i917 Enfield project completed

[velocette]

1917 Eddystone Enfield, in caliber .30 of 1906. Found as a bubba'd mess through the internet. I Found a stock on the internet for a moderate sum & went to work.
Bolt lever straightened & shortened, muzzle shortened 1 1/2" (to remove front sight dovetail) & given an 11 degree target crown.
Ears cut off & rear of receiver rounded to match front. All metal shaped to fit the stock. Magazine shortened to 5 rds. Dayton Traister trigger & cock on opening modification. Triggerguard narrowed & re-shaped, front of magazine floor straightend & re-shaped. Barrel free floated, action glass bedded.
Extractor on bolt fire blued as was the bolt release lever balance of rifle got 400 grit polish & hot blue. Limbsaver recoil pad fitted. The rifles barrel had been changed a long time ago in an arsenal re-fit. GI barrel is in good shape. Without any load development, I got 1 1/2" groups @ 100yds with my M1 Garand ammo.
All the work was done with hand tools. Files, hacksaw (once) sandpaper, wood carving knives & chisels.
Now I get to take it to the range and start to wear it out.

Roger

 

[rcmodel]

Very nice work!

But how do you fire blue a flat spring extractor without annealing it?

rc

 

[Bwana John]

It had its original ears and front sight? And you ground/cut them off ?!?


The horror... the horror....

 

[velocette]

Dear Bwana;
I stated in the post that the rifle was a Bubba'd 1917. Cut up, cut down, Bubba'd.
The ears had been partially ground off along with the original sights and other metal parts.
No horror no desecrating a WW I icon. The desecration had already been done perhaps 50 years ago and done poorly. (you should have
seen the holes in the receiver where he drilled & tapped for a scope - fortunately not in a structural part) I SAVED a fine firearm from a dreadful end.
Don't criticise when you don't know the facts.

RC model;
I don't know how the gent that fireblued the bolt release flat spring & the extractor, all I know is that it is noticably different from the other blue applied to the rifle
and looks like he said it would. If you are interested, I can put you in contact with him.

Roger

 

[Bwana John]

Sorry Man, bad flashbacks......

1974, Old Man Murphy's garage, a 14 year old boy, a primo M1917, a copy of Williams Gunsight Co "Converting Military Rifles", an old bench mounted grinder, and the ears of the receiver glowing red under the grinding wheel as Old Man Murphy watched on in horror.

I falsely assumed (as did RC) from your post that you did all the butchery, I mean gunsmithery.

(you should have seen the holes in the receiver where he drilled & tapped for a scope - fortunately not in a structural part)

It couldn't have been as bad as mine, I used a side mount (and a grinder, and lots of shims, and a couple of extra holes :banghead: ) for mounting my $10 Weaver 10X AO scope

Im so ashamed.