"SGT Doe mowed a bunch of krauts down with his M1 Singer." - WWII veteran, never

"Hand me that M1917" 'Uhhh, which one? The revolver, the rifle, the machine gun or the BAR?'

I have two M1917 rifles, both manufactured by Eddystone. One is in it's original military configuration and I paid $150 for it in the late nineties. The other was sporterized by my great uncle in the fifties, and I inherited and restocked that with a Boyd's stock last year. Too much of it was gone to bring back. I have used both successfully for whitetail hunting here in Wisconsin. It's my favorite bolt action rifle. Southern Ohio Guns imported a bunch of M1917 bayonets about twenty years ago, and I regret only buying one. I think I paid about twenty bucks for it. Looking at today's prices I should have bought a barrel of them.

I went to an estate sale to buy an M1 Garand, it turned out to be above my budget so I passed. They also had an M1917 that I had never heard of, but at $600 it was in my budget so I took a chance. Turns out it’s a Winchester, all original, made 2/18. After doing some research and watching a few videos, I’m glad I picked it up.

The M1917 was definitely an Enfield. The action was designed by Enfield, before WW1. Not to be confused with the LEE Enfield which is often erroneously called an “Enfield”, when it is, in fact, a Lee action. The P-17 misnomer comes from British and Canadian use during WW2, it was often referred to as the P-17 in official documents of the time. The Canadian Pacific Coast Militia Rangers (PCMR) usually called the rifle the “Eddystone” or “Springfield”. RCAF vets always seemed to call them “P-17’s”. The M-1917 was well liked in the PCMR, even though it was considered too heavy. I have always preferred the Winchester, as well.

Here's an extra bit of confusion for ya, Ireland picked up a bunch of these in ww2 to arm reserve units and it was called the Springfield rifle to differentiate it from the Lee Enfields.

"Enfield" specifically referred to the style of rifling in the Lee Enfield series. The British military tradition was to name their service rifle after the action, and the style of rifling. Hence the Martini Henry, Lee Metford, and of course the Lee Enfield. James Paris Lee developed the action, and the rifling (first used in the Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifled Musket) was developed at the Enfield Armoury. So I suppose the P14 could have been called the Mauser Enfield, because the action is basically a cock on close Mauser action, and (as far as I know) they used Enfield style rifling. But given the geopolitical situation, they weren't likely going to name anything after the Mauser brothers. So P14 it was! Lol. But as you say, the American version was never called the P17.

For those who are interested in the plus one that Mike is speaking of. All you have to do is load the magazine to capacity, take another round, and push it down on top of the magazine stack as you slowly push the bolt forward. It takes some finesse, but the end result, if done correctly, is that rim of the cartridge will slip underneath the extractor claw and then be chambered giving you a capacity of 6+1.

Got a 1918 dated Winchester M1917 myself, took a deer at over 300 yards with it about two years ago. Easily my favorite (in terms of use/reliability) WWI rifle

I will admit I have always called this the 1917 Enfield.

Mine is marked Eddystone and was produced in June 1918 by the serial number. I'm a member of the Sons of the American Legion and our post has seven M1917s they use for funerals as well as seven M1 Garands

As soon as my son shoots a deer we will have four generations that have hunted with this particular M1917 rifle passed down to us by our grandfather.

For a good while i did call these Eddystones due to thats the only one I had seen. I saw a sporterized one at a gunshop and wanted to find a better one. Out looking one day guy tells me "I don't have an Eddystone but I'll sell you my Remington 1917 for 400" "SOLD!"

Thanks for the vid! A M1917 is what I’m looking to add to my collection next. Great rifles!

It's possible that they're known as 1917 Eddystones because Eddystone made most of them, as in well over 2/3 of the production run. Mine is an Eddystone dated 11/1918 based on its serial number.

I recently acquired one that was nickeled for use in funerals, parades, and ceremonies. I’m unsure how many had that happen to them. I can’t find much info in regards to it.

I sure love my M1917, mine is an Eddystone manufactured 1917 dated. Really great shooter!

Mike thanks for talking about it some i just brought one home but bubba had gotten his hands on it but I'm a sucker for the on close actions of the Enfield patterns. Mine was a Remington but here's the kicker it's been sported with an expensive looking bull barrel in 243 win? Ever heard of anything like that it's got this flip up sight hood a slight taper near the muzzle. Btw in a morbid way the m1 could be referred to as an international harvester that describes its purpose in a sense.

Have a sporter made off of a surplus action with a .25-06 barrel. Great rifle especially since the price of surplus rifles has gone up.

I Really like your Videos. They have a lot of good information on the Rifle you are showing. And this one is a good example of you can make one with an out Cussing . Thanks

I am of the view too it was best bolt action of WW1 and a pity it was not taken to another stage after the War. ie lightened, handier with a shorter barrel and 10 rd detachable mag. It had the best Mauser feature, the extractor but not the awkward safety catch and cock on opening. I think all us gun nuts dream up a perfect soldiers bolt action rifle. Mine is all the above in 7 x 57 giving a shorter lighter action or even better the 7mm08. Cheers.

I used to have one. Miss it. Great bolt action rifle

One tough gun. Blew my first Eddystone to scrap using some reloads when Iwas young and dumb, have a Winchester now (sporterized) that I hunt with. Iron sights, love it .it and I are both old now ( and hopefully wiser) .

I just bought a us model of 1917 made by Remington, I got it for about $600. The stock is beaten up and the bluing is mostly gone, so I plan on re-bluing the metal and restoring the stock to it's original configuration.

Hey mike, I know you say that most marine corps units used the 1903 but to your knowledge were any 1917 Rifles used by USMC during WWI? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of marines with 1917’s. Thanks in advance

have you ever seen a field repair box for one? i just got one.

Great video. I've always heard the rifle called a 1917 Enfield but it's good to know it's proper name.

Eddystone was a division of Remington

Hi Mike, my great grandfather was part of the 1st division of the AEF, the 26th infantry regiment. I was wondering how you know or where you got the information about which rifle they were equipped with? I'm doing a little research of my own, digging through the national archives records of issued equipment, but my search thus far has found only requests for more ammunition for the Chauchat, which I understand they were using at the time as their machine gun. How did you find the info on the rifle? Thanks!!

Hello I am actually from Eddystone that created the rifle in PA

Yeahhhhhhhhhhh my favorite

Mike, you've been doing too much Vietnam videos, have a break, have an M1917.

I know this is an older video but my local gun store has one priced at $1000. Would that be reasonable in today's market?

I just got a Winchester M1917

My Winchester made Model of 1917 has a slightly higher serial number than yours, I also have an original sling, bayonet and scabbard. Very accurate rifles. My grandfather was issued a 1903 when he went over to France, but because he was a caisson driver, they took it away and gave him a Model of 1917...which, with the bayonet on it, was as tall as he was. My other Model of 1917 is an Eddystone that I inherited, it had already been sporterized. Very nice rifle, but heavy compared to Remington 700s and Winchester 700s in 30-06.

The reason the M1917 was able to hold one more cartridge in the magazine is because the US 30 cal cartridge is rimless while the British .303 is rimmed. Rimless cartridges take less space when stacked than rimmed. Also the risk of Rimrock is eliminated with rimless cartridges.

Shot mine today

eddystone produced almost 3 times the amount of m1917's over winnchester and remington is probably why folks call them the eddystone

Wikipedia suggests this rifle served our country in the Banana Wars. Is that accurate? I thought this rifle was put in storage or sold off after The Great War.

U.S. rifle caliber.30 model of 1917.

I think the 1903 looks better

guns are scary, and don't ask me to cover yer ass, when you need one. Buy yer own gun.