suprise...

[Ragnarok]

Hey all

I am trying to get some information on a rifle my father in law gave me.
About 15 yrs ago my then father in law gave me an old military rifle that he had bought when he was in the national guard. The government was selling off a bunch of surplus weapons from wwII. According to him they would take a bunch of guns and stick them in a barrell, cap it and sell it for $50. In this barrell he got rifles from russia, germany, japan, USA, and a few that he was not sure about, plus a couple of hand guns. The rifle he gave me was a winchester 30-06. I had several hunting rifles at the time and just kinda stuck it in my gun case and forgot about it. My step son (who is a video game nut said it looked like a kar 98 he saw on one of his games) he asked me about it and I did'nt have any information about it for him.
I tried looking it up on line and found out it was a Model 1917 winchester, but that is about it. I was hopeing someone here could give me some resource ideas or information about this piece of american history.
The sn 407984 is stamped on the reciever along with some other markings that resemble a ball with fire comming out the top. There is a w stamped into the bolt handle and one stamped into the front sight and 8-18 on the barrell. There are some eagle heads stamped into the stock and I think there is one stamped into the reciever beside the magazine opening. The bore looks as though it has never been fired, just a few scratches and dings in the wood, other than that it is in exceptional condition for a gun that has been around for that long.
Any information would be greatly appriciated.
Thanx.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Prince Humperdink]

i am very new to 1917,but this is what I've found, W is winchester,so that is good,is there a W above barrel date?My SN finder shows 407984 as being made in Sept,1918(but it is sometimes off a bit).The eagles heads are like the P for firing proof, and the ord bomb is correct.hope any of this helps
Ryan

[Ragnarok]

will look to see about the w on the barrel, thanks for the other info. Any little bit helps

[Jim K]

Common and cheap ($25-30) in the 1950's, Model 1917's in the original military configuration have risen dramatically in value in recent years, due in part to the large number that were "sporterized" in the early years. I never heard of the government selling rifles that way, but some retailers may well have done so.

It sounds like you have a very nice gun and I urge you to keep it unaltered; they aren't making any more and the prices keep going up.

Jim

[Ragnarok]

Jim
According to him it was a surplus sale, It might have been a retailer I don't know for sure only know what I am told. But just going by the quanity and variety of guns in the barrel it seems possible it was a government sale. I know that they will auction off old equipment and gear at military bases once in a while useally to military personel or contractors. Regardless I think he gat a good deal and I came out of it pretty good my self.
It was very intresting to see all the different styles and calibre in the mix. The most intresting thing is to see how similar they all are when they were coming from so many different countries