need some help identifiying a p17 enfield its full military stock all markings on stock clear and sharp as is all the markings on the metal does not seem like it has been polished then reblued and the bore is 100 perceent shiny and very sharp rifeling the rifle is 100 percent military all numbers matching except that it appears that the rear site ears have been milled off with what looks like a military type peep sight as i said this rifle looks like it just came off the assembly line. i read online that there were a few special variations that match what mine looks like but no pics or serial number ranges to identify mine i can email pics to anyone that can help me with this any help would be greatly appreciated
help identifiying p17 enfield
- Thread starter jimbo45
- Start date
...and made a 500+ dollar rifle worth 150....
@ John303: Eddystone, Pennsylvania plant was a converted locomotive plant bought by Remington. Everybody's right!
Be interesting to see some photos of this brute. After all, there WERE various experimental mods made..... and there WAS that contract for Costa Rica in 1934.
I even saw one in the Pattern Room, many years ago, with Belgian proofs...... in 8x57!
Unfortunate that Bubba got there first on so very many of these fine rifles.
.
Be interesting to see some photos of this brute. After all, there WERE various experimental mods made..... and there WAS that contract for Costa Rica in 1934.
I even saw one in the Pattern Room, many years ago, with Belgian proofs...... in 8x57!
Unfortunate that Bubba got there first on so very many of these fine rifles.
.
If it's in .303 then the "P" fits, if however it is in .30-06 then it is an M-17, not a P-17. The british use "P" for Pattern, the U.S. used "M" for model. There was no such rifle, as far as I am aware as the "P-17".
They are a fun rifle to shoot and in the condition you describe should shoot well. Have the sight protecting ears been ground off the reciever or just the rear sight it self been dicked with?
Scott
They are a fun rifle to shoot and in the condition you describe should shoot well. Have the sight protecting ears been ground off the reciever or just the rear sight it self been dicked with?
Scott
@m39a2:
The US Rifle, Caliber .30, M-1917 was described to Canadian troops during the Second World War as the P-'17 (to differentiate it from the P-'14 with its .303 ammunition). It also was referred to as such in official documents.
In the RCAF it was generally termed the "Eddystone Rifle" because so many were made at that plant.
THREE of them, with a whole FIVE rounds of ammunition, were used to guard the Brandon Airport's (prospective, under construction slowly due to unavailability of materials) site from hordes of Nazi fifth-columnists..... who never did show up. That was through the Winter of 1940/'41. Things did improve somewhat later.
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The US Rifle, Caliber .30, M-1917 was described to Canadian troops during the Second World War as the P-'17 (to differentiate it from the P-'14 with its .303 ammunition). It also was referred to as such in official documents.
In the RCAF it was generally termed the "Eddystone Rifle" because so many were made at that plant.
THREE of them, with a whole FIVE rounds of ammunition, were used to guard the Brandon Airport's (prospective, under construction slowly due to unavailability of materials) site from hordes of Nazi fifth-columnists..... who never did show up. That was through the Winter of 1940/'41. Things did improve somewhat later.
.
Boy thats really sad as the rifle is in full military configuration and someone decided to install their own rear sight instead. The P14 and P17's rear aperature sight is already very accurate.
The modification will certainly hurt the collector value.
The modification will certainly hurt the collector value.
Well, the things you learn.... thanks I didn't know that, history is sooo very interesting!!
Scott
yes i was actually told that this rifle was built for military competition and kinda makes sense as there is absolutly no brass stretch has a nice snug chamber and is an absolute tack driver i had it out over the weekend it is an eddystone model of 1917 sorry for the poor pics wanted to get better pics of the markings but my camera isent the best the bolt numbers dont match the receivers but when i removed the stock there is a number on the barrel that matches the number on the bolt it kinda threw me for a loop and iam still not sure if this is a vareation or just a hacked rifle but like i said the bore seems like it was never shot till i got it,it also has flaming bomb markings on the parts and i thought that this was a winchester marking
here is a little details on the markings the marks just below the front sight on top of barrel are an e over flaming bomb then 7-18-------- it has a flaming bomb on left side of receiver on the top side of the bolt handle has a flaming bomb with capital letter t beside it------underside of bolt handle has 4752 with an e under it and this number matches a number under the wood on the barrel------ on the top of the right side of the wood stock at the but there is a c with arrow cartouch the arrow is inside the c pointing up ------on left side of butstock there is the marking looks like a crown of sorts and is visible in the photos as well as the number 7B355 stamped into the stock-----underside of stock has 3 markings that apper to look like an eagle head with the fist haveing the number 504 but not positive and then below it just in front of floor plate has the same marking as with no number and just below rear of trigger guard has the same mark with the number511 and behind that just past the pistol grip it is faintly stamped made in u s a thhhhere are other markes showing flaming bomb with an e on parts but these are the main markings hope this helps the collector that i called when i described this to him rite away said that this was built for military competition at camp perry back in the day but i cant confirm this on the internet also the rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation which stands to reason as the original was not adjustable for windage and the sight has markings to show where it was adjusted too hope this helps
It is a shame that somebody bubbed your US Rifle of Model 1917. The best book on this rifle that I have found that gives the complete markings is "United States Rifle Model of 1917" by CS Feris. That will answer all your questions in depth. You should be able to download a pdf file of the original US manual off the internet.
It is a shame that it was bubbed as very few rifles were marked with the Canadian Broad Arrow. "504" was a mark found on the aft stock of Winchester rifles.While the rear sight was not adjustable for windage, the front sight certainly was.
The Model of 1917 when manufactured was zeroed in the factory for 400 yards.
If you want to change your front sight to lower or raise your point of impact remember that the same front sights were used on the P-14, the Model of 1917 and the Lee Enfield #4 Mk 1. The point of impact is raised or lowered by exchanging the front sight. Available front sights for the #4 are as follows;
-0.045
-0.030
-0.015
0
+0.015
+0.030
+0.045
+0.060
+0.075
+0.090
+105
+0.120
It is a shame that it was bubbed as very few rifles were marked with the Canadian Broad Arrow. "504" was a mark found on the aft stock of Winchester rifles.While the rear sight was not adjustable for windage, the front sight certainly was.
The Model of 1917 when manufactured was zeroed in the factory for 400 yards.
If you want to change your front sight to lower or raise your point of impact remember that the same front sights were used on the P-14, the Model of 1917 and the Lee Enfield #4 Mk 1. The point of impact is raised or lowered by exchanging the front sight. Available front sights for the #4 are as follows;
-0.045
-0.030
-0.015
0
+0.015
+0.030
+0.045
+0.060
+0.075
+0.090
+105
+0.120
iam still not tottally convinced that this was bubbad up makes no sense that someone would go through the trouble to machine off the rear sight ears to install a diffrent style site but leave the rest of the rifle complete military configuration on one web sight i was doing some rreading on it did state that there were a couple varients that did have the sight ears machined of during production guess thats part of the joy of collecting guns the hunt to figure out if you have a rare jewel lol and the condition of the bore and chamber still amaze me its like this thing was never used when i spoke on the phone with the one collecter i know he described the rear sight on this piece in perfect detail with out seeing the rifle guess iam gonna have to take a road trip
No, I think this is an arsenal job to produce a competition rifle. The bolt number matching a hidden number on the barrel sort of attests to that: arsenal job.
The "flaming bomb" is the US Board of Ordnance mark; they were the original purchasers of these rifles.
The 8-17 up near the front of the barel is the date of the actual barrel: August of 1917.
The rifling will be Enfield type (lands and grooves equal width, 5 of each, left-hand) and the pitch will be 1 turn in 10 inches. If your bore is in really good shape and on the minimum sde of things, it should shoot well with anything. When the bores on Enfield-rifled rifles start to wear.... or are a bit loose...... you always will get the best accuracy from flat-based bullets.
I do know that some rifles were modded in this fashion for tests. This could be one of them, or it could be strictly a competition rifle. In any case, I think the numbering of the mismatched bolt to the actual rifle, and the marking hidden, removes it from the cursed hands of Bubba.
Somebody told me that a few of these were altered so that a windage-adjustable BAR rear sight could be mounted, but I have seen nothing in print to confirm it...... yet.
A good P-'17 can be an awful thing to try to compete against. They just can be so VERY good.
Hope this helps.
.
The "flaming bomb" is the US Board of Ordnance mark; they were the original purchasers of these rifles.
The 8-17 up near the front of the barel is the date of the actual barrel: August of 1917.
The rifling will be Enfield type (lands and grooves equal width, 5 of each, left-hand) and the pitch will be 1 turn in 10 inches. If your bore is in really good shape and on the minimum sde of things, it should shoot well with anything. When the bores on Enfield-rifled rifles start to wear.... or are a bit loose...... you always will get the best accuracy from flat-based bullets.
I do know that some rifles were modded in this fashion for tests. This could be one of them, or it could be strictly a competition rifle. In any case, I think the numbering of the mismatched bolt to the actual rifle, and the marking hidden, removes it from the cursed hands of Bubba.
Somebody told me that a few of these were altered so that a windage-adjustable BAR rear sight could be mounted, but I have seen nothing in print to confirm it...... yet.
A good P-'17 can be an awful thing to try to compete against. They just can be so VERY good.
Hope this helps.
.
well you hit it rite on the head i went and seen the enfield collector with this he has one exactly the same and he does say it was a purpose built target rifle with the best components available at the time and he figures because of the canadian stamp on the butstock it somehow got sent to canada but like he told me good luck finding anything in print on this he also stated that this was put to gether by springfield
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
I have a M1917 with RCAF stamped on the butt. Only reason I bought it.
