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  1. Default

    I bought a NOS '17 JA 4 groove barrel off of Ebay for $150 so they must have made both 2 and 4 groove barrels.
    Fred Pillot
    Captain
    San Jose Zouaves
    1876

  2. #12

    Default

    Most curious. As far as I know JA only made 2 grove barrels for the 1917.

    Have to do some research but 99.999% sure JA did not make a 4 grove for 1917.

    If not JA then has to be RA - most likely.
    Last edited by RC20; 11-19-2017 at 04:34.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    3,693

    Default

    Never fired a 17 w/ a 2 groove barrel. Have fired a pile of 03-A3 rifles w/ both 2 and 4 groove barrels. Day in and day out, firing rifles in equal condition using good quality handloads worked up for best results in these rifles, have not ever seen any measurable difference on target using either 2 or 4 groove barrels. If the throats, bores and crowns are good, if the rifle is well bedded, etc., then the rifle will give excellent results. The number of grooves in the barrel is irrelevant. When it comes t shooting cast bullet loads, I have actually had better results using the 2 groove barrels. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.
    " Unlike most conservatives, libs have no problem exploiting dead children and dancing on their graves."

  4. Default

    Bruce...Thanks for the info... Many people swear by grooves and say 2 groove cant shoot for anything.....

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    3,693

    Default

    Re: two grooves. Back about 1990 I was pastor of a small rural church in farming country. Peanut fields surrounded the parsonage on three sides. The church was across the road. I built a nice backstop a little over 220 yds. from the back fence down by the woods. I spend several summers shooting a very nice Rem. 03-A3 with various handloads firing at standard 100 yd. bullseye targets. It got to here I could keep 10 inside of 2.5 inches almost without fail. Then one day I gloomed onto some nice little 180 gr. Hornady bullets. With the sights properly sooted up and with a decent set of sandbags, I'd stand in the back of the pickup and use the roof of the cab for a benchrest. It was lots of fun. The groups ... sometimes less than 2.0 inches. Had any number of 5 shot groups that were 1 inch. Just couldn't put a 10 shot 1 inch string together with that rifle. Hard to not break my position during reloading. True, it was a particularly fine shooting rifle. Just about any load shot well in it. Currently I have two 03-A3's in the gun cabinet ... Smith Corona and Remington. Both have two groove Remington 1944 barrels. Either one will shoot lights out! The SC I have used in local club matches with both jacketed and cast bullet loads. It will with care hold the 10 ring of a SR-1. In my hands, it stays in the 9 ring or better shooting prone slow or rapid fire. I do shoot a lot of cast bullet loads in it. It shoots wonderfully. The Remington shoots exactly as well. Either rifle is a shooting machine. I have a Remington 03-A4 replica with the common Weaver 2.5 scope. It will keep Winchester 150 gr. PSP's right at 1 inch. Firing Greek HXP, it will shoot 1.3 inches. These are five shot groups from a sandbag rest. In the field, it is pure poison. Unless it is some sort of air gauged national match special barrel, I just don't think there is any common issue barrel or for that matter any common commercial barrel that will do more than equal the results on target obtained with these two-groove barrels. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.
    " Unlike most conservatives, libs have no problem exploiting dead children and dancing on their graves."

  6. #16

    Default

    FJruple:

    As near as I have been able to determine, there were not a lot of surplus barrels made for 1917s in WWI.

  7. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RC20 View Post
    FJruple:

    As near as I have been able to determine, there were not a lot of surplus barrels made for 1917s in WWI.
    RC20--

    A lot of surplus barrels is really a subjective term. The US Army Ordnance had enough to build 20,000 additional rifles from spare parts in addition to replacing barrels on M1917 rifles that improperly preserved after WWI. This created a shortage of replacement barrels for spare parts. Given the fact that a little over 2 million of the rifles were built in WWI plus the US had to support the 200,000 M1917s that were shipped to the Philippines in 1935 a shortage could very easily take place. Additionally the US had to supply spare parts for M1917 provided under Lead Lease so it does not take long to go through a lot of barrels quickly especially given the fact that corrosive priming was used in our ammunition at the time. Another perfect example would be the massive rebuilding program for the M1 rifle after WWII in the late 40's.

    --fjruple

  8. #18

    Default

    The experts I have asked about this found no evidence that contract called for extra barrels as a parts suite as was done in WWII.

    WWII they recognize that not only barrel but major spare part orders would be part of a package so extra barrels were made under those contracts by SC and Remington.

    None have reported other than an occasionally find of a barrel in NOS condition in the original wrapping.

    Dates and the rifles with barrel match up well. Some clearly were taken apart on salvaged barrel put on either by gunsmith or possibly military if a receiver was found damaged and barrel still good. Obviously this did not take place in any number other than run on parts.

    There was massive amount of repair, there were major efforts to clean barrels that failed and when opened up found to have rusted on out.

    That was when contract were let to mfg new barrels by RI, JA and HS.

    No date on if they inspected before shipping got the Philippine , China and UK.

    As each mfg was in full production of thousands of rifles each a month, the impetuous of production would indeed have had surplus receivers and barrels.

    Agreements were made to finish up some and terminate others which then result in some receivers and barrels not finished though evidence from a gun I know of says production went beyond the stated.

    There are notes extra rifles were shipped to Philipes for spare parst as there were none.

  9. #19

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    Original barrels were 5 groove left hand twist. JA barrels were not dated. No one has mentioned RIA replacement barrels. They are 4 groove right hand twist. The 2 groove barrels shoot at least as good as 03A3 2 grove barrels.

  10. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by musketshooter View Post
    Original barrels were 5 groove left hand twist. JA barrels were not dated. No one has mentioned RIA replacement barrels. They are 4 groove right hand twist. The 2 groove barrels shoot at least as good as 03A3 2 grove barrels.
    Musketshooter, I was not going to say anything but there was a forum that had members that were infatuated with measuring the diameter of 5 groove barrels, the last time I checked the forum was so rude they shut it down. And then there was the other problem, they could not decide the diameter of the barrels.

    F. Guffey

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