BSA P17 resurrected pic

kjohn

kjohn

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I bought an ugly old P17 the other day. It had paint and stain dripped on the stock, bluing was all gone, real old K4 Weaver scope. I dropped it off at Deaner's and told him to have at it.

This is the result below. The poor old thing has a nice blonde stock with nice tiger striping, especially on the bolt side. I mounted a Bell 3-9x40 and will have to take it out and give her a workout. It has very good rifling. :)

View attachment 134598
 
kjohn; It looks very good!! These are solid rifles with real potential. As an M17, I presume it is a 30-06.
You can tell if it has its original barrel by checking the rifling twist. All the originals had left hand twist.
The platform is a bit on the heavy side, but not so much as to cause a problem for most hunters.

I have one that has been extensively reworked. New fluted barrel, chambered in 308 Norma Magnum,
Brown Laminate stock with limbsaver, Conversion kit to make it #### on opening, and a Timney trigger.

It is very accurate, and happens to wear one of the "fastest" barrels I have seen in this chambering.
It will shoot the 180 Nosler Partition into 5/8 inch consistently if I do my part, the 175 LRX about the same.

Let us know how yours performs. Many of the original barrels, if in decent shape will shoot very well.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
Nice old rig , looks great and very reliable . I just picked one up myself . Out of curiosity , what number are the scope bases on yours ? I'm having some issues finding ones that fit on mine
 
BSA Model of 1917 resurrected pic

anglia2 said:
Nice old rig , looks great and very reliable . I just picked one up myself . Out of curiosity , what number are the scope bases on yours ? I'm having some issues finding ones that fit on mine
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Pretty sure they are 46's.

Yep. just took the scope off and checked. Both 46.
 
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I found one on the EE a while back as well. Wood ended up being exceptional once the old gloss finish was stripped. Shoots really well also.

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Buckmastr, that is a nice rifle!

There are some real gems hidden under all the crap. Deaner cleaned up an old Churchill Arms No. 4 Mk 1 for me a while ago. Again, a gem under the mop applied spar varnish.
 
Buckmastr said:
I found one on the EE a while back as well. Wood ended up being exceptional once the old gloss finish was stripped. Shoots really well also.

SoS00nO.jpg
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That is really beautiful, the back of it looks like nice walnut, and the front looks more like maple.

kjohn said:
New scope.

View attachment 134893
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The M-17 30-06 is a great rifle, my father hunted with one successfully for around 3 decades, my younger brother still has it. You don't need anything else to put meat in the freezer.

You could polish the extractor on that thing though or get it jeweled, that would really set it off.
 
cody c said:
That is really beautiful, the back of it looks like nice walnut, and the front looks more like maple.



The M-17 30-06 is a great rifle, my father hunted with one successfully for around 3 decades, my younger brother still has it. You don't need anything else to put meat in the freezer.

You could polish the extractor on that thing though or get it jeweled, that would really set it off.
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Yes. I am going to take it out for a test run and if it performs reasonably, I will take it to the next level - polish the action, give it a thorough cleaning, etc. My Dad had one, traded it off in 1957 for a TV and I bought it back in 2007, fifty years later. It went to my sister's grandson, with strict orders to make sure it never leaves the family again.
 
anglia2 said:
Thanks brother , much appreciated .
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Just be aware that unless due care and attention was taken (lots of these done by people that didn't have the equipment to do an identical contour) when removing the sight and ears that these guns quite often have two different radi on front and back frame rings.

Nice gun Kj. If it does shoot well, and I bet it will...there are a # of "good wintertime" projects to really make that gun jump out. As someone has already suggested a nice jeweling job on the bolt really is only a good start. Another good touch is to dress up that god awful bolt handle knob they are blessed with . I have done several and they can be improved a bunch with a two minute weld to fill the end hole and five minutes on a bench grinder to make some "flats' on both sided for finger grip area's. now a couple hrs in front of the TV with a fine file and then emery cloth to polish the grinder marks off . One I left smooth and another I used a new cheap 3 cornered file to cut some "checkering" into it...cover with a little cold blue and your done.

Another bolt knob re-vamp I have done a couple of times, and if you have access to a torch it is easier than the above. I simply split the top of the knob to the hole with hack-saw and then heat the knob, folding the top two leaves open to my preferred shape while its red hot . this creates a sort of "butterknife" knob...open on the top and rounded underneath. Again smooth all rough edges with file or Dremmel and then cold blue.
 
anglia2 said:
Thanks brother , much appreciated .
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As fingers284 so eloquently pointed out, there can be more than one configuration to that rear bridge on the action.
If done correctly, the 46's work well, but I have seen at least 3 different rear bases on these rifles. [and P14s too]
Regards, Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
As fingers284 so eloquently pointed out, there can be more than one configuration to that rear bridge on the action.
If done correctly, the 46's work well, but I have seen at least 3 different rear bases on these rifles. [and P14s too]
Regards, Eagleye.
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As I found out last night , the bases are correct but the rear receiver bridge has a slightly larger radius than the front .There was a visible gap as the outside edges of the base made contact but not the center where the screws are . After a little judicious filing , everything fits perfectly level and dead center . I've had a number of P 14 / M-17 spotters over the years and , as all of you have pointed out , fitting bases usually involved a bit of fitting . It's all part of the fun . I have a nice old K4 Weaver that Phil at Trace Scope Repair cleaned up for me a while ago . It'll be a perfect match for the old girl .
 
I have a p17 as well. It has a jard trigger that breaks real nice. Mine has had the bolt knob completely removed and a straight one put on. Mine has been rechambered in 300 h and h and has a rather light contour barrel that's about 25 1/2" long. I worked up a handload with the Barnes 168 grain triple shock and I could get 3/4" groups out of it. I did have trouble with my bases however and it's still not perfectly level. Besides lapping my rings what else could be done to shave down the tolerances on the base height on the rear base?? Have the base milled down?? Or what have you guys done as far as rings and bases for these p17s?
 
Mine was drilled to accept Remington bases and needed no shimming or grinding.
I find its always easier to shim up than to grind down. Although not perfect, I have shimmed BSA CF2 rifles up with the plastic from a credit card. Cut to fit, punch holes and use a marker to color the edges. Once tight, you never know they are there. No issues so far.
 
Mine have taken bases number 35 and 36 - radii are correct, but you may need to shim the rear base a bit... I just picked up a model D sporter c/w factory installed receiver sight. This will be my go to gun during deer season.
KJ - your gun is a bit of an oddball. BSA's base level sporter had a cut down military stock, dogleg bolt and stepped floor plate. The higher end sporter had an aftermarket stock c/w flat floorplate and straightened bolt handle. Yours seems to be a combination of both - is the buttplate BSA logo'd?
 
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