How many m1917 lovers out there?

[bsa1917hunter]

@bsa1917hunter do you have any 1917 barrels laying around? I need a take-off, but it can be a chopped one, as it's going to get chopped further...

No sir, but i do have a real accurate matchgrade S3F solutions barrel for your glock 35. Like new too.

 

[MountainBear]

Shooting the 35 the other day reminded me why I went back to 9's and 45's. I just don't like the recoil impulse on the .40's...

The barrel I had for my 1917 trench project is over torqued. I have another uncut JA replacement, but I don't know if it's any good. I need to screw it on another receiver and shoot it.

I suppose I can shim the current barrel. Should work okay for what I need it to be...

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Bumping this thread to the top. Started working on my left hand stock for my BSA model E again. Had a bit of a lull after i fixed up my buddies p14. Started messing with some savage rifles (3 in fact) to prove you can throw a relatively inexpensive scope on them and shoot sub moa "all day long". Now that im done with that for a while, im going to start on my BSA again. Finally got the shape of the stock where i wanted it, reduced the LOP and drilled a couple lightening holes in the butt end. Last night i glass bedded the action, had to cut an action screw to length and extend the threads. Pretty easily done. Ill post some pics this weekend of some of the progress. Tonight i also fit the stock with sling studs. Every hunting rifle needs sling studs, and this stock had none. By Saturday, im hoping to have a few coats of tru-oil on it. Probably wont be able to take it to the range for a couple weeks, but im expecting excellent accuracy out of this one. We'll see.

 

[MountainBear]

Finally papered my 1917 today after the most recent work. It's probably now on the 4th or 5th barrel of its 100 year life. Third one since I owned it. Pulled a sporter, installed a JA replacement and had nothing but problems. Got another JA and replaced it months ago. Finally checked windage today.

Happy, happy, joy, joy. No longer shoots feet to the right.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Looks great! You have to be happy about that.

 

[MountainBear]

I installed a NOS Johnson Automatics barrel when I got this project and it shot crappy.
The only diagnosis I could make was a bent barrel. I had the front sight adjusted almost out of the dovetail and it shot 9" right at 50 yards. The barrel wasn't canted, the sights were installed correctly, the barrel was aligned properly with the witness marks, etc. Different ammo, different shooters, same result. I even pulled it and reinstalled it to make sure. But it wasn't an obvious bend in the barrel either. Not visible with the naked eye.
So I installed another JA barrel at the end of the summer and yesterday was the first chance I had to paper it. So getting this result yesterday makes me happy. Barrels for 1917's aren't cheap, especially new old stock barrels. No I need a new upper handguard to better match the rest of the stock, parkerize the rifle, and clean up the stock a bit and she'll be a happy girl.

She will finally be able to take her rightful place in the milsurp wing of the big safe instead of being relegated to the project safe...

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Mountainbear, you are quite the man buddy. I like your taste in rifles. As I said in an earlier post (last Thursday), I started working on my left hand stock for my BSA model E (factory sporterized Enfield m1917). The stock has 7 coats of tru-oil on it now. I took this picture this morning after the 6th coat was dry:



Last thursday, I decided I wanted to take more off of the LOP on this one too, and make it more similar to my pre64 model 70's (13.5" LOP), which is just right for me on a hunting rifle, when I'm wearing a hunting jacket. I'll have to regrind the red pachmayer, but that is easy enough to do. This stock will start looking better after the grain is sealed in a little better. I've been wet sanding in the tru-oil mixed with mineral spirits 50/50 for the last 4 coats and it's looking better with every coat. Can't wait to get this thing buttoned up and take it to the range. I was hoping for this saturday, but we'll see how that goes. I'll keep you guys posted, but like I said, I'm expecting a great shooter. My last BSA never let me down in the accuracy department, and I'm sure this one will be the same.

 

[MountainBear]

You need to road trip to Sweet Home and we'll grab some toys and head to ARPC. Scare all the guys with their AR's...

 

[MountainBear]

If we can convince Andy to come along, we'll smoke them all out first...

 

[bsa1917hunter]

You need to road trip to Sweet Home and we'll grab some toys and head to ARPC. Scare all the guys with their AR's...

That sounds awesome man!! I'd love to do that one of these days. I'll bet I can pick up some other guys along the way. I'll bet Andy would be game for this as well...

 

[bsa1917hunter]

If we can convince Andy to come along, we'll smoke them all out first...

Dang, I'm rolling on that one. Made me spit my coffee out.. Its going to be a great day...

 

[Andy54Hawken]

If we can convince Andy to come along, we'll smoke them all out first...

No doubt ...but I then , I would love to out shoot another AR with my Hawken...
Truth be told , it is a bit unfair...After all I have been shooting said Hawken almost exclusively for 20 odd years...I ought to know how to shoot it , by now...
Andy

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Alright, I'm not totally done with this project, but I put it back together so I can go and shoot it. I've had this rifle for how many months now and I haven't even shot it yet!!!! Not even once.
A sneak peak of the old girl ready to do business:


Well, she needs a good optic on top though. I'm going to work on my daughters car for a bit, then maybe to the range. We'll see how the car work goes..

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Just starting to develop some loads for the old girl. Had the rifle on the bench making note of OAL's for the bullets I have in stock.



May go to the range tomorrow...

 

[MountainBear]

Lovely! One more day herding cats, err, teenagers. Maybe a range day this weekend for me.
Now that I know the 1917 is not shooting two feet right anymore, I really should start stretching it's legs. I'd like to shoot a WWI match one of these days. Take it out to at least 200 (ARPC limit)...

 

[bsa1917hunter]

This is a great thread. Going back through and reading some of the posts and looking at the pictures. Thanks to those that have shared your beautiful m1917's!!!

As I promised, I finally got out to the range with my new BSA model E (factory sporterized m1917). I'll give you guys a little history lesson on the BSA rifles. They sporterized old military pattern 14's and American enfields back in 1949-1953. BSA or Birmingham small arms were great at fixing up these old military rifles. I don't know how many they did, but I've been lucky enough to find 2. One a model D and my most recent a model E. The model E was like a deluxe lightened version of the model D. I don't know a whole lot about them, but do know they were sporterized right and very cleanly. I like what they did to the bolt handle. The only thing I wish they would have done was put a better trigger in them. They came with a military trigger and I always replace the m1917 trigger with a Timney 5 or 6 shot 110 or 111, depending on how deep the belly is. The one in my model E is a 6 shot, as it holds 6 in the mag box. The Timney is a great upgrade for only $55.00 and is well worth the cost and little time it takes to install it. As for today's outing, here are the results. I onlt shot 3 shot groups, as most hunters agree that 3 shots is good enough. Most factories that have an accuracy guarantee usually only guarantee moa or sub moa accuracy for 3 shots, so I figured what the heck and went with 3 shots this time. You still get the picture and idea of what this rifle is capable of. I'll wring it out much better next time I go to the range. This was more or less a preliminary on load work up and to make sure everything functioned and operated as it should. Everything functioned 100%. I'm happy with that, but kind of expected it. I also expected good accuracy from this rifle and it didn't let me down:






Pretty much a solid sub moa rifle (except for load #2 when the wind just about blew my target stand over). Keep in mind this is only a preliminary and load work up. A good solid load, that I've used with success in my sporterized m1917, I call my "elk load" because its loaded heavy with 200gr Nosler partitions, shot favorably well in this rifle as well:


I'm excited to start developing some good loads for this old girl. Maybe some 180gr. nosler partitions or some 165's. We'll see.....

 

[MountainBear]

I am also a fan of the 4064. I load all my .30-06 loads to service rifle specs, so my loads end up between 44 and 45 grains. Op rods for Garands have gotten spendy, so I don't want to risk having non-safe Garand reloads on hand.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

The funny thing is i have never used 4064 in the 06 before. I opened my powder cabinet and saw i only had a pound of imr4350, so i didnt want to burn it up. Looked through the load manual and saw 4064 listed with the same velocities. I had recently bought 2 pounds of 4064 for my new 22-250 based on a friends advice. My 22-250 likes h4895 better, so it was a perfect match for my new 06 at that moment . Im often reminded that 4064 was the go to powder for the 06 with 150gr bullets. Something like 52 grains is the sweet spot. Or so ive been told.

 

[MountainBear]

I usually shoot 168 grain just because I used to be able to get the factory seconds from Nosler when I lived in Bend. When seconds from Nosler became hen's teeth, I just stuck with the 168 grain, usually in the Hornady.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

I usually shoot 168 grain just because I used to be able to get the factory seconds from Nosler when I lived in Bend. When seconds from Nosler became hen's teeth, I just stuck with the 168 grain, usually in the Hornady.

You can still buy seconds and blemished through SPS. That's the only way I can afford to shoot partitons. I love them, but without SPS, I would have given up on them a long time ago and just shot Hornady bullets... As a matter of fact, if you are looking for some of those 168gr. match grade bullets, here they are and a great deal to boot. Much cheaper than hornady bullets in the stores:

Bullets (BLEM) - Factory Blemished (2nds) - Nosler Products

100/bag at $22.45

Oh dang I wish I wouldn't have looked at that. They are listing some 123gr. custom competition bullets for my 6.5 creedmoor for $20.45/100...