doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com M1917 sporterization

Ryan:

The M1917 can be made up into a fine custom sporting rifle. I had a fine custom on a 1917 action that I shot for many years, and wish I had it back (stolen). In my view, it's the best military bolt action for that purpose, especially for larger bores.

With a properly straightened bolt handle, the 1917 is one of the fastest, slickest bolt action sporting rifles there is - because of the cock-on-closing feature. A cock-on-opening kit converts a great action into just another also-ran. Don't do it. Yes, the 1917 is different, but that's what makes it desirable.

I also saw the G&H 1917 at the Greenwich show. I innocently approached Mike S. with a "How much is that Remington?" Oh well.

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.

When particating in a research project at the Remington Archives, I examined several Model 1917s in the storage racks. These rifles apparently had never left the building in nearly a century. I don't know whether they were rejects or prototypes, but they were a great find.

The 1914/17 Enfields share the distinction of being, at one and the same time, the simplest military bolt action rifle for conversion to scope use and also one of the most difficult to convert into a truly fine-looking sporting rifle. The only thing required for low scope use is the installation of mounts, the bolt handle, safety and everything else are OK as-is. However almost every major part of the action must be altered in some way in order for it to be aesthetically pleasing and in some cases the aesthetics are still null and void (G). This is still a large and rather clunky piece of steel no matter what the smith does to improve it, and IMO these actions are better used with the larger cartridges that better match their larger size.

Please don't misunderstand me, my first CF rifle was a 1917 that I attempted to convert into a sporter and I still have a warm place in my heart for the old rifle, but the conversion was waaayyy beyond the capabilities of a 14-year-old. I was still working on it several years later when I went to Trinidad and it never did look right. With the right ideas and workmanship though, the 1917 can be as good as any and better than most. It just takes a LOT of work as well as some aesthetic abilities in the reshaping.

There are some interesting Enfield smithing tricks that once were fairly common knowledge but have since faded into obscurity, most of these can be found in some of the old smithing books written in the middle of the 20th century. Col Jeff Cooper once had a Remington 30 converted into a big-bore DGR and used it quite successfully, you might get some good ideas from his example as well as some shown in Monte Kennedy's Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks. Some of the old issues of Guns & Ammo and the Guns & Ammo Annuals show some very fine examples of DGR Enfield conversions by some of the best-known makers of the day. At one time the custom M70-type 3-position bolt sleeves were available for this action and I know that custom bottom metal is still available along with reasonably good (Timney & D-T) triggers. Speaking personally, this action would be one of my top choices for a long belted magnum DGR or similar.
Regards, Joe

Just my $.02--don't overlook Pattern 14 Enfields if you are looking for a project. .303 is good; .30-40 is better, and from there you can go right up the shoulder-battering scale. I had a Winchester actioned sporter in .375 2 1/2" that is right fun. It was one of those sold as "Drill Purpose" only. Never found out why.

The 1988 ACGG raffle gun was a beautifully done 1917 DGR by Ted Blackburn, sadly, it's now missing from their website.

If anyone is serious about building a sporter using a 1917 I would be happy to loan my Linden full scale drawings of the 1917 sporter. It would be easy to take them to a blueprint copier and have a set made and return mine.

Recoil Rob,
I wonder what the story is on the 1988 raffle project. On the AACGG website /www.acgg.org/raffle/ I see the #3 in 1987 and the #4 in 1989, but no 1988?!? I was a very new member about that time and simply don't remember.
As for Tom Burgess Enfield metalwork, an Echols stocked .416 is in my Custom Rifles book and I've seen another .340 Weatherby with an Echols stock and a .375(?) Burgess Enfield stocked by Fisher.
Tommy's metalwork was always inovative and it's difficult to even see an Enfield in the results.

It's also a bit difficult to see a Model 1917 in my John Oberlies sporter/target rifle. Of course, the Schwandt Model 30 G&H gun is a different animal entirely, but only because of the Kornbrath engraving. Griffin and Howe had nothing on Oberlies in making a 1917 look like a graceful rifle.