Bringing the Eddystone to Life

Doug63 · October 3, 2005, 02:43 PM

I have a M1917 Eddystone manufactured June 1918 that has been handed down from the Grandfather, to my Dad and now me. Between my Dad and I, I am the one who has had any desire to bring the Eddystone to life. This is my first military surplus project and so far so good. I have disassembled the entire rifle and its main components, except for removing the barrel from the receiver, and de cosmoline every part. There is evidence of ware on the parts from use, and bluing worn off the receiver where it was handled. I see no signs of physical damage so I feel everything is working order. The barrel is clean, no external rust or frosting in the barrel.
Currently I am cleaning cosmoline off stock so I can give it a light refinish but keeping the dings the gun obtained over its military life.

My goal is the shoot the Eddystone but first I would like a gun smith have a look and see if it is safe to shoot. When I go to the shop what should a gun smith do on his inspection of the rifle? Is there any thing they would need to focus on?

cntryboy1289 · October 3, 2005, 06:08 PM

I would check it for headspace and bolt setback first. A lot of military rifles have excessive headspace and since the round was only shot the one time and not reloaded, they didn't worry about it too much. I might set the barrel back to cure it if it can be done by removing a thread or so. If the bolt has setback, I would try to find another bolt for it at a surplus dealer and then headspace the rifle to the new bolt.

After all this was taken care of, I would check the saftey and make sure it works as well as the trigger to make sure it isn't broken or terribly worn. Of course the ejector and extractor would need to be double checked to make sure they function as well as checking to see if the rifle will feed. Checking for a severe crack or rot in the stock especially under the metal where you might not notice it. That should take care of the safety check on it. Good luck with the rifle.

Harry Bonar · October 4, 2005, 08:32 PM

Dear Shooter:
CNTRYBOY1289 is right on:
Yet, IF you should decide to change barrels in the future (there is no need to) be sure that a smith makes a relief cut just in front of the reciever ring before trying to unscrew the present bbl.
Why? The bbls in Springfields and especially Model 14s' and model 17s' are really in tight - that cut relieves the pressure and they unscrew easilly then - the reason for this is some smiths (incorrectly I feel) accuse these actions of being too hard and have cracks in the reciever ring. I believe these cracks may be made in trying to unscrew the bbl with incorrect methods and tools and they are cracked in this process rather than inherently having cracks to start with (of course, if one would magnaflux and find a seam it might have been done in the original installation!
Have fun - good clean fun! Harry B.

Get a dog too.

October 3, 2005, 02:43 PM	#1
Doug63 Junior Member Join Date: October 3, 2005 Location: Portland Oregon Posts: 8	Bringing the Eddystone to Life I have a M1917 Eddystone manufactured June 1918 that has been handed down from the Grandfather, to my Dad and now me. Between my Dad and I, I am the one who has had any desire to bring the Eddystone to life. This is my first military surplus project and so far so good. I have disassembled the entire rifle and its main components, except for removing the barrel from the receiver, and de cosmoline every part. There is evidence of ware on the parts from use, and bluing worn off the receiver where it was handled. I see no signs of physical damage so I feel everything is working order. The barrel is clean, no external rust or frosting in the barrel. Currently I am cleaning cosmoline off stock so I can give it a light refinish but keeping the dings the gun obtained over its military life. My goal is the shoot the Eddystone but first I would like a gun smith have a look and see if it is safe to shoot. When I go to the shop what should a gun smith do on his inspection of the rifle? Is there any thing they would need to focus on?

October 3, 2005, 06:08 PM	#2
cntryboy1289 Senior Member Join Date: July 19, 2004 Location: Ms Posts: 1,160	Headspace first and foremost I would check it for headspace and bolt setback first. A lot of military rifles have excessive headspace and since the round was only shot the one time and not reloaded, they didn't worry about it too much. I might set the barrel back to cure it if it can be done by removing a thread or so. If the bolt has setback, I would try to find another bolt for it at a surplus dealer and then headspace the rifle to the new bolt. After all this was taken care of, I would check the saftey and make sure it works as well as the trigger to make sure it isn't broken or terribly worn. Of course the ejector and extractor would need to be double checked to make sure they function as well as checking to see if the rifle will feed. Checking for a severe crack or rot in the stock especially under the metal where you might not notice it. That should take care of the safety check on it. Good luck with the rifle.

October 4, 2005, 08:32 PM	#3
Harry Bonar Senior Member Join Date: December 5, 2004 Location: In the Vincent, Ohio general area. Posts: 1,804	bringing the Eddystyone to life Dear Shooter: CNTRYBOY1289 is right on: Yet, IF you should decide to change barrels in the future (there is no need to) be sure that a smith makes a relief cut just in front of the reciever ring before trying to unscrew the present bbl. Why? The bbls in Springfields and especially Model 14s' and model 17s' are really in tight - that cut relieves the pressure and they unscrew easilly then - the reason for this is some smiths (incorrectly I feel) accuse these actions of being too hard and have cracks in the reciever ring. I believe these cracks may be made in trying to unscrew the bbl with incorrect methods and tools and they are cracked in this process rather than inherently having cracks to start with (of course, if one would magnaflux and find a seam it might have been done in the original installation! Have fun - good clean fun! Harry B. Get a dog too.