Peened screws on Mint 1917 rifle.

[dokcop]

I just acquired an exceptional Remington 1917, bbl date 6/18. I'm an '03 collector and not very knowledgeable about 1917s. Every screw on the gun is as new with no sign of galling or disassembly and every one is nicely peened next to the slot. Is this peening normal?

Thanks in advance Dokcop

[Daan Kemp]

No. Please post some pictures of the offending screws and peening so experts can comment properly. Pictures of all the marks on the rifle may provide them with more background for a better answer.

[m1903rifle]

I just acquired an exceptional Remington 1917, bbl date 6/18. I'm an '03 collector and not very knowledgeable about 1917s. Every screw on the gun is as new with no sign of galling or disassembly and every one is nicely peened next to the slot. Is this peening normal?

Thanks in advance Dokcop

The staking is normal for M1917s. I have observed it on many M1917s. I don't remember if it was on a particular maker or on all makers.

[Flying10uk]

peened next to the slot

What exactly is peened? The end of the screw thread or the metal adjacent to the slot in the screw head?

[Patrick Chadwick]

I would define it as follows:

If the protruding threaded end of a screw has been spread in order to prevent it coming loose, then that is peening.
If the metal surrouding the screw head looks as if it has been heavily dimpled with a pointed punch, to drive the metal into the screw slot and thus lock it, then that is staking.
I have seen peening, for example, on Enfield band screws. And staking for the action/trigger guard screws on various rifles - including my "never reached the troops" M1917 and several Mausers.

As you write "next to the slot" I guess you mean staking, i.e. a strong dimple adjacent to the slot to create the aforementioned locking effect.

[Garandy]

I have seen what appeared to be original, non-rebuilt M1917 rifles with staked trigger guard screw heads as you describe.

As for every screw being staked, I've not seen that as far as I can recall.

[Promo]

I would define it as follows:

If the protruding threaded end of a screw has been spread in order to prevent it coming loose, then that is peening.
If the metal surrouding the screw head looks as if it has been heavily dimpled with a pointed punch, to drive the metal into the screw slot and thus lock it, then that is staking.
I have seen peening, for example, on Enfield band screws. And staking for the action/trigger guard screws on various rifles - including my "never reached the troops" M1917 and several Mausers.

As you write "next to the slot" I guess you mean staking, i.e. a strong dimple adjacent to the slot to create the aforementioned locking effect.

I've just had a good laugh to myself about someone from Germany explaining the difference between two similar English words. And then I re-read your reply again and had another laugh, because while I do know both words in English, I honestly have no clue how I would call either of them in German, despite it being my native language. How would you suggest to call it in German?

[chuckindenver]

staked screws are uncommon,, cant prove it, but was told it was done by the USMC..

[Patrick Chadwick]

"How would you suggest to call it in German?"

A very good question. I'm puzzled as well. It's one of those cases where a 1:1 translation doesn't really exist, as it depends on the application. Google won't help you much here.

For spreading the end of a screw to prevent it loosening - in effect, riveting it - I would use "stauchen".
Staking has me flummoxed.

[Promo]

After some thinking I guess I maybe would use the term "verschlagen", though this one isn't a real German word either ..