Remington Model of 1917

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semperdog
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:51 am

Remington Model of 1917

Post by semperdog »

Hi-
I'm a brand new member, hope someone can help!! I have recently purchased a Remington "Model of 1917" .30-06. The rifle is odd in the fact that the serial number (6581XX) is higher than Remington's recorded serial #'s accepted by the US Gov't. It also does not have the smudge pot/bursting bomb on the top of the receiver. Barrel date is 6-18 (w/ eagle), and using Eddystone's serial # of 6581XX, states the receiver's date of manufacture of 6-18. The receiver, barrel, and front sight are Remington, with a mixture of Eddystone and Winchester parts. The stock has a San Antonio arsenal stamp, with 2 eagle's heads, above & below the trigger guard. I cannot make out the man. of the stock- either an "R" or "E". Any ideas?
Tony Kastella
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:15 am

Re: Remington Model of 1917

Post by Tony Kastella »

Hello, I recently bought an Eddystone Enfield myslef. I am not into these rifles other than they were the founding fathers of the Remington Model 30, 30 Express, and the Model 720. My rifle is similar except 99% of the parts are Eddystone. Not much help to you but wanted you to know someone was reading! Are you going to make a shooter out of it?
Tony Kastella
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:15 am

Re: Remington Model of 1917

Post by Tony Kastella »

Hello again, I just dug up my "bible", "The History of Remington Firearms" by Roy Marcot. It states Remingtons Eddystone plant produced 1,181,908 rifles in this model. Production ceased in 1919.
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97th SIgnalman
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:49 pm

Re: Remington Model of 1917

Post by 97th SIgnalman »

The US Model of 1917 had a short but furious history in combat in WWI. As you know they were produced by Remington, Eddystone (sort of a Remington plant) and Winchester (that's what I have). They were actually produced and issued in far larger numbers than the more famous Springfield 03. After the Armistice in 1918 the rifles were retired and the Springfield 03 resumed its status as the primary issue rifle until the adoption of the M1 Garand in 1936.

C.S. Ferris, in his book United States Rifle Model of 1917, tells us that Remington operated the Eddystone plant until Jan of 1918, at which time it became independent from Remington. I can only guess that, in the confusion and pressure associated with the war, there may have been considerable parts swapping in the ensuing 11 months until the war ended in November. Therefore it seems possible that Eddystone may have applied serial numbers to Remington marked receivers and subsequently used those to assemble rifles that they shipped.


During the period between WWI and WWII the Model 1917 was in storage in US arsenals. Upon the entry of the US into WWII there was an immediate crisis in long gun availability as MI Garand production rates took a while to ramp up to meet wartime demands of the armed forces. The British and Free French were alao short of Weapons. Those Model 1917s that had been in storage all those years between the wars, were reconditoned and reissued. The US used these rifles for stateside duty and training and, later, many were issued to the British home guard and Free French forces. All of those were refurbished before being reissued. When the US Ordnance arsenals do such work they dissassemble the rifles , clean and refinish everything and replace all worn parts. They then assemble rifles from all those refurbished and new parts to make complete rifles. Little attention, if any, is paid to keeping any of these arsenal reconditioned rifles in original condition. All parts are treated as interchangable (allowing for head space consideraton) so rifles were reassembled from what ever parts were on hand. The resultant rifles were mixmaster of parts from all three manufacturers and a few others (like Hi-Standard who made replacement barrels as many rifles were not properly prepared for long term storage and the bores suffered accordingly).


The result was that it is more common than not, to find old 1917 rifles that are a hodge podge of parts from all the possible sources. Collectors fo M1 Garands, Springfields, and M1 Carbines are familiar with this phenomenon as just about everyone of those old rifles went through several repairs and overhauls at varoius facilites that ran the gamut from company armorers all the way up to major overhaul depots. While collectors are always seeking out pure "as issued", rifles those more common mixmasters are no less authentic and may well have richer histories because of all the action that they probably saw.

Here is my Winchester that was made in January of 1918 (the bayonet is a Remington):

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97th Sig Bn, 7th Army, Boblingen, Germany, 1960-63
semperdog
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:51 am

Re: Remington Model of 1917

Post by semperdog »

Thanks for the replies!
-I thought of that, especially since the serial # is too high for Remington, and fits into Eddyston'es range. This probem/question then arisies: Why is there no smudge pot/bursting bomb stamped on the reciever? To my knowlege, this was the only stamp that showed the weapon had been accepted into service by the War Department. I think only Remington archives may know the answer!!
Canned Heat
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:43 pm

Re: Remington Model of 1917

Post by Canned Heat »

New member as of a few minutes ago. What a great site. I was hoping I could find some info regarding the Enfield Eddystone that I got from my great grandfather back in the late 80's.

When i got it, it had an old walnut sporterized stock on it and a very old 4x Redfield scope on it. I've since replaced that with a new Boyd's laminate and an old Leupold Vari-X II I had yet. Shoots great groups yet, but I seldom take it out for anything other than some plinking.

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Not the best pics, but you get the idea.

Serial Number is: 7549XX

If any of you guys know of a manufacture date or can lead me in the right direction....many thanks in advance.
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