My grandfather recently gave this to me. It was the first centerfire rifle I ever shot when I was a young kid. I always told him I wanted it and he recently gave it to me. From what he can remember he purchased it when he was 16, he’s turning 80 this month. I don’t know a lot about the older stuff, but it’s in excellent shape and doesn’t appear to have been refinished, at least since he’s owned it. The only issue I see is the top sling swivel appears to be cut for some reason and at some point someone put a rubber butt pad on it. He actually found a replacement metal butt plate and screws, but whenever they did the rubber butt pad, they glued a piece of wood like a filler piece. I’m not comfortable enough removing it as I don’t want to mess it up. Anyone have any ideas or recommendations on someone who can? This will be passed on to my boys so I’d like it to be done right. Also any information on the rifle itself will be appreciated! Also anyone shoot one of these things? I’ve read about modern 30-06 and pressures are little much for the older rifles. Do they make something that is safe to use? Probably won’t shoot it much at all, just want to be able too if I want too.
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US model of 1917 Winchester help
- Thread starter jwill130
- Start date
That is very cool,,any history on it,, keep us posted
Take a look at my post about Enfield stuff I just relisted. It's all really just from an action and barrel for the same kind of 1917 Winchester you have, basically an American Enfield in 30-06...it has a butt plate, some extra screws, some trigger guard stuff and a Boyd's replacement stock with the metal parts.
Absolutely true. We used to use these to shoot catfish in the river 65 years ago. We milled the ears off trying to get it down to a decent weight but these rifles are TANKS. I've read that this is the rifle Sgt. York used in WW1.
If the profile of the buttstock where the steel plate (original) hasn't been altered, you may be able to skillfully remove the dutchman that's been placed in the U shaped groove on top and put an original steel buttplate back on the rifle, maybe. I'd have to see it in person or have much better photographs to be sure about this. It does appear to be shortened slightly. An unaltered Winchester stock (should be stamped with a "W" on the nose or top end) NOT marked with a WWII rebuild stamp is worth about $500. Your rifle appears to have the original finish, not reparked. Very nice rifle to have been gifted.
Very solid rifles so don't worry about shooting commercial 30-06.
They were actually used more in WWI than the '03 Springfield because large numbers were available as conversions of the 303 caliber Enfields being produced for the British in the US. Sgt. York is always shown using a Springfield in the movies, but I've seen several places that he was actually using a '17.
Some good background on it here...
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/6/5/us-rifles-of-wwi-the-m1903-and-m1917/
If you check the stock you may find some additional markings showing the guns history.
My M1917 Eddystone took a detour to the Great White North in the Canadian Arctic for a tour of duty before it came back to the US. These guns were excellent in cold weather from everything I've read, and saw service in some Scandinavian countries as well.
Overall a great rifle, and one with a lot of history to it. If you can save the stock that would definitely be the way to go.
They were actually used more in WWI than the '03 Springfield because large numbers were available as conversions of the 303 caliber Enfields being produced for the British in the US. Sgt. York is always shown using a Springfield in the movies, but I've seen several places that he was actually using a '17.
Some good background on it here...
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/6/5/us-rifles-of-wwi-the-m1903-and-m1917/
If you check the stock you may find some additional markings showing the guns history.
My M1917 Eddystone took a detour to the Great White North in the Canadian Arctic for a tour of duty before it came back to the US. These guns were excellent in cold weather from everything I've read, and saw service in some Scandinavian countries as well.
Overall a great rifle, and one with a lot of history to it. If you can save the stock that would definitely be the way to go.
