 |
 |
| U.S. Rifle, M-1917 (Enfield 1917 USA) As the United States prepared for European conflict at the onset of The Great War, it found itself short of the necessary quantity of service rifles of the then current issue model, the M1903 Springfield. The firms of Remington, Winchester, and the Remington subsidiary Eddystone Arsenal, had just completed contracts for the production of .280 Rimless M1914 Enfield's for Great Britain. With government arsenals producing the M1903 Springfield at top capacity and still behind in supplying demand, it was determined that with minor modification required to utilize the .30 caliber U.S. service cartridge Model of 1906, the same tooling could be used to produce the needed quantity of rifles. Thus was born the M1917 Enfield. The M1917 found itself in the hands of more Doughboys during The Great War than the Springfield, including the famous Alvin C. York, who during the battle of the Argonne Forrest, ultimately won the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor for employing his M1917 with deadly effect in wiping out a hornets nest of German machinegun posts and capturing 132 enemy soldiers, including 3 officers, virtually single-handedly. The M1917, though slightly heavier and sometimes considered a bit unwieldy compared to the M1903, was nonetheless, durable, rugged, and extremely reliable. The aforementioned feats accomplished by Sergeant York attest to its accuracy potential in capable hands. At the conclusion of World War I, the M1917 was retired from active duty in favor of the well entrenched M1903. As clouds of war began developing at the onset of WWII, many M1917's were again called out to be issued for training, reserve usage, and foreign aid. Prior to this activity, most were re-barreled and refurbished by contracted armories, including the firm of Johnson Automatics. This, combined with the propensity to take military bolt action rifles and alter them to sporting configuration for hunting, makes original, unaltered M1917's extremely scarce and highly desirable. Caliber: .30-06 (7.62x63mm) Action: manually operated, rotating bolt Overall length: 1175 mm Barrel length: 660 mm Weight: 4.08 kg Magazine capacity: 5 rounds |
 |