Model of 1917 questions

[Griff557]

I have a Model of 1917 Winchester (45353) that is pretty clean and appears to all correct if not original. It shoots about 3 moa which I would guess is about all you could expect. I would like it to shoot better but not sure it would be the right to re-barrel it with the condition of the rifle. What do you think

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[browningautorifle]

Welcome to the forum, why not get another not so correct or original to rebarrel and shoot? That way no real harm done?

[mikedal]

Welcome aboard. Sounds like a nice rifle to try and keep intact. Do you load your own ammunition and if so you might be surprised by how much you can tighten your groups by playing around with powders and powder loads and projectiles. I have a matching numbers P14 with a tired barrel and by playing around with loads I have got it down from somewhere near the target to 2 inch groups at 100 mtrs.
Might work for you and keep your rifle complete and original.

[fjruple]

I have to agree with mikedal. If you reload your ammunition using flat base bullets which the M1917 like you probably can get the grouping down to about 2 moa at 100 yards. Probably almost 1 moa if you have a Parker Hale match rear sight. Does your barrel have a "W" with a date on the front end near the rear of the front sight base? If the barrel is original to the rifle I would leave it alone. I would look for a WWII rebuilt M1917 with a bad barrel. There appears to be a lot of them floating around that were released from the CMP several years ago that came out the veterans organizations which had used corrosive blanks and wrecked the barrels. A new CRI barrel with a match rear sight is a tack driver.

--fjruple

PS-- Please post some pictures.

[Griff557]

Thanks... I think the barrel is original to the receiver 10/17 it actually measures pretty good 1.5 ME and the throats is about the same the bore was really dirty it has cleaned up quite a bit and looks like it is shiny but I can't tell if it's pitted for sure. I've tried some 168 HBT handloads but they didn't shoot much better than HXP I have some 150gr flat base Hornadys but I haven't loaded them yet I've been running IMR 4895 in my Garand and have that shooting pretty good. Thought I would try about 46-47gr of 4895 and the 150's with the '17. Never messed around with cast bullets any recommendations

---------- Post added at 08:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:06 AM ----------

https://imgur.com/gallery/iUPbk

Not Sure the link will work but it's an album of all the parts when I had the rifle tore down forgot to add a pic of the barrel but it's 10/17

[browningautorifle]

Maybe slug the bore? Maybe a bigger bullet, like a 220 gr flat base would work better or perhaps a bigger diameter like .310? Look at all of it before changing a strong barrel.

[oldfoneguy]

What is the overall condition of the barrel? Worn at the muzzle? Good lands at the muzzle crown? Good overall condition throughout? If so sometimes all these rifles need is a shim between the fore end and the barrel the length of the front barrel band. If you stand the rifle on the butt hold the stock tight and grab the barrel does it have play? That is a very overlooked problem on these rifles which needs to be addressed for accuracy purposes. 100 year old wood tends to be dried out and shrunken in that area. - Bill

[Griff557]

Not an expert on barrel condition it looks ok to me the ME 1 plus and the crown looks good the throat measures about the same.

[Richardwv]

With all the focus on barrel condition, I've got to ask have you looked at the inletting and points of contact between wood/metal? The rifle is a century old and wood shrinks and warps a bit in that time even if it was properly kiln dried....and at this point of the war there was a shortage of quality wood and many blanks weren't up to pre-war standards. I've found more problem with the wood than with the metal when it comes to achieving original accuracy standards in WW II and prior arms. The really bad ones are often the ones displayed with loving care over a fireplace or such other hot dry location. With a barrel in reasonable condition....and yours seems to fit that category.....it should shoot in the 1.5 to 2 MOA range.

[Griff557]

I had read about barrel pressure at the nose of the stock but hadn't really looked at mine until it was brought up. When I checked it there was a fair amount of movement at the upper band so I shimmed it with some heavy card stock but haven't had a chance to get to the range. I did check the stock/metal fit with the hand guards off and the action screws tight and everything seemed fine