I was recently given an old bolt action rifle by my father so that I could refinish the stock and clean up the action, barrel, and other metal parts on it.  I am not sure who the rifle was made by but I found a picture of a rifle that looks exactly the same that said it was an Enfield Model 1917.  My dad says it is a Springfield, and I was under the impression that it is a Winchester because the part of the barrel closest to the breech is marked "U.S. MODEL OF 1917 WINCHESTER."  When I can I will try to post  pics of the rifle.  To see the picture I found, go to www.thejucketts.com/ww2website/m1917enfield.htm .  Right now my rifle has a short stock on it that my grandfather modified to use for long range competition shooting, but I have the original stock and I am in the process of refinishing it.

If anyone knows how to disassemble the bolt assembly please let me know because it needs a thorough cleaning to bring it back to it's (as close as I can get it to) original shape.Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Fritz  

Don't know myself, but this should make it easier for those that do.
[img]www.thejucketts.com/ww2website/m1917enfield1.gif[/img]

Those were made by WIN, Rem, and a few others,. By different mfgrs for the war effort sorta like the Garands

Yep. Enfield P17. A good-shooting rifle, too. Don't know how to disassemble the bolt, though; sorry.

When the US entered WWI we didn't have enough Springfields.  Remington and Winchester had already been making this rifle for the British in .303 as the P-14.  The Army simply took over the contract and had it built for them in .30-06.  Most of the Doughboys in France fought the war with this rifle.  Sgt York used a M1917 when he won the MOH.  They were produced by Remington, Winchester, and Remington-Eddystone.  Remington continued production of the gun in a sporter form after the war, as the Model 41 I think, I'll have to check.  

Bolt disassembly sounds complicated, but it's not too bad:
Clear the rifle
Open the bolt and engage the safety
Close the bolt, then start raising the bolt handle and stuff a nickel or some coin between the end of the cocking piece and bolt sleeve
Remove bolt from rifle and unscrew the cocking piece/firing pin assembly
Rest the tip of the firing pin on a piece of wood and force the sleeve down, compressing the spring and removing the coin
Turn the cocking piece 1/4turn clockwise and remove
Slowly relieve the spirng pressure and remove the sleeve (watch out on this, there is nothing holding the sleeve back now but your hand.  You can launch it pretty far if you just let go)
Rotate the extractor until it covers the gas escape holes and push it off the bolt body.
Reassembly is reverse of disassemly.

Sounds complicated, and it probably is more complicated than a military rifle needs to be.  Just don't use any tools, other than a coin, so you don't break anything.  Once you start taking it apart though, you'll understand better.  

HTH
Ross

1917 Enfields are starting to bring premium prices....as are quite a few militarys......well built and generally very accurate........[sniper]

Thanks for the information.  So if the rifle is a "Model 1917", when exactly was it made?    
Ross, I am new to bolt action rifles so I don't know exactly which pieces are the cocking piece and bolt sleeve.  And to remove the stock do I just need to remove the two screws on the bottom of the rifle?  Again, thanks for the help and sorry for any dumb newbie questions.

Fritz

the model 1917 was only made by 3 manufactures
1. eddystone
2. remington
3. winchester
if its a bolt rifle that wears a springfield armory tag its most likely an 03 springfield

heres a neat link i found for finding out the manufacture dates for U.S manufactured ww1 and ww2 eara firearms

  [url]http://oldguns.net/[/url]

They'll be a barrel date near the muzzle.  About the same place "CMP" shows up on an AR barrel.  It will have an Ordnace bomb and "RA 8-18" or something like that.  That's the manufacturer of the barrel (your's will probably be "WRA".  Th numbers are the month and year the barrel was made.  Obviously the reciever wasn't made, nor the rifle assembled at that exact date, but it will probably be pretty close.  As close as you're going to get.  They started production in 1917 and the war ended in 1918.  So they pretty much made them all in those years.

To take off the stock you'll need to remove the two screws you're talking about, and the steel bands that are holding the stock and handguard together.  Those are the bands that have the sling swivel and the stacking swivel (the open sling swivel looking thing at the front of the stock) on them.  

Send me a snail mail address and I'll send you a photocopy of the instructions with diagrams.  I'd scan them, but my scanner is acting up and I can't get text to come through readable.  

Ross

The P-17 is massive and very strong, It was made by Winchester Remington and Eddystone. There was a run of Eddystone Arsenal rifles ( I don't recall the serial# range) with errors in the Heat Treating process, but the Winchesters and Remingtons were O.K. I beleive A Square uses these actions for some of there more intense chamberings as it is long enough and the bolt face can be opened up to accept the large rims of cartridges such as the 460 Weatherby, the 416 rigby and the 338 Lapua.
Hope this helps, Good day Rabon