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

I picked up a partially sporterized M1917 (Remington). As far as I can tell the only metal work the previous owner did was cut off the origional intergral rear sight "ears", add a Redfield peep, and reblue. They left the dog leg in the floor plate and it still has the origional trigger. I don't know much about these rifles.

I'm wondering about the saftey. It has a pin that pokes into a slot in the bolt handle such that the bolt is locked when the saftey is on. What is the purpose of this feature? To keep the bolt from accidentally lifting? Seems preferable to be able to de-chamber a cartrige with the saftey on. Would it be prudent to remove or file off the pin?

Again I don't know much about these guns. I must claim ignorance if this is stupid question. I'm more of a shot gunner. I enjoy fussing around with old shotguns and bought this gun on whim thinking I would restock it for a fun project. Now I realize I don't know jack about rifles and inletting a rifle stock is painstaking. Any sporterizing tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

The safety lever also cams the cocking piece to the rear and off of the trigger sear in the 'safe' position. So removing the pin still shouldn't allow bolt manipulation with the safety on IIRC.

The safety works in about the same manner as an SMLE safety with addition of the bolt lock pin.
I'd assume the bolt lock pin was added to take any stress off of the somewhat more fragile cam feature should the rifle take a hit/fall on the bolt handle with the safety on,,thinking from the military usage standpoint. Just my guess though.

The safety housing and the bolt handle form the 3rd lug (safety lug) for the bolt. There should be a small amount of clearance betw the back of the bolt handle and forward face of the bolt safety housing.

What Kutter said.

The 1914/17 Enfields are well-made albeit somewhat clunky actions and can benefit greatly from a weight-reduction program. If you're wanting only a simple project to get your feet wet, so to speak, then perhaps the Enfield might be a little much. OTOH if you want a large action for a large cartridge and are prepared for a little alteration work, the Enfield can be quite rewarding.

There are 2 main areas that need attention IMO; the cock-on-closing feature is awkward and unacceptable and simply must be changed to cock-on-opening, and the ugly humps on both the top & bottom of the action as well as the dog-leg bolt handle must be removed and those areas reshaped. Not necessarily a lot of work but definitely a hassle and there are some pitfalls that can trap the unwary. Both Frank de Haas and Alvin Linden give some good 1917 tips in their books and both are worth reading.

Numrich (Gun Parts Co) used to offer a cock-on-opening conversion for the 1917 but it was somewhat problematical in its operation; Dayton-Traister still offers a conversion but I've never used it and so can't report on it, but I would be very careful since the commercial 1917 upcock conversions usually have a problem with a too-short striker fall, sometimes only about 1/4". It's usually better for the smith to weld up the cocking ramp and end up with a longer more positive striker fall of at least 3/8" or more.

There are several good ways to change the various humped areas and I don't necessarily have a preference for any particular one, but there is one caution worth noting and noting well: the rear top tang area of the action is awkwardly shaped and slopes down rather sharply to the top of the stock's wrist. When the action's magazine capacity is reduced to 5 shots, as is common when slimming & sporterizing, then the wrist area is even further reduced and frequently results in an ugly shape and a too-thin wrist. A well-thought-out reshaping plan will change that ugly awkward too-sharp wrist dip into a pleasing flow line into the comb's nose, and also greatly strengthen the stock's wrist at the same time. It's not rocket science but it does take some forethought and planning.

Please feel free to email or PM me for details if you get bogged down.
Regards, Joe

Thanks guys. Looking at the gun I now see what both of you are describing. This is harder than I thought it would be. I'm going to think on this for a while and try to find one of the above books.

Or you could cheat and just buy a nice Model 30 Remington. Some variations are quite nice.

Here's a 30S Express in .35 Rem. I picked up for about $300, it was factory D&T'd for the scope. I had to find the right mounts (with the help of our own Brian Perazone) and added the scope, I'll be shooting it next month.






And on the other hand here's a 30.06 that was done by G&H, last I saw the price was around $15K and it's all scratched up (but the wood is a little nicer)!

You got a hell of a deal on the .35 and the G&H '06 is outstanding!

That G&H was on Schwandt I think,
quite a Xmass present !

Nice deal on the 35 Rem Rob !

Thanks guys, I got lucky on mine, a local gun auction and I left a bid. Everyone else wanted something with a plastic stock.

I saw the G&H gun at the 2008 Greenwich, CT show, it's still on Schwandt's Website along with some other nice customs.

Old Remington sporters are a good value, they don't have the cachet of old Winchesters but are often interesting guns and well crafted. I got a minty Rem. M14 in .35 Rem from the same auction house last year for about the same price, again, nobody else was interested.

I have a Remingtom Eddystone 1917 rifle unaltewred. It is a very accurate target rifle as issued. I have been using my own cast 173 g. bullets with gas checks and 20 g. of 2400 powder. It really likes s that loasd as it sure is accuratge. The U.S. Army was still usimng them early in WW in some of he early battles in the Pacific before changing over to M-! rifles.