1917 Enfield action

[Hunter-Habib]

Very strong , robust action . Can easily be made to chamber up to .500 Jeffery sized ammunition . It’s marginal for the big .505 Gibbs case though . You want to use a Pattern 14 Enfield action for that . I like the Remington ones the best , but heard that that the Eddystone ones have heat treatment issues . How true this is , is anybody’s guess .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Very strong , robust action . Can easily be made to chamber up to .500 Jeffery sized ammunition . It’s marginal for the big .505 Gibbs case though . You want to use a Pattern 14 Enfield action for that . I like the Remington ones the best , but heard that that the Eddystone ones have heat treatment issues . How true this is , is anybody’s guess .

@Hunter-Habib
The only issue with the Eddystone Enfields and all Enfields fir that natter is the barrels ar put in using hydraulic wrenches as Nd sometimes they get over tightened. When the ar undo by someone that doesn't know this they use to much effort removing the barrel and end up cracking the receiver.
As to the P14 being a bigger action than the M17 someone is pulling your chain. They ar exactly the same size, the difference being the bolt face and feed rails.
Bob

 

[Hunter-Habib]

@Hunter-Habib
The only issue with the Eddystone Enfields and all Enfields fir that natter is the barrels ar put in using hydraulic wrenches as Nd sometimes they get over tightened. When the ar undo by someone that doesn't know this they use to much effort removing the barrel and end up cracking the receiver.
As to the P14 being a bigger action than the M17 someone is pulling your chain. They ar exactly the same size, the difference being the bolt face and feed rails.
Bob

My wording should have have been more proper . My mistake .

What I meant to say is : It's easier to get a Pattern 14 Enfield action to feed .505 Gibbs than an Enfield 1917 action ( comparatively speaking ) . Because the bolt face and bolt head on the former is bigger .

There is roughly a .007" variance either way in bolt face diameter : . 697 inches for Pattern 14 Enfield , as compared to the .690 for the Enfield 1917. Likewise the diameter at the bolt head including extractor is 1.002 inches for the Pattern 14 Enfield vs .995 for the Enfield 1917 .

 

[Jim Golden]

That stockis a product of the Reinhart Fajen custom shop, built to my specifications and designed to control recoil, which it did to the point that once I fired four shots into a running buffalo, while standing precariously on a ledge above him. Three of the four shots could have been covered with a playing card, all in the shoulder. The buffalo stopped so suddenly that his nose plowed up the ground.

Given the increasing popularity of the .416 Rigby and advent of the .416 Remington, the .416 MRE seemed not to have much appeal. The same was the case with the arrival of a host of .375 caliber cartridges. I found that I could shoot unmodified .510" bullets in my .505 with no signs of excess pressure, so the .500 SRE no longer made much sense. The .577 VSRE was pleasant to shoot with an overall weight of 12 pounds, compared to 8.75 pounds for the .505 SRE. However, the recoil, although not abrupt or painful, forced me to take two steps backward every time I fired it. I concluded that my experience in shooting from odd places, like the top of a termite mound, would not always allow me to take two steps to the rear, so I regrettfully retired it as well. All in all, an interesting exercise, however.

This is the buffalo in question, Kenya, 1974.

[/URL]

XA, I realize this is two years old....but if you're still out there and monitoring this...what is your secret stock design? I'm a big fan of the A-Square Coil Chek, and the biggest thing about it is the large butt area that shoves your entire body instead of just your shoulder hyperextending. It looks like your stock is very similar. I am an engineer myself and built a M1917 Enfield into a beast of a 375 Weatherby that is right there knocking on the door of the .378. But I want to build a .460 and was planning to use another copy of an A-Square Hannibal stock (that's what my .375 has). I'm curious as to how you came up with your design. It looks really nice.

 

[Rule 303]

As this thread has been brought back to life there is one thing I forgot to mention. If you need an extractor for the M17 and can't find one. Just use a Rugger M77 extractor. Direct copy of the M17. Just the length is shorter but they work fine.

 

[xausa]

I wish I could be of more help, but all I did was turn the project and the barreled action over to Fajen. I can't tell you how pleased I am with the result. On two different occasions I was standing precariously balanced on an unsteady surface when I loosed the shots (in the case of the buffalo I emptied the magazine, a total of four shots) with no ill effects on either me or the rifle.

As you can see from the photo, the stock has virtually no drop at the heel, which delivers the recoil energy more or less in a straight line, with little or no muzzle jump.

I am not sensitive to recoil. I once had my .458 WM double rifle double on me, which quadruples, rather than doubles the recoil energy, since recoil energy varies with the square of recoil velocity and in the case of a double rifle firing both barrels simultaneously, the recoil velocity is doubled. I was pushed backwards two steps and got my feet tangled up, causing me to take a seat rather suddenly, but emerged otherwise unscathed. I had the action thoroughly cleaned, and the phenomenon never repeated itself. The tso bullets struck the target only about an inch apart, proving that the phenomenon was a true double, not a case of the recoil from the first barrel somehow firing the second shot.

I also built a rimless version of the .577 Nitro Express. When loaded to NE velocity, the recoil of the 14 pound rifle was an irresistable push, which invariably caused me to step backward two paces to maintain my balance. I decided that this trait was impractical in a hunting rifle and never used it in the hunting field. It now belongs to Buckstix.

 

[white5eagle]

Hi Folks,

I just stumbled onto this thread after trying to do some searching after I just purchased my first DG rifle. Wife and I went on our first safari to South Africa last year and I caught the bug, naturally we are going back and I wanted a proper DG rifle for the next trip.

Anyway, I bout this custom Remington P17 in .416 Rem Mag. It is very nicely done and I am hoping someone recognizes it and might know who did the work. It has a Timney trigger, glassed and bedded barrel. Its by far my nicest rifle. The pictures are from the online seller when I purchased it. Thanks!

 

[C.W. Richter]

'Covered the A-Sq builds many times over on other threads (good stuff-Col. Art RIP knew he could build the big boys cost-effectively on the tooling for this action. The bolts are a little clunky due to size and the mag release is probably the worst design ever-it would never open by itself on a heavy-recoiling gun though-it's got that going for it! lol) Early commercial Rems have the bolt that's a nod to Eddystone and Wby to this day uses the Enfield style safety. But Eddystone was originally the Baldwin Locomotive Works, which like MANY other industries (J&J, et. al. I've cleaned em all up at times decades later) was gov't. contracted to first make the 1st million P14s (in .303) and then 2nd M P17s (in '06), and a few years later-half for Brittain in WWI but plenty stayed in PA and I've seen a pile of both used for deer hunting (including many P17s converted to 308 Norma Mag) and then A-Square's real big boys (like the orig. .338-.460 Wby wildcat, later the .338-378 Wby) on up to 500 A-Sq. Rem did lease the Baldwin Works prior to purchasing (and between B and R it was a partnership as they needed the Baldwin space, tools and labor. Rem of DE/DuPont eventually bought it.) I used to shoot archery after work and school at night at an indoor range just across State Rd. from all these Robber Barron's mansions along the Delaware River, including Baldwin (the mansions were later combined to form a college. We used to sneak into this White Hall affiliated with the college when it was abandoned, but it was in a vietnam-like jungle in a river cove (now condos and a state park/marina). The Eddystone plant has been cleaned up and redeveloped but they kept the historic Baldwin Tower office building. 'Took my son on the tour of both years ago before a flight out of PHL for a hunt in TX. Baldwin locomotives are still everywhere in the area, but they were The standard (coal then diesel) sold across the world for decades. They are tell-tale by their bullet designs in front.

 

[C.W. Richter]

*My 338 A-Sq (using that same P17 action) is tied w/ 2 other guns as most accurate in the lot. It's old-school, but no detail was left out (full-length bedding!! trigger job, coil-chek stock, Douglas SS bbl.) IOW, a gun that shoots over 100 gr of powder shoots mickey mouse groups (and on paper could kill anything beyond 1,500 yds.) A PH wants me to use it on buff w/ 300 gr (its E is way above the 375!) as we both agree it'd do the job (on daggaboys, not herd bulls!) And, it was $3,500 c. 1990 plus scope (mounts were included). ($10K today!) "You get what you pay for!"

 

[C.W. Richter]

Besides aiding the Allied Powers in emerging victorious from WWI, the highest-and-best use of the P Enfield action a century plus later...

 

[C.W. Richter]

@Hunter-Habib
The only issue with the Eddystone Enfields and all Enfields fir that natter is the barrels ar put in using hydraulic wrenches as Nd sometimes they get over tightened. When the ar undo by someone that doesn't know this they use to much effort removing the barrel and end up cracking the receiver.
As to the P14 being a bigger action than the M17 someone is pulling your chain. They ar exactly the same size, the difference being the bolt face and feed rails.
Bob

I used to see so many eddystone enfield's at gun shows in the past and I have to say I smiled profusely when I saw them but they did look ancient! Lol I'll stick with the a square modern creations but do I know some Farm families that are still shooting deer with over century old 303s? Yes!! They've never been tampered with. It just has Smithsonian put me in a glass case written all over it LOL good stuff!

 

[PCC600]

@John J
The British in 1913 designed the P13 action for the new 276 cartridge to replace the SMLE and 303 cartridge. The rifle was sent to the USA to manufacture. It was found the new 276 cartridge burnt barrels out very quickly.
WW1 bike out and the British found they didn't have enough SMLE rifles and promptly got the USA to manufacture it in 303. This became the P14. In the meantime the British had caught up in the manufacturing of the SMLE and offered the USA money to stop producing the P14 and regard the contract filled.
When the USA entered the war they found they didn't have enough Springfield rifles to arm their troops so converted the P14 to fire the 30/06. All that need to be done was to replace the barrel, recoil the bolt for a rimless cartridge and modify the feed rails and mag follower. The m17 was born.
After the war the U.S. troops were that impressed with the M17 they wanted it as the service weapon but the powers that be stuck with the Springfield.
All up around 4 million P14 and M17's were made .
After the war with the left over parts Remington made the model 30 and 30s. These were the forerunner of the 720,721 and eventually the model 700.
I hope this gives you a brief history of your rifle.
Yes I am an Enfield lunatics well as a Whelen fanatic.
As a by note Holland and Holland thought that highly of the rifle they even made bespoke 375H &H rifles out of them
Bob

Yes Bob , H&H adopted this action in 1950s and also offered them in a cheaper working rifle chambered in 404 Jefferey .

 

[white5eagle]

Just realized none of the pictures were attached. This is the P17 I bought last year. Photos were taken by the seller, but the rifle does the photos justice. Chambered in .416 Rem Mag.