Model of 1917s as sniper rifles...

[JGaynor]

with Winchester A5. Got the Rifle on a German arms fair.

Melanie very nice! Is it an M1917 or a P14?

Regards,

Jim

[Alfred]

The British made many P14 sniper rifles. I think they used Winchester rifles. After WWI Springfield not only got the M1917 stored as war reserve, but they also halted all rifle production at Rock Island. They would not tolerate any competition.

The M1917 was not particularly well liked by U S Troops according to contemporary sources, though a number of Ordnance officers wished for some of its features to be incorporated in further Springfield development, which did happen in the adoption of the Nickel Steel alloy, but the Enfield pattern rifling which would greatly increase bore life with any propellant was not considered conducive to maximum accuracy.

The major objections to adopting the M1917 were its OAL and weight, with the positioning of the bolt knob as a major complaint.
First High Powered rifle I shot as a kid was the M1917 and of course the pain of the knob cracking my knuckle was far worse than the recoil.
The position of the bolt knob is fine for some one with long fingers, but recruits of smaller stature were becoming more and more common.

Post WW1 the U S Army shrank to all time lows, in the 30's the US Army was about 1/10 the size of the British land forces.
Had there been a need to supply a huge number of rifles in a hurry the stored M1917 rifles would be there. As they were when it came time to supply the Allied forces and provide arms for non combat support troops.

Keeping two rifles in production made no practical sense, difficulties in maintaining parts inventory and training armorers would cause a real mess that was un necessary at the time when funds were short. The M1917 was a stop gap to begin with.
Had the action design been well thought of the British wouldn't have halted production of the P-14 and Remington could have sold the rifle world wide rather than selling only a very few contract rifles to South America.

Another factor is the U S halting all sales of surplus U S military .30/06 rifles for awhile, leaving a small market for Bannerman's Hodgepodge rifles built with a mix of M1917 and Springfield parts.

Development of the Garand made even Springfield production an iffy proposition.

The Springfield Sniper Rifles have a great post WW1 reputation. The only problem they ever had was the available scopes, and that affected any sniper rifle we could come up with till better scopes and mounts came along.

Using the M1917 as a training rifle gave troops expected to be armed with the Garand an opportunity to practice with the apeture sight picture, and adjust to its weight.

[KevinB]

The Dr Murphy Collection

M1917 with Pedersen Device

M1903 Wigh Pedersen Device

M1918 Sniper rifle

Large amounts of Colts

http://www.juliaauctions.com/auction...log_278_sh.asp

[Melanie_Daniels]

Melanie very nice! Is it an M1917 or a P14?

Regards,

Jim

M1917

[Melanie_Daniels]

The Dr Murphy Collection

M1917 with Pedersen Device

M1918 Sniper rifle

Firearms - October 2009: Selected Highlights

Ups, I need photographs for a german language book.

[Dan Wilson]

M1918 Sniper rifle

Wow, a scoped BAR huh, nothing like a select fire sniper LOL

I know thats not what you meant but that was the first thought through my little pea brain

Dan

[Alfred]

Wow, a scoped BAR huh, nothing like a select fire sniper LOL

I know thats not what you meant but that was the first thought through my little pea brain

Dan

In the old sci fi movie "the Omega Man" the hero used a BAR with the early night vision scope. Most thought this inncorect but they apparently mated these Infared scopes to the BAR and the 1919 MGs as well as the M3 Carbines.

Theres several M1917 rifles at the Springfield Museum that are cut down like the Sniper version. These may have been cut for tests on how removing part of the fore end affected accuracy.
A photo gallery was at this link but the site seems to be down for awhile.
pbase will be right back

[CapnHawk]

I personally saw two M1917 sniper rifles while in SE Asia in 1970-71.

[Dan Wilson]

Who was using them? US or other forces?
Regardless they were most very likely modified on an individual or unit basis long after the US M1917 program was long over.

But I would be interested to hear more on this.

Dan

[JGaynor]

I personally saw two M1917 sniper rifles while in SE Asia in 1970-71.

Any chance they were Australian P14 snipers (rifle No. 3 Mk 1 T*) By 70-71 Us Forces had largely moved to the Remington 700 (USMC) or M14 variants (M21) (US Army).

Even our allies were casting off obsolete stuff by then. I have a Thai marked M1903A4 that came back to the US in 67 or 68.

Regards,

Jim