tddeangelo
Handloader
- May 18, 2011
- 2,023
- 20
I have a 1917 sporter. Some brief history on this one:
-My father gave it to me over 10 years ago. It was his first deer rifle. His uncle had it sporterized, in the 50's.
-It's original stock was broken. Dad made a new one in a hurry just before (or during, can't recall) deer season so he could hunt. He always said he wasn't thrilled with the replacement, but it worked. His uncle had the original repaired (it was cracked at the wrist and glassed back together).
-I hunted with it for a time, and it started giving me weird groups, followed by two case head separations. It was found to have excessive headspace, and this was corrected by setting back the barrel and rechambering. It has the original barrel, shortened to 18.5" (probably more like 18.25" now).
-It has a Timney trigger from the 50's, set to a pretty clean 2lbs.
This rifle has sat around for a while now, as my stable of M70's has pretty conclusively overtaken it for my usual hunting rifle selection. Dad told me that the rifle was originally supposed to get rebored to 35 Whelen, but it didn't, for reasons he can't recall. When I did my Whelen rebore of my M70 Classic, he suggested I use the 1917, but I wanted to do my first venture into such a project on one of my own rifles, so to speak.
In talking with the gentleman making my custom flintlock, he's agreed to give me some pointers/ideas on stock making, and I'm looking to take him up on that offer. He likes Mauser/1917 type sporters, medium bores especially.
So here's my thoughts, and I'm looking for ideas/suggestions/etc:
-Rebore to either 35 Whelen, 9.3x62, or 400 Whelen. I measured the barrel OD at the muzzle, and it's 0.602". I'm hoping that's enough barrel thickness for a rebore.
-Work with the flintlock maker to help guide me in making it a new stock. If I blow that project completely, there's always the B&C stocks, or I could get McM to make me one if it comes to it. Or get the same guy who's making my flintlock to work his magic here, too. I've seen his centerfire rifle work, and it's pretty darn nice, just like his flintlocks. But there's an "out" if I fudge the stock work, at least.
-Get it scoped up with something like a 1.25-4 Leupold, maybe a 1-6 VX6, something in that range....and use it for places where shots will be <200 yards and I want to put a large bullet on target and make deer dead quick. Maybe for a hog hunt if I do one again, maybe for bears if I do such a hunt, etc.
Ideas/thoughts/suggestions?
-My father gave it to me over 10 years ago. It was his first deer rifle. His uncle had it sporterized, in the 50's.
-It's original stock was broken. Dad made a new one in a hurry just before (or during, can't recall) deer season so he could hunt. He always said he wasn't thrilled with the replacement, but it worked. His uncle had the original repaired (it was cracked at the wrist and glassed back together).
-I hunted with it for a time, and it started giving me weird groups, followed by two case head separations. It was found to have excessive headspace, and this was corrected by setting back the barrel and rechambering. It has the original barrel, shortened to 18.5" (probably more like 18.25" now).
-It has a Timney trigger from the 50's, set to a pretty clean 2lbs.
This rifle has sat around for a while now, as my stable of M70's has pretty conclusively overtaken it for my usual hunting rifle selection. Dad told me that the rifle was originally supposed to get rebored to 35 Whelen, but it didn't, for reasons he can't recall. When I did my Whelen rebore of my M70 Classic, he suggested I use the 1917, but I wanted to do my first venture into such a project on one of my own rifles, so to speak.
In talking with the gentleman making my custom flintlock, he's agreed to give me some pointers/ideas on stock making, and I'm looking to take him up on that offer. He likes Mauser/1917 type sporters, medium bores especially.
So here's my thoughts, and I'm looking for ideas/suggestions/etc:
-Rebore to either 35 Whelen, 9.3x62, or 400 Whelen. I measured the barrel OD at the muzzle, and it's 0.602". I'm hoping that's enough barrel thickness for a rebore.
-Work with the flintlock maker to help guide me in making it a new stock. If I blow that project completely, there's always the B&C stocks, or I could get McM to make me one if it comes to it. Or get the same guy who's making my flintlock to work his magic here, too. I've seen his centerfire rifle work, and it's pretty darn nice, just like his flintlocks. But there's an "out" if I fudge the stock work, at least.
-Get it scoped up with something like a 1.25-4 Leupold, maybe a 1-6 VX6, something in that range....and use it for places where shots will be <200 yards and I want to put a large bullet on target and make deer dead quick. Maybe for a hog hunt if I do one again, maybe for bears if I do such a hunt, etc.
Ideas/thoughts/suggestions?