I picked up a M1917 for cheap, and have some questions. It had been stored in a foam lined hard case for a few years under a bed, and was covered in surface rust when I bought it. The stock has been cut at the rear band and slathered in urethane as well. Barrel has not been cut though.

I have been doing some research on it, and there is some conflicting info on where they came from when imported. I have read they came from China and some say they came from Canada. This one has all the info ground off the receiver ring, it has the flaming bomb on left side of the receiver and bolt handle. It also has the number 50 stamped the the bolt handle. The barrel barrel has no markings other than the import mark and it is counter bored about 1.5"

I read a couple of different forum posts that said the Chinese ground off the receiver rings after the revolution.

Anybody have any idea where this did come from?

I also have been looking for a stock and upper hand guard. A little to expensive to put this one back to original trim, and I only gave $50 for it.

Cleaned up and reblued

Attached File

Look on the back of the receiver for a Canadian Broadarrow marking. I have a CAI import-marked one that was cleaned a bit but the Canadian markings are still evident.

AFAIK, western governments didn't counterbore barrels.

Regarding the 50 on the bolt handle... Are the last two digits of the rifle's serial number 50?

Get a new criterion barrel and don't look back...

Mine's a CAI import, and it's definitely Canadian.


It has a Canadian broad arrow property stamp on the buttstock, plus a rack number for the Canadian Officer Training Corps (basically like ROTC).


Here's a 1941 photos of some COTC Cadents at McGill University in Montreal drilling with M1917s.


And a 1943 photos of COTC cadets at the University of Saskatchewan with M1917s:

Serial number and all markings were ground off the receiver ring.

Pic of bolt handle.

Attached File


I also found a P stamped about an inch back from the front sight base on the barrel.

The rear sight and bolt latch both have a E stamped on them. Which I assume is for EddyStone

Stock was sanded slick by Bubba. No markings to be found.

Are there any numbers stamped into the floorplate or just in front of the trigger guard? The Chinese stamped the last few digits of the serial number there and on the bolt handle.

No. Floor plate and trigger guard have been scrubbed too. No markings on them. Bubba could have ground them smooth.

I am leaning towards a Chinese import. Numerous small parts are Eddystone marked. The barrel has no date on it so it has probably been rebarreled in an arsenal refurb and counterbored by the Chinese.

I like the history of these old war horses and like to find out where they have been. Sort of like my Finnish marked N.E.W. Mosin. I am sure it has seen some action in its lifetime.

I would love to re stock this one but it is probably not worth putting the money into it.

any pitting under the wood?
is the bore toast or close to it?

most chinese imported rifles (of that vintage) were road hard and put up wet,

looks more like bubba may have gotten hold to an imported rifle and started a conversion,

Bore looks like it is toast. I haven't shot it yet. I am gonna check the headspace first. Just got to get some gauges.

No pitting under the wood or where the wood used to be.

It may just be a Bubba job. Maybe I will spin on a new barrel and make a nice shooter out of it. Maybe a .338/06.