M1917 project

[tddeangelo]

Ha....no movement on this right now. Other stuff in the works... :twisted:

Just good to have this info in my back pocket for later.

 

[DrMike]

Mike, you see this, even Guy's getting in on the action!

He's a good man, that Guy. :grin:

 

[tddeangelo]

My 1917 sporter has an 18.5" barrel, timney trigger, and shoots pretty well. Just needs a good stock under it. Handy little sucker...

 

[SJB358]

Yeah all these 1917's get a guy wound up. That would be a handy rifle.

Guy, what's the barrel length on yours?

 

[Guy Miner]

It was 26" but I had it chopped to 21" years ago.

 

[Thebear_78]

All this recent talk about 17s motivated me to dust mine off. I set up tight behind a couple sand bags and shot this 5 shot group at 100 yards. The old girl still has it!!

Burned up another 15 rounds shooting clay pigeons off the 100 and 150 yard berms off hand. A fellow shooter wanted to try it as he had never tried a scout before. After dusting a few pigeons I think he was sold.

 

[SJB358]

Yeah, I could see that as well.

I saw an bubba'ed up Winchester made 17 on GB for 225. The danged sights were ground off though. That combo you have in 9.3x62 just looks to be about perfect for big game hunting and I have no doubt how well that combo will work on game. 286's running out around 2400-2500 is pretty much 375 territory. Awesome right and great shooting.

 

[Polaris]

Update on the project. Today I had an unscheduled day off due to people above my pay grade not earning their keep so I decided to start this project. I dug through my gun room and came up with a scope and rings to fit the extremely long bridge on this rifle. Teardown of the rifle revealed a very good glass bedding job, stoning of trigger/sear/safety parts and either smooth wear or honing of all mating parts. After cleaning and some light machine oil this thing is as slick as a former used car salesman turned politician.

The flaking finish turns out to be regular spar varnish over oil so it will be easy to strip and return to oil finish. Took it out in the back yard and fired some rounds at 50 yards. Started with a popper load of unique and a 110 gr carbine bullet. Cases expanded within specs. Worked up to my mid-range Garand load with a 150 gr Sierra FB showing no pressure signs and fired cases still within spec. No apparent headspace issues. Accuracy was pretty good considering the heavy reticle 4x scope, un-tuned max headspace load and improvised rest. Once I settled into the rifle 1" was easy to maintain. Hope to post some pics and give it a more thorough range test tomorrow. So far it looks like the good ol' 1918 flaming bomb '06 barrel will stay on this rifle.

Need some suggestions on finish. Current finish is basically gone. I have the option of Parkerizing, blueing or coating available locally at a reasonable price. This will be a hunting rifle along classic lines but I'm not building a work of art.

 

[Guy Miner]

I'd be tempted to Cerakote it, like the Nosler rifles are. Very sturdy, rust resistant finish.

Sounds like the project is well on the way!

Guy

 

[Thebear_78]

Nitride, Park or hard chrome. Ceracoat can build up and leave some fitting to be done. Nitride is really good but can have heat treatment issues with some steel. Could always park the internals and just ceracoat the outside

 

[Dwh7271]

Polaris,
My chart says the 220 Swift and 06 are both 473 case head size, to answer your question.

 

[Polaris]

Here it is.

 

[Polaris]

47 gr IMR 4064, S&B LR, Sie 150 sp. "Garand Load". 3.5x heavy reticle scope at 100 yards. She's a keeper. Can't wait to see what it'll do with a tuned handload.

 

[Guy Miner]

Any problem with scope/eye relief?

Personally, I couldn't abide by a scope so far back. That's why I had to go to a fixed power on my M1917. Mounts are about the same place as yours, but the ocular lens is a lot farther forward.

You may not have any problems at all. Really depends on the shooter's build and how they hold the rifle.

Guy

 

[Polaris]

Any problem with scope/eye relief?

Personally, I couldn't abide by a scope so far back. That's why I had to go to a fixed power on my M1917. Mounts are about the same place as yours, but the ocular lens is a lot farther forward.

You may not have any problems at all. Really depends on the shooter's build and how they hold the rifle.

Guy

Lines up just right for me with my high Scandinavian cheekbones. Cheekweld is excellent.

 

[taylorce1]

I bought a 1917 project once cost me $99 plus tax out the door. The main reason I bought it was it was chambered in .300 H&H if it had been a plain old .30-06 I might have passed it up. When I inspected it, there was quite a bit of work already done to it. It had the speed lock kit converting it to cock on open, the feed rails had been worked to feed the larger cartridge, and bolt face had been opened up. Had a gunsmith check it out an it passed headspace and he borescoped it and said the barrel looked brand new and the chamber had been cut nicely.

This is how she looked from the gunstore minus the scope and mounts.

It took me about $700 in parts and gunsmith labor to get it looking like this which included the scope mounts, Richard's micro fit stock, bedding job, and Timney trigger.

I never shot the rifle before I finished it, but this is how it likes to shoot 150's. I can't quite get 180 grain bullets to group this well.

 

[Guy Miner]

I remember that project rifle of yours! The stock really sets it off.

I wonder, since the 150's shoot so well.... Have you tried 165's with any success?

Guy

 

[Polaris]

Well now I have a new minor problem. There is a small hairline crack in the wrist of the stock running from the back of the trigger guard back about 4". Restocking would be an option for me, I'm comfortable with that work but I would really like to preserve that unique vintage sporter stock and more importantly the quality glass bedding job that goes along with it. Stock bolt? Is there another repair procedure to stop a crack?

 

[truck driver]

You can remove the action from the stock and using a dremill tool with carbide cutter bit remove wood along the crack from inside out to just under the out side of the wood so as to hollow out the wrist area. Be sure to go past the end of the crack to stop it's further progress and fill with Accra Glass or other epoxy of choice that will flow into the crevice filling the cracked area. This is how I repair Antique gun stocks that are damaged and retain the original look with out screws and pins. I do use wooden pins that I make depending on the need. I recently repaired a Savage M99 stock in this manor and have pictures of that repair if you need more help let me know threw a PM.

 

[taylorce1]

I remember that project rifle of yours! The stock really sets it off.

I wonder, since the 150's shoot so well.... Have you tried 165's with any success?

Guy

I never tried 165's in it as that was my go to bullet weight in my 06. I really haven't played with this rifle much after I killed a mule deer buck with it. The rifle is just heavier than I want to carry so she's pretty much sat in the safe for the 2-3 years. It would probably help if I took a rasp to the wood, as with all Richard's stocks there is a lot of wood to work with.