I found a Winchester 1917 at a local shop for $550. Stock looks great, metal is parkerized, the receiver and the floor plate have the same number on them. The barrel is stamped 9-18 behind the front sight, the bolt has a W stamped on the underside of the bolt handle. Also stamped on the barrel is CAI, so my question is did Century put these things together or just import them. It looks awesome, but if Century had their hands on it I will probably pass. Thanks everyone
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Century did some awful things to Enfields. I just recently saw two of their abortions. These guns started out as Pattern 14 Canadian drill rifles, with a huge hole drilled from side to side through the barrel and stock, in the chamber area. Century rebarreled them with surplus American M1917 barrels that they had, and substituted a few other parts to make ersatz M1917's! Of course the hole in the stock was still there. A company that would do that is capable of anything.
On M1917's, the only serialized part is the receiver. If the floorplate is numbered to the receiver, it wasn't done at the factory, or in U.S.service. On the other hand, almost every part of the M1917 is marked with the initial of the maker -- W for Winchester, R for Remington, and E for Eddystone. It's common for these guns to have mixed parts, but the mixing was done after they left the factory.
$550 is not a bad price. In my area, the going rate for M1917 Enfields in collectible condition is about $800.