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View Full Version : My 1917 is shooting! Oh happy day



Buckshot
10-26-2006, 05:26 PM
..............I had posted in the "Model of 1917" thread previously that my 1917 was not shooting up to it's capabilities. And it's capabilities were determined by my oneself in how the barrel looked and it's general overall condition. The bore was very strong with no wear at the muzzle, pretty shiney with some light frosting in the grooves.

It is a parts gun I had built up from a barreled action. While the action and barrel were Remington, the balance of the rifle is made up of Eddystone, Winchester and Remington parts. When I initially put the thing together the barrel was completely free floated. You could grasp the top band and easily move the barrel around. I figured that was a good thing and the very first group out of the rifle was great.

Subsequent shooting seemed to be not up to par. Five shot groups at 50 yards were about 2" or a bit less. They were consistantly round and not wild, nor did they string or shoot into different areas. I took the rifle apart a few days ago and the bedding appeared to be even with no squashed wood or other obvious problems.

Rather then epoxy bed the action to begin with, I figured the easiest thing was to just shim the forend a smidge to put some pressure on the end of the barrel. So I took a 3x5 file card and cut 2 shims, laid'em in the forend and put the rifle back together. I had on hand 100 rounds loaded for my 03A1 that were the Lyman 311284 sized .309" TL'd and then with Javalina in the grooves. These were in previously fired (in the Springfield) PMC necksized brass containing 28.0grs of surplus IMR4198 + dacron and crimped into the top LG.

Tuesday I took the rifle to the range and after all the Burrito stuff was over with I put up 4 pistol bulls at 50 yards and fired four 5 round groups. Holy smoke, what a difference! All 4 groups had 4 rounds in well less then an inch and one shot each that made them an inch or a bit more. This was pretty neat because I have a bit of a hard time with that skinny front blade.

I had also loaded 20 rounds of jacketed ammo to see what that would do had the cast loads not performed well. These were in FL sized PMC cases with a 168gr HP over 56.0grs of IMR4350. You wouldn't believe how long it has been since I've loaded jacketed ammo :-) It felt so odd, and I felt so ..........unclean! However I accomplished it successfully. Since the lead loads did so well I didn't bother with the FLGC stuff but fired them away at the 200 meter plate.

I had to hold a blade's width off to the left to connect, but once I figured that out I gave the plate absolute hell. Back at home I cleaned the barrel and then commenced with Sweets to get rid of the jacket fouling. I sure didn't expect it but I completely lost track of how many patches I went through to see a white one again! I sure don't expect to have to do THAT again, HA!

...................Buckshot

45nut
10-26-2006, 07:20 PM
Great report on my favorite action type,the Big Enfields.

swheeler
10-26-2006, 11:57 PM
Buckshot; funny how some like to be free floated, some like a pressure point, and yet another may favor full length glass bedding, you never know till you try.

Four Fingers of Death
10-28-2006, 08:07 AM
Gotta love those big ol' M17s! Mick.

MikeSSS
11-06-2006, 12:44 AM
Loved that report. That was almost like being there. I feel your joy.

Will get a 1917, saw a good one this weekend.

There is a No.4 MKI in the safe that has a business card under the barrel near the front of the stock. Shims work.

Congratulations.

PatMarlin
11-06-2006, 01:31 AM
...jacketed ammo :-) It felt so odd, and I felt so ..........unclean! ...................Buckshot


LOL!!!


...

Topper
11-06-2006, 09:54 PM
Did I read that right (where's the cross eyed icon).
Buckshot pushed jacket ammo down range:brokenima

Buckshot
11-06-2006, 10:11 PM
................Yeah well, after umpity bazillion patches and Sweets, I don't believe I'll be doing THAT again any time soon! Just running an oiled bore mop back and forth a couple times after cast lead is just SOOOO much more to my liking :-)

...............Buckshot