Found a nice Win. P 17 today!

[seagiant]

Hi,
I have a friend that is helping sale some rifles of a friend of his that died. One of the rifles was a Winchester Enfield P 17 in 30-06. It has a Eddystone stock with Winchester bolt,barrel,reciever. I guess after the war they were armoury reconditioned?

I'm not really getting a deal on this but it is such a great looking rifle and the barrel looks very nice. It is also a winchester which I like! It's $750 OTD! Like I said not a great deal but I should be able to get my money for it anytime I want in the future. Thought it would be fun to shoot some cast with it. Anyone own one here?

[Larry Gibson]

Uhmmmm....that is not an "Enfield" nor is it a P17. It is a U.S. Rifle M1917. I suppose one could refer the P 14 in .303 as an "Enfield"?

I made the mistake of referring to a No 4 Mk III* as a SMLE once...............:-(

Larry Gibson

Pictures?

[seagiant]

Uhmmmm....that is not an "Enfield" nor is it a P17. It is a U.S. Rifle M1917. I suppose one could refer the P 14 in .303 as an "Enfield"?

I made the mistake of referring to a No 4 Mk III* as a SMLE once...............:-(

Larry Gibson

Pictures?

Hi Larry,
You are right it is not a (P-17) although they do get refered to as American Enfields? I'm just now learning about them and had not really seen one in years that was not chopped up! This one is a depot refurb I guess it was called. I will get some pics up later and see what I can find out. I just thought I would get it and have some fun shooting it and learning about it. Have not seen one in this condition for years!

[lefty o]

i own a canadian/danish lend lease 1917 eddystone, and a winchester P14. both very good rifles, but ive never shot cast bullets out of them. you probably paid top end for a nice mixmaster, but hang on to it for a while, and the value will go up.

[seagiant]

Hi Lefty,
I believe you are correct! I did not get a deal,(previous owner that died was a state trooper,money goes to the widow!) but I don't think I will ever lose money on it and can enjoy it in the mean time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1917_Enfield

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM23-6.PDF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-5GoYNfeD0

[dilly]

Sometimes, if you can swing it, it's better to pay a bit for something that really catches your fancy. You are pleased with it, which makes it a good deal.

Have fun with it!

[ukrifleman]

105440
i own a canadian/danish lend lease 1917 eddystone, and a winchester P14. both very good rifles, but ive never shot cast bullets out of them. you probably paid top end for a nice mixmaster, but hang on to it for a while, and the value will go up.

I have a Model of 1917 Remington (see photo) all original and matching with a barrel date of `9-18`

It will produce a 2.5" group at 100m with cast loads.

ukrifleman.

[Char-Gar]

I have two of these fine rifles and enjoy them. One is an unmessed with Winchester and the other is a Remington WWII rebuilt at San Antonio Arsenal with a primo Johnson Automatics barrel.

My first one of these I bought was an Eddystone and cost me $25.00 in 1961, so the value has gone up over the years. The Winchester I bought at a pawn shop in Deming New Mexico in 1994 for $150.00, so the price continues to rise. The Remington joined the fleet just a year or so ago. While $750.00 may be top price now, it will be a bargain in a couple more years.

Our WWI Doughboys much preferred the 03 Springfield to the US Model 1917. You only have to pick up and sling it over your shoulder to know why their preference. Compared to the 03 the 1917 is a long, heavy and unwieldy rifle. On a long march you could grow to cuss the thing. But, when you settled down into a shooting position, that extra weight and barrel length are a plus. They are generally accurate rifles and will deliver about the same accuracy as a 1903 Springfield, which is to say very good.

Here is the Remington perched on my back fence taking the sun. When the rifle arrived at my dealer, he said "Charles, you do know that stock has been refinished and badly?". The stock has been given a very heavy coat of varnish at some point in time. Back home, I striped off the varnish and the original oil finish was underneath with clear markings. The varnish had in fact protected the stock all these years. All it took was a coat of wax to bring the original finish back up to snuff. The next week, I took it back to the dealer who also owns the range. He saw it and asked me where I got the primo rifle. When I told him it was the same one that had come into his shop, but had a hard time digesting that fact. He then tried to buy it from me for more than I paid for it. I still have it and will until I shuffle off this mortal coil or they cart me off to the home.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
You did OK. It will only go up in value and you get to enjoy it some years.
Mine is a EDDY and ave no regrets buying it. I like the old heavy brute. Shoots as good as I can and digests the RCBS 180 FNGC like they were made for it.. Mkaes me smile every chance I get to haul it out.
Most my infantry rifles sit at the Vermilion County War Museum so others can see what our men carried about for those awful years they endured. But in three weeks they are going out into the sun again.
Mike in Peru

[Hardcast416taylor]

A "wood cutter" friend of mine has a 1917 Winchester that he loves to shoot. He took it to an expert to determine its value for insurance purposes. Turns out he has a "parts" Winchester action with a Remington barrel in an Eddystone stock! I told him after he told me this that he probably had an early WW 2 arsenal build rifle for the war effort. The "expert" told him it still is in the $450 - $550 value range.Robert

[StratsMan]

I have recently purchased my second M-1917... an Eddystone in BEE-YOU-TEE-FUL condition... not perfect, but way better than the first, and way better than most I've seen... the bbl is dated 9-18, and is shiny and tight... it shoots good groups with 46.5 grains of BLC-2 or Varget, topped with M2 ball, but it shoots better groups with the same charge and M80 ball... gotta admit, this ol' shoulder is not up to very much of that with a steel butt... Had to put the pad on for the last shootin' session...

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thanks for the info! I picked the rifle up today and it is pretty nice I think with nice wood and the parkerize on it is pretty nice. I believe it is a Armoury Refurb as after looking at it with my opti-visors it has a Eddystone stock and bolt release. A Winchester action and the original winchester barrel (8-17) It has a Remington bolt and as far as I can tell all other metal is winchester.

So it looks like a regular refurb with different maker parts,but is in very good condition and the barrel bore looks nice and the rifling looks sharp! Is it worth the money paid? I don't know, but I saw two Springfield 03's for $850 at another gun shop in a lot worse condition than my 1917! I think these old rifles will continue to go up in price for the next decade!

Oh yea,it looks like it also came with a original "No-buck-L" sling?

[lefty o]

that sling is worth a few bucks on its own, overall you didnt do too bad!

[opos]

If the Winchester Enfield I am showing in the picture were a home made "buba" conversion ( I don't mind a "home made" deer rifle if it's done right..I did many of them in the 50's and 60's) I'd not show it but think this may be of interest...Sears as well as other retailers bought up a lot of surplus parts, rifles, barreled actions, etc and had them converted to sporting rifles that were sold mail order or in the stores..This is a 1917 Enfield that carries a blind box magazine to replace the "bump" external magazine..it has all original parts...the "ears" were milled to allow for mounting of a scope and it has a "Ted Williams" 4x fixed scope...the stock is not a cut down military..I think a company in Illinois did a lot of these conversions for Sears...Sears also had a similar rifle using a model 70, one using a 98 Mauser and they all had similar stock styles...I think the stocks may have been made by Bishop....This rifle looks almost exactly like the model 30 Remington which was a sporter version of the Remington model 1917 but this one is all Winchester...it shoots like a dream..shows hardly any wear and was under $300 just a year ago...one of my favorite 30-06's.