1917 eddystone usmc
I am looking at a 1917 eddystone in excellent condition That has a two groove barrel with the bomb stamp, And on the bolt handle it is stamped usmc, The finish is both a bluish and green color different parts different colors. I'm thinking this is an arsonel refinish and wondering what the usmc stands for. I don't believe it is a marines stamp. If anybody could shed some light it would help. It has been looked at by a gunsmith and he seems to think it is unfired, I can pick it up for $ 600.00, Is this a fair price?
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the usmc stands for u.s. marine corp. on gun broker right now there is a winchester 1917 for 595.00 no bids yet but im not sure if thats a good price or not i bought mine years ago i cant rember anymore how much i paid
larry0 -
I think it may stand for United Shoe Machine Company. I believe they did some government contracts. I don't think the Corp stamped any of their property. I think Mark Christian would know for sure.
"My faith, my country and my family will guide me; nothing more, nothing less" -Gen. Tommy Franks
Jess Hoffman
Mooseyard Precision
LE Supply & Firearms
NRA Certified Instructor
Shawano, WI 541660 -
Hello north65,
The 17 you are looking at ? is a rebuild during WW11.
The bolt marking does not stand for United States Marine
Corps. This is a replacement bolt manufactured by:
United Shoe Manufacturing Company-or very close-time lapse.
The barrel is likely a JA -Johnson Automatics. Original finish was
all blue. A mix of park and blue plus the Manufacturer's mix is
a sure sign of a a rebuild. Nothing wrong with a rebuild but accept it for what it actually is. 1010 -
There are several things to consider when looking at this rifle. The two tone finish tells us right away that the rifle has been reworked. The original finish was a blue black color. The two groove barrel is also not original, just behind the front sight and above the "Bomb" look for the letters JA (Johnson Arms) and a number such as 42 or 43, which would be the year that the rifle was overhauled. Because there is a USMC stamp on the bolt handle, at first I thought that the rifle might have a R.F.Sedgley barrel (S inside a circle) as Sedgley was known to have made replacement barrels for the Marines, but, to the best of my knowledge, all Sedgley barrels were four groove.
What I think went on is that this rifle, like many 1903 Springfields, was reworked and rebarreled during WWII. Remington did most of this overhaul work and I would look for the letters RP stamped into the wood on the left side of the rifle just below where the safety is. These letters will be about 1/4" high and are the WWII Remington inspector's mark.
Whether the USMC mark is genuine or not, I don't know. Are there any other markings on the rifle that would lead you to think that this is a Marine rifle? The Marines used a wider front sight that is sometimes stamped USMC.
Most people don't know that during WWI more Enfield rifles were used in France then Springfields, so it is possible that this rifle was used by the Marines.
As to value, I think that the asking price is $200-$250 high, the rifle is ,afterall, not original.
Hope that this is of some use to you.
Scout0 -
Hi North,
I bought a 1917 Remington Eddystone several months ago. The Winchesters carry a 10% premium over the Remingtons and the arsenal reworks carry their own set of values.
Mine was an Augusta Arsenal Georgia rework with a Johnson Automatics barrel. The rifle is blued finish and metal and wood are excellent. The rifle is probably a 95% or higher piece.
I paid about $475.00 for the rifle and had a bidding war with two others at 4:00AM in the morning, so there may be some demand on these.
A 100% 1917 is valued at $700.00. A 95% rifle is valued at about $500.00. Here are some pixs.
I hope that gives you an idea.
Regards,
Heavyiron[8D]
"If I don't see you nomore on this world, I'll meet you on the next one, and don't be late!" - Jimi Hendrix0 -
Scout,
I respect your knowledge and thank you for the info on loading the 1866-I will ask the Capt. Kirk to test fire the 1866 prior to me risking my life/limb. [:)]
Okay, the JA were stamped with the bomb-no date. The JA was a replacement barrel-all were parked. I believe High Standard also manufactured barrels
for the 17. There is zero proof that Sedgley re-vamped any 17's.
unless the mysterious re-build stamp -3 GMK-K. I have a box of bolts
w/a shipping address from: something Shoe...illegible because of grease..USMC-not the Marines. The 17 is/has only become a collector's item because the www.odcmp.com offered them for sale. A forgotten
arm from WW1. The Harrison guide-poor but a start. My unissued 17
is the last one I have held on to. Just realized there was a picture by another member. Actually too bad-blue? The JA barrel were smoothly parked. What I see is is a poor representation.
1010 -
Ok enfield experts, I know that 1917 Enfields had a five groove barrel, 1903 Springfields had a 2 groove barrel, are they interchangeble? I definetly would rather have the 5 groove for accuracy. 0 -
springfields can have a 4 grove or 2 (ww2 and rebuilds) grove barrel. the # of groves has nothing to do with accuracy, many 2 grove barrels shoot very good. the enfields all had 5 grove barrels and were not as accurate (generaly) as the springfields (many 5 grove barrels have a .311 grove depth as they where made on left over p-14 blanks). this many have something to do with the accuracy issue. barrels do not interchange between the two rifles, the thread dimentions are very different. 0 -
Hi Steve,
I bow to your greater knowledge of the Model 1917 Enfield. As you know they are a little to modern for my sphere of interest. Just trying to help out. However, I did get it right that it was a rebuild.
Best,
Scout0 -
Wow...this kind of stuff never fails to stun me. We buy/sell/trade P14s and P17s up here for $100 CDN or less. The last four I got were given to me for free. We just use them for a base for building moose rifles..ie: 308NormaMag, 300WinMag, 300WbyMag, 45-70, etc. Even the ones that have already been rechambered and sporterized might go around $300 CDN but I have no clue where these prices of $500-700 USD come from. As a footnote though, Everything used that seems to sell/trade cheap stateside, we have to pay an arm-and-a-leg for.(Rem 700, Win 70, etc)
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.0
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