I am the lucky owner of a US rifle of 1917, aka, 1917 Enfield in caliber 30 of 1906. Made by Remington's Eddystone arsenal in 1917.
I salvaged it from a rusty Bubba'd wreck. It could never have been returned to original, so I spent a year with hand tools only to make it a great sporting rifle. No plastic, no CNC, just blued steel and hand finished Walnut.
I did not expect a lot in the way of accuracy from it. Original GI barrel on it that had seen use with corrosive ammo.
Last week I proceeded to do ladder loads to find whatever the old warhorse liked.
Fed brass, TTL & flash hole reamed, Sierra 168 Match King bullets, IMR 4895 powder, Win primers, loaded out to maximum magazine length.
10 different loads, 5 rds each from starting to max in 0.5 grain increments. All fired from prone with bags front & rear & a 14x scope.
Only one of the loads grouped larger than 1" @100 yds. The best 4 were:
.78 x .52"; .39 x .75"; .48 x .51"; & finally, 4 rounds through the same hole 0.12 x 0.12 & one round bringing the group to 0.53x 0.28.
The rifle has been epoxy & pillar bedded, with a Dayton Traister trigger.
I am both surprised (pleasantly) and highly pleased that an almost 100 year old ex battle rifle can and does shoot with great accuracy.
Photo is of the muzzle end of barrel with the ordinance bomb, High Standard markings (the barrel maker) and the "P" proof mark.
Roger
I salvaged it from a rusty Bubba'd wreck. It could never have been returned to original, so I spent a year with hand tools only to make it a great sporting rifle. No plastic, no CNC, just blued steel and hand finished Walnut.
I did not expect a lot in the way of accuracy from it. Original GI barrel on it that had seen use with corrosive ammo.
Last week I proceeded to do ladder loads to find whatever the old warhorse liked.
Fed brass, TTL & flash hole reamed, Sierra 168 Match King bullets, IMR 4895 powder, Win primers, loaded out to maximum magazine length.
10 different loads, 5 rds each from starting to max in 0.5 grain increments. All fired from prone with bags front & rear & a 14x scope.
Only one of the loads grouped larger than 1" @100 yds. The best 4 were:
.78 x .52"; .39 x .75"; .48 x .51"; & finally, 4 rounds through the same hole 0.12 x 0.12 & one round bringing the group to 0.53x 0.28.
The rifle has been epoxy & pillar bedded, with a Dayton Traister trigger.
I am both surprised (pleasantly) and highly pleased that an almost 100 year old ex battle rifle can and does shoot with great accuracy.
Photo is of the muzzle end of barrel with the ordinance bomb, High Standard markings (the barrel maker) and the "P" proof mark.
Roger
