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Hello all,
I am refurbishing a greased up 1917 Eddystone Enfield. I have 2 stock cartouche marks that I need identification of.
1 is a P under the "pistol grip" I am assuming that is for proof testing, correct me if I am wrong.
The other is on the left hand side of the receiver area marked SSAA inside of a box. From what I read this was a mark for San Antonia Arsenal rebuild? Any confirmation or correction to these marks would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff / Slingshot :popcorn:
Yes the P mark is a proof firing mark.
The SSAA I'm not to sure about. Mine is Marked OGEK. Stands for Ogden UT Armory Elmer Kieth
Carefull restoring this thing! is it blued or parked??
It is Blued. Thanks for the warning about the restoration. I am just stripping the finish and the grease from it. The bluing is in good shape and is a good shooter. Gonna give it a few coats of Boiled Linseed oil when I am done stripping it.
Jeff / Slingshot
i would just clean the grease off leave the finish alone. or you will ruin the value of the rifle.
As you had surmised, SSAA was the arsenal stamp for San Antonio Arsenal. Your rifle was rebuilt there at some point in its life (either immediately after WW1 or just prior to WW2).
The only "refinish" I would add to that stock would be a liberal coating of boiled Linseed Oil. Its what the stock was originally finished with. The stock is most likely dry and it should be reoiled.
My Eddystone is a American Legion return purchased from the CMP. It was floating in oil! It has a true "hand rubbed" finish as it is worn very smooth from years of parade use. It is actually very nice. I used some mineral spirits and linseed oil mix to clean it. I then applied more oil. It came out very nice.
The barrel looked shabby at first. I cleaned til no more copper, powder, copper, powder cupronickel, rust, powder etc was gone. It was kinda shiny with strong rifling but still not pretty. After firing some hard cast boolits and frequent cleaning it started shinning! After a couple hundred rounds it looks very good. I love the old girl.
Jay
Here is the finished product. I just broke the rifle down and degreased all metal parts to remove the old cosmoline with toothbrush, hot water and dawn dish soap. AH fun !
The wood I wiped down with several applications of mineral spirits to soak the grease out of the stock after a washing to remove the mineral spirits I did an application of Boiled Linseed oil about 4 times. and after 24 hour sesisons of letting it sit before putting each coat on. The final application was wood wax mixed with a little boiled linseed oil let dry for 20 minutes and buffed to a dull finish.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...0526012106.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...0526012105.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...0526012107.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...526012107a.jpg
I have found many American Legion rifles were used to fire blanks for funerals, then put back on the rack. Clean the barrel? Why? We are a only gonna fire blanks!
anyhow you did an xcellent job bringing it back