Originally Posted By: Joe Wood
You'll find the 17 to be the smoothest operating pump ever built. And they seem to have a lot of hand fitting and fitting of internal parts. The rib and barrel are one piece machined from a single blank. The metal is all rust blued. If possible I'd try to add a wood butt extension and keep the original.

Joe, if it's anything like its successor the M37, I believe the solid rib is soldered to the barrel which withstands rust bluing technique, but not hot bluing as some have discovered. Gil