A couple of million 1917s were made for WWI and they were held as a war reserve afterwards while the Regular Army, all 100,000 or so of them, were armed with 1903s until the M1 was adopted around 1936 or so. It took a while to produce enough M1s, the Marines who landed on Guadalcanal in 1942 were still using 1903s. Many of the 1917s were shipped out as Lend Lease during WWII but plenty were left and they were sold to NRA members afterwards for $7.50 each. I bought one and remember it as brand new and totally devoid of handling qualities, a heavy and clumsy piece of machinery. I traded it off quickly but many were converted into simple sporters and a few were given the complete treatment as exemplified by the G&H above described. I always felt that the big action was wasted on anything less than a full length belted magnum like the .300 and .375 H&H, for which it was ideal. Belding and Mull developed a good bolt sleeve peep sight and a better shaped stock for the Model 30 Remington, later more or less copied by the factory, and occasionally one comes across one of these rifles fitted with the complex B&M scope sight, an excellent optical instrument in a Rube Goldberg mounting. Remington was still using 1917 parts left over from military production in the 30 and perhaps even in the last rendition of the rifle, the scarce 720. The very last 720s, made at the very start of WWII, went to the Navy which gave them out as marksmanship prizes I think even into the 1960s and these show up from time to time as collector's pieces at prices which make even the pre64M70 cranks blush.
