[30 Caliber Mag]

Friends-

I need help identifying in M1917 Enfield Action. I purchased the action as the basis for a sporter/hunting rifle. It has a serial number stamped into the front receiver ring of 11390; it is located on the right side of the action (same side as the bolt).

There is an insignia of two concentric circles with flames coming off of the top of the circles on the bolt handle. The same insignia is on the left receiver bridge; however the insigia is inverted and the flames are pointing towards the forward receiver ring. There are no other markings or insignias as the action has been surface ground.

There is a "R" stamped on the underside of the bolt which would lead me to believe that the action is a Remington.

Your thoughts or information will be greatly appreciated.

[BattleRifleG3]

Hope this is just the action. If it's a complete rifle it would be best preserved as an original.
But for just the action it's great. Sorry I can't help identify it.

[30 Caliber Mag]

BattleRifleG3-

Yes, I acquired only an action. There were no other parts.

[Gyrene]

30 Caliber Mag - It sounds like you have a British P-14 receiver. There are several other web sites that may have a more positive identification, if you do not find out for sure here.

The P-14 receivers were near the same as the M1917, so close that there were few changes (if any) when the War Department determined that they needed more .30-06 combat rifles for WWI, than Springfield Armory and Rock Island Armory could produce, in 1903 rifles. Basically Remington, Eddystone (a Remington company), and Winchester just rebolted, rebarreled, and relabeled the P-14 to produce the M1917's.

The P-14's are hard to find, and it may be better to preserve history, and look for a Mauser or M1917 action that has already been modified beyond restoration, or an already hunter/sporterized rifle.

Many times people take a 1903, 1903A3, P-14, or M1917 rifle that has a value of $350.00 to $1,500.00 and spend $300.00 to $700.00 sporterizing it to their satisfaction and end up with a rifle that has a value of around $150.00 (sometimes even with the scope it is worth no more than $150.00). Economically it makes more sense to find an already sporterized rifle, or use it the way it was originally produced, in military form.

[30 Caliber Mag]

Gyrene-

The action has already been substantially sporterized to begin with thus, what intrinsic value as an original piece has already gone. In fact, quite a bit of high quality work has already been done to the action prior to me acquiring it. The duck pond has been filled in and the "ears" have been ground off. In addition, the front and rear receiver rings have been surface ground. The action possesses some nice straight bottom metal. So I am 75% there in terms of converting to a sporter thus, I am this far I might as well go the rest of the distance. Anyway, M1898 Mausers are an iffy proposition for cartidges whose case lengths extend to 2.8 inches.

What leads you to believe that it is a 1914 versus a M1917? Does the "R" stamping on the underside of the bolt handle mean it is a Remington?

Thanks in advance.

[BattleRifleG3]

Even if I built a sporter 1914/17, I'd still want the ears for the rear site. But good luck on yours!

[Gyrene]

30 Caliber Mag - The "Flaming Bomb" (US Ordnance acceptance Stamp) indicates that it would be an M1917 receiver, because the P-14's have a very wide arrow, over a British Proof Mark (which has a Crown over G. R. over Crossed Flags with a "P" between the Flagstaffs). Sorry, I didn't look closely enough at the first part of your message.

It is difficult to grind it off the "MODEL 1917" and manufacturers name without grinding off at least part of the serial number, or leaving the surface of the front ring quite uneven. At the same time grinding it reduces the thickness and a lot of the strength of the front ring, that you want to retain. It would take the removal of a lot of material to remove the typical "REMINGTON", "EDDYSTONE" or "WINCHESTER" found on the M1917's, because the letters were quite deeply stamped, much deeper than typical stamping of the serial numbers.

The "Flaming Bomb" (US Ordnance acceptance Stamp) indicates that the bolt would be an M1917 bolt. The "R" on the underside of the bolt handle means that the bolt itself is Remington, but nothing more than that. The receiver may be any of the three, unless it has the typical "REMINGTON", "EDDYSTONE" or "WINCHESTER" found on the M1917's.

Since it seems to be mostly sporterized, then why not finish the job?

`

[30 Caliber Mag]

Gyrene-

Thanks for the information. Definitely, I am going to finish the sporterizing this year, going to build a .300 H&H, one of my favorite calibers. I just wanted to get some infomation on the "old girl." As to the serial number, it also appears to be surface ground with the number re-stamped into the receiver ring. Otherwise it would look real ecky!

FWIW, there is an E stamped on the trigger up close to where the trigger fits up against the underside of the receiver, this stamping appears on the right side of the trigger. I don't know if that implies that the trigger was an Eddystone or the whole unit was too?

[Gyrene]

30 Caliber Mag - At the least the trigger would be Eddystone. Most of the parts which could be stamped to identify them, were stamped with an "R", "E", or "W" to identify them. Some parts were never identified, and fortunately almost all of those are Eddystone, and are proper when installed on an Eddystone M1917.

In general, the parts were totally interchangeable, after the rough and rocky start as manufacturers of the P-14. Many of the P-14 parts had to be exclusively kept on each manufacturers rifles (i.e. "W" parts always fit on Winchester rifles, and . . . ). This could have caused disasters in the field, but most P-14's were only used by the British "Home Guard", or seldom went into combat (ALL P-14's were in .303 British).

The initial US War Dept. contract was let to Winchester who proceeded to build according to their drawings. When Remington and a little later Eddystone began production, the War Department found that their parts differed a little from some Winchester parts, and in some cases the parts were too different to interchange. Since Remington and Eddystone were using War Department Drawings, and WInchester was using Winchester Drawings, Winchester was brought into line, and after those first couple of months, all parts were manufactured as interchangeable.

`

[RonfrmSC]

Anyone have a source for the original jungle carbine?

I had one back in the 80s and foolishly swapped it away, this was one sweet shooting gun and I took several deer with it as is in original configuration.

I've always loved the Enfields.

Ron