. #23
    FREE MEMBER
    NO Posting or PM's Allowed
    Bearcat132's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Last On
    08-25-2015 @ 11:05 PM
    Location
    South
    Posts
    18
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chadwick View Post
    In response to the response:


    If you now read my post carefully - i.e. what I actually wrote, and do not read anything between the lines:

    The major feature of M1917 production was that, as far as possible, all parts from 3 different manufacturers should be interchangeable. So no US armourer fixing up M1917s would have worried much about matching E's or R's or W's. Part interchangeablilty was intended to be used to produce as many rifles as possible as fast as possible in the factory, and to keep up the maximum availability of functioning rifles in the field. Especially for the M1917, the snooty collector's attitude of "it's not all matching therefore not original" is historically incorrect. See Ferris "United Stateshttps://www.milsurps.com/autolinker/images/link6.gif Rifle Model of 1917".

    As to "history", nobody can tell now whether the parts were used in the factory, because delivery shortages required taking parts from one of the other factories, or "officially" swapped by a US armorer at a later date, or even swapped by you or me five minutes ago.

    So go all-Eddy if you like. It's irrelevant for shooting anyway."

    I did not claim that parts were exchanged in the factory, as I have no knowledge of that, just that it could have happened, as a high degree of interchangeability was intended. This aim was indeed a cause of delay in running up to full series production, as (if I recall correctly, but see Ferris) Winchester had some difficulty in meeting the interchangeabilty requirements.

    So if you take regard of my use of words such as "should" and "could", there is no difference between me and other contributors.

    Now as to another tricky word: unissued. I too have an 11/18 Eddy, in what I call, for lack of a better expression, "Arsenal mint". Naughty of me to use the word mint, I know. Suggestions for improvement will be taken seriously.

    I have a couple of other rifles in this condition, which is (as far as I can tell) never used by regular troops, i.e. never issued to an individual soldier to be kicked around and dropped in the mud etc, but with a perfect interior - bore and working surfaces effectively new and a lot of dings caused by being shunted around arsenals over many decades until being sold as surplus.

    So "unissued" in the sense of never leaving the arsenal, but they did, of course, leave the factory, which otherwise would have not received payment from the accepting agencies!

    Mediating between RC20 and Warpig, I offer the following thoughts for discussion:

    - The M1917 was a mass-production item, produced in 3 factories simultaneously.
    - In November 1918 the production was reaching its end.
    - So there was no need for anyone to preserve a "sample" at the factory.
    - 11-18 marked rifles probably did not actually reach army arsenals until the war was over.
    - As a result, they were in some (many???) cases never issued to a fighting unit, but remained in store for decades.
    - Most (just about all???) will have been "dinged" by being shunted around on pallets etc.
    - With a rifle in perfect internal condition, such as my Eddy, it is tempting to "improve" the exterior to match the pristine interior.
    - Especially when there are plenty of people with plenty of money to pay an enormous premium for a factor that is irrelevant for shooting.

    So for end-of-war production I conclude:
    - "Unissued" in the sense of never left the factory - extremely unlikely.
    - "Unissued" in the sense of never reached an soldier on active service - quite possible for types viewed as non-standard for future requirements.
    - "Unissued" in the sense of "perfect exterior condition with no handling/transport marks - very, very unlikely.


    Readers will note my avoidance of absolute words such as "always" or "impossible", despite the temptation!

    Any thoughts on this?
    I read somewhere that over 800,000 went to Europe and another 300,000 plus or so were on barges as backups. I forgot where I read that though. I have a parkerized Eddystone around 215,000 with an excellent 11-17 barrel the production chart dates the receiver to late January early February and the barrel is an 11/17 which pre dates the receiver. I know that all the serialization and production charts are just not an exact science. My Eddystone also has a Remington stock yes it was an arsenal makeover, and who knows what happened to it in private ownership hands ? There are so many people like the poster who started this thread who are swapping out parts trying to get the rifle back to how it should have looked when it left the production line. In reality no one will ever really know. I love the Eddystone it to me is the model that symbolizes the M1917 because the factory was a locomotive manufacturer and to the best of my limited knowledge Eddystone never made another rifle after the war. Enjoy and build your rifle to what suites you best.

  6. #24
    Legacy Member WarPig1976's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Last On
    01-30-2023 @ 05:49 PM
    Location
    Delaware county, PA just outside Philadelphia.
    Posts
    2,659
    Real Name
    Jeff
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Bearcat132 View Post
    factory was a locomotive manufacturer
    Not to be the guy who says actually, but actually Baldwin built the buildings and owned the land but leased them to Remington and after the war converted to Locomotive manufacturing. Prior to this ONLY rifles where made in the new buildings, which only a few remain today. Eddystone borough is in Delaware county, PA, hence Eddystone M1917's, but they where in fact built by Remington trained personal and on Remington tooling.

  7. #25
    Legacy Member WarPig1976's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Last On
    01-30-2023 @ 05:49 PM
    Location
    Delaware county, PA just outside Philadelphia.
    Posts
    2,659
    Real Name
    Jeff
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    For anybody interested. These are what's left of the Eddystone arsenal.
    Attachment 58877
    Attachment 58878

  8. The Following 6 Members Say Thank You to WarPig1976 For This Useful Post:


  9. #26
    Advisory Panel browningautorifle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Last On
    Today @ 01:16 PM
    Location
    Victoria BC
    Posts
    29,838
    Real Name
    Jim
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    11:23 AM
    We're always interested...it looks like a cattle barn.
    Regards, Jim

  10. #27
    Advisory Panel
    JGaynor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Last On
    03-07-2024 @ 10:07 AM
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    887
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    In "Americas Munitions 1917-1918" Report of Benedict Crowell, The Assistant Secretary of War, Director of Munitions Government Printing Office 1919

    he writes on the subject of small arms production specifically the M1917 Rifle. ( page 182)

    "In the second place, standardization is essential to great speed in production. If one plant producing rifles encounters a shortage in any of the parts of the gun, it can send to another plant and secure a supply of these parts, a favorable condition in manufacture that is impossible if the weapon has not been standardized."

    Now it may have never occurred in actual practice but there it is in writing, in the words of the guy responsible, what the production people were actually considering at the time.

    Regards,

    Jim
    Last edited by JGaynor; 12-29-2014 at 03:57 PM.

  11. Thank You to JGaynor For This Useful Post:


  12. #28
    Contributing Member Aragorn243's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Last On
    Today @ 08:31 AM
    Location
    Pennsylvania, United States
    Posts
    6,974
    Real Name
    Steve
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    02:23 PM
    Thread Starter
    Do they have a historical marker of any type at the Eddystone plant?

  13. #29
    Legacy Member WarPig1976's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Last On
    01-30-2023 @ 05:49 PM
    Location
    Delaware county, PA just outside Philadelphia.
    Posts
    2,659
    Real Name
    Jeff
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    No marker, most people around here are clueless of the history of that sight and of many others in the area including Frankford arsenal, Philadelphia shipyard, etc. The buildings are on Kimberly Clarke property, they make s#&t paper and paper towels at this plant. Right next door is Harrahs casino and a state prison,,sad. I can get close once in a while because KC uses liquid CO2 for fire suppression on the roll cutters.

  14. #30
    Advisory Panel
    JGaynor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Last On
    03-07-2024 @ 10:07 AM
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    887
    Local Date
    03-28-2024
    Local Time
    01:23 PM
    The Remington Society has produced some very detailed articles:

    This is a link to "The Eddystone Story". I think it may have listed before -probably should be a "sticky".
    Remington Society of America - journals/Eddystone

    Jim

  15. The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to JGaynor For This Useful Post:


+ Reply to Thread
Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. 1917 eddystone
    By steve acre in forum M1903/1903A3/A4 Springfield Rifle
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 11-12-2013, 04:41 PM
  2. ? 1917 Eddystone(value/advice/expertise)
    By theinvisibleheart in forum Appraisals, Fakery, Dispute Resolution & Mediation Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-08-2012, 12:18 AM
  3. Should I buy Eddystone 1917
    By Aragorn243 in forum Pattern 1913/1914 and M1917 Rifles
    Replies: 46
    Last Post: 09-26-2012, 04:35 PM
  4. New guy with an old 1917 Eddystone
    By sigp220.45 in forum Pattern 1913/1914 and M1917 Rifles
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 06-21-2012, 09:03 PM
  5. Need Advice on a US Model 1917 Eddystone Sporter
    By Cajun72 in forum Pattern 1913/1914 and M1917 Rifles
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 01-13-2011, 05:15 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
Raven Rocks