Wra 1917

[RC20]

I don't think there was an Sniper preference. Have not read of it. Winchester has not struck me as better built that Eddy or Remington. They are more rare so get some attention from that standpoint as well as jumping the gun so to speak.

All the mfgs build the same gun to the same specifications.

Sometimes you get a bias based on the samples you have seen that really does not apply across the range of them.

I am attracted to Remington for some reason but see no difference between that and the Eddystone or Winchester. Only the stock were different between the thee and that all had to do with grip grove and bolt cutout, not the inners.

[Merc]

The following appears on page 16, of the Ferris’ book “United States Rifle Model of 1917:”

“The Winchester and Ilion rifles, until considered interchangeable under final degree, were marked with a ‘star’ on the left side of the receiver.”

The paragraph was quoting Col. Thompson, US Ordnance Dept. and goes on to say:

“Winchester and Ilion rifles assembled or manufactured since January 1st (1918) without the star, could be issued for overseas duty.”

Edit: The book goes on to say that the star has never been observed on Ilion (Remington) rifles.

The Winchester production tables that begin on page 79 shows that the first Winchester rifles were produced on May 21, 1917 and the star disappeared between serial number 141563 and 145950 which was late January, 1918. That was a lot of rifles that weren’t considered for overseas duty.

My early serial number 65030 ‘17 with the “star” was made on November 15, 1917 and, while the barrel and receiver are in great shape, all the rest of the parts were non-Winchester parts by Remington and Eddystone and the stock was made by an unknown company. Some external parts were missing altogether. It makes you wonder if the rifle was stripped for parts. Why would a ‘17 that never went to war even be required to undergo a rebuild that would usually mix in so many foreign parts? The rifle actually functioned with all those non-W parts but some fit poorly, especially the mag and several action parts were worn or were made or altered to fit, so I replaced almost everything but kept the Eddystone bolt and stock.

Edit: More information found in the book concerning parts stripping: The US Ordnance Dept. deemed the M1917 obsolete in October, 1945 and spare parts for M1917s still in use were to be taken from rifles that were still in storage once the supply of new parts was exhausted. There were other countries that continued to use their ‘17s for many years after WW2.

Edit: The ‘17’s weakest part that probably gave armorers the most trouble was the ejector with the leaf spring that would break. Someone did a field modification to the ejector on my ‘17 by drilling a hole and installing a small coil spring in place of the broken leaf spring. It was kinda crude but it worked fine and then I started seeing a more professionally executed (repro) version of the ejector with a coil spring offered for sale on the Numrich sight. Did the armorer figure that installing the coil spring on my ejector was a more permanent fix or was he unable to obtain an original replacement? I use the term “armorer” rather loosely since it could have been Bubba.

[JB White]

All the M1917s I have had contained a few different parts. All had been through either post service rebuild or foreign aid rework. They still do. For many folks (including myself) if a service rifle has all matching parts then its been monkeyed with in the private sector. Unless of course it happens to be one of those prized like-new specimens that for some reason missed all the excitement.
When I used to maintain the rifles at our post I ran into a few coil spring mods. So, either veteran rifles went out the door to the posts having been modified, or someone ahead of me at the post knew the coil spring fix? Its an old trick.

I'll add that I have a Winchester P14 which has an encircled star mark. That is said to be Winchesters marking indicating the rifle has the extended lug.

[Merc]

All the M1917s I have had contained a few different parts. All had been through either post service rebuild or foreign aid rework. They still do. For many folks (including myself) if a service rifle has all matching parts then its been monkeyed with in the private sector. Unless of course it happens to be one of those prized like-new specimens that for some reason missed all the excitement.
When I used to maintain the rifles at our post I ran into a few coil spring mods. So, either veteran rifles went out the door to the posts having been modified, or someone ahead of me at the post knew the coil spring fix? Its an old trick.

I'll add that I have a Winchester P14 which has an encircled star mark. That is said to be Winchesters marking indicating the rifle has the extended lug.

It wasn’t just replacing the non-W parts. I replaced the R and E parts that were badly worn or damaged. Some trigger parts were bent or left with chisel marks to take up space so they would work. While it probably wasn’t a safety issue, it had the potential to be a function issue. Plus several external items were missing that I persuaded the salesman to steal from one of the other rifles. The R mag was really the only misfit. This rifle probably was one of those that had been stripped. I had a choice of three ‘17s and picked the one with the best bore. It turned out to be an excellent shooter and I’m not concerned about keeping the original parts with the rifle. The parts I replaced weren’t worth keeping.

[Merc]

I'll add that I have a Winchester P14 which has an encircled star mark. That is said to be Winchesters marking indicating the rifle has the extended lug.

It’s surprising that Ferris’ book never mentioned the original purpose of the star. Did all P14s have the star?

[lyman]

It’s surprising that Ferris’ book never mentioned the original purpose of the star. Did all P14s have the star?

no,

but I need to revisit Skennerton's book to see what he says about it,

[JB White]

As far as I'm aware, only Winchester used the encircled five point star on the p14.

Now I'm wondering whether or not my 1917 has one? I'm certain I would have noticed.

*EDIT* Nope. SN is way too high

[Merc]

Which extended lug required the star? Bayonet lug? Bolt lug?

[lyman]

https://www.gunboards.com/threads/st...nfield.115369/


https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....y'%20issue.

[RC20]

Which extended lug required the star? Bayonet lug? Bolt lug?

To the best of my knowledge neither .