Remington Model of 1917

[wilkersk]

My father-in-law passed last year and I've ended up with his gun collection.

One rifle, that was his dad's, is a Remington model of 1917 with a date stamp of 11 - 18.

This rifle doesn't look like the old Enfields. It is looks like it may have been sporterized with newer bluing and a simplified receiver and blade front sight.

Are these pretty common?

I'm working on getting pics up.

 

[James K]

There really is no Remington Model 1917, so I assume you mean the U.S. service rifle, Model of 1917, made by Remington. This was the rifle known to American doughboys as "the Enfield" to distinguish it from the Model 1903 rifle. The latter was the standard service rifle at the time, but wartime necessity forced the U.S. to adopt the Model 1917, a modification of the British Pattern 1914, which had been produced in large quantities by American factories, including Remington, for the British.

By using those existing facilities, over two million rifles produced, enough for the war and to provide a hefty war reserve afterwards.

After WWII, hundreds of thousands of those rifles became available on the surplus market for as little as $25, and many were "sporterized" to make them easier to handle in the hunting field. They are quite common, and are often found on the used gun racks in sporting goods stores for $150 up, depending on the condition and how good the workmanship is. An unmodified and unreworked military rifle, on the other hand, can bring up to $2500 if in top condition.

HTH

Jim

 

[PetahW]

It's unusual, IMHO, to find an Enfield receiver that's been modified (which is what I presume is what you mean by "simplified") w/o a scope mount - the usual reason for modifying/removing the sight ears and radiusing the rear bridge.

The only other common mod is the straightening of the floorplate/bottom metal, to give a nicer-looking bottom line, which loses the pregnant look, even with a reduction of mag capacity (x1).

However, pics of the rifle might help - since there's a chance that it just might not be a cut-up military, or sporterized, Remington-made pattern of 1917.

You MIGHT have an early Remington Model 30A Sporting Rifle - which was made from the 1917 Enfield pattern Remington had made for WW I.
The M-30A production started about 1921, and it's entirely possible that a barrel dated 1918 might have been used on some early specimens.

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