doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Model 17 Remington?

Thank you Researcher, mine could be transitional. The wood seems fairly plain. What's the story on the patina on the action? It's almost an olive green. It reminds me of the protective finish I've seen on some older LC Smiths.

Had an odd malfunction of that 17B today. I was out "dog training" with my father-in-law and a few chuckers when it failed to cycle after firing at a departing bird. He emptied the remaining live rounds from magazine first and then, after trying everything else, he pulled the trigger on the spent shell. The firing pin dropped on the empty shell (again!) and it opened and ejected. I believe I have the option of returning it to the folks I bought it from or fixing it. Any ideas or suggestions?

Have you used a pump prior to this? If you grip the foreend too tightly at the shot, the slide release won't get a chance to unlock. You can practice this by dry firing the gun, unloaded, of course. One or two dry firings won't hurt anything as you learn to use the mechanism. I always give the front wood a little shove forward, after the shot, to get the slide released. Different models of pump shotguns have different ways of releasing the slide after the shot-the model 17, and the model 12 Winchester seem a bit fussier than a Mossberg 500, in my experience.
If that isn't the problem, these guys are qualified to work on the gun:

http://www.diamondgunsmithing.com/

I wouldn't be in a hurry to return it to the seller. Good copies of this model aren't running around in bunches. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the gun, over 80 years old, simply needs a very good cleaning.

Best,
Ted

Lloyd3, how did the gun recock for the "dry" fire if the action would not cycle? I must be missing something.

Chief: That was my question as well. The hammer definitely dropped twice before it would allow the action to open. First time to fire it and then somehow on the then-empty shell. I was worried that the spring that drives the firing pin might be either broken or weak, and...perhaps weak might allow recoil to re-cock it? From my research, I know Remington had some problems with firing pins, and Ithaca re-designed this part of the gun before they built their version of it (M37).

We fired it on a grease board to function check it when we got there (I think four shots, there wasn't a plug in the magazine) and then I carried it first. I missed twice, reloaded and then knocked a bird down. So that's three more shots. I traded with my father-in-law (so he didn't have to lug that 870 all day!) and he shot it once on a departing bird, missed, and then it wouldn't cycle.

Ted: the operator is a pump-gun man from way back (M12 & 870) but this was his first exposure to a 17. We were using some fairly warm, new Federal stuff, but I have some fairly light 20 bore shells from an old hammer gun (I used-to own). I'll try to get it to fail again before I hit the panic button, but I only have 30-days to make a claim. This gun seems to be very clean, but I don't think the barrel has ever been off of it. Just how clean is sort-of hard to determine without a proper tear-down.

OK, that's a mystery and should not happen. I'm not familiar with the Rem 17, more with the Ithaca 37. I was going to suggest that your extractor was worn off causing the gun not to extract/eject. That is common on well used 37's. I based this on your FIL cycling the action to clear the live rounds. I suppose then he depressed the shell stop to clear the live rounds?

Chief: I assume that's how he cleared it. Ithaca made several changes to the gun before they built their version, extractors being one of them. Since Remington only made it in a 20-bore, maybe some of those changes were designed to make it robust enough to handle 16 and 12 bore?

I was across a small muddy ditch from him when it jammed, so I'm only reporting what I saw. My father-in-law is pretty competent when it comes to this stuff, so while I'm not completely dismissing operator error, I'm fairly sure something odd happened.

Lloyd3,

I would pull the trigger assembly out and clean/check/lightly oil. Again based on the 37 being very similar I would suppose that the bolt moving back across the hammer is what resets the trigger against spring tension.

I've never seen a Rem 17 in the flesh, only external pics of them. I think weak extraction was covered in a prior post? If you disassemble the action could you post pics?

Good luck!

The Remington 17 and the 37 are very similar-however, there is zero parts interchange on the two models. The stock has to be removed on either gun to remove the trigger assembly, and, Chief is correct, the bolt clearing the chamber and moving back resets the hammer.

The model 17 has an interrupter that keeps the gun from "slam firing" a l� a model 12. A model 37 can be equipped with one of three different triggers, a unit that functions the same as the model 17, a trigger that will slam fire, or a third design that keeps a slam fire from happening, but, differently than the model 17 trigger.

I think you are at a point where you have to decide to keep the gun, and massage the warts down, or return it-I wouldn't want anybody talking the stock off a gun I sold them prior to returning it to me.

If it were me, I'd keep it. If you decide you don't want it down the road, they sell pretty quickly, and I wouldn't mind knowing first if you go that route.

Keep us posted, anyway.

Best,
Ted

Well, you're right Ted. It's fish or cut bait time. I can't tear the gun down to see what's wrong without honestly voiding any option to return it. I also didn't buy it to make a project of it (I'm a doublegun guy, after all). I've got very little money in it, but time is money and I'm finding it's becoming more of a chore than I'd anticipated (I bought it as a gift). I'll call the Kittery Trading Post and see what they suggest.