Firearm question

[fire1811]

ok so if you read my other thread "cleaning rust from a firearm" you know i got my grandpas old guns. well my mom we taking about it with my uncle(other side of family) and he told her to have me call him.

so i call him and he says he has a gun for me.

so this is the gun he GIVES me. looks sweet as hell
anyway pictures below.

was wondering any info, specs, good/bad, caliber of the gun, and value if any, and is it safe to shoot? i would think so its in very good condition it think

also is there anyway to search with the serial number to find out how old this gun is? serial number is 11807 which i would assume is pretty low?

and just looked a little harder at the breech and it says 30. is that the caliber?

also there is what looks to be 91A right below that.

and i took pictures of two symbles i found on it one is a circle with a star, other is a circle with a wing? coming out of it. any info on these would be appriciated.

there is also a symble on the end of the barrel circle wing. a "W" and 7-17. maybe barrel model?????

thanks
curt

*edit just noticed the pic with model is dark it says "US model of 1917 Winchester 11807"

[fire1811]

more pics

[taylor492]

Im no expert but it looks like an M1 Garand. Bolt Action Model.

[fire1811]

nah i dont think it is im pretty sure the model is 1917

m1's arnt bolt action as far as i know. but i could be wrong

thanks for reply

[desslock]

nice looking rifle. goto winchesters homepage look around their site, sometimes firearm manufactures have e mail links. Send them an email with the serial# perhaps a gunsmith from winchester can look thru their data bases and give you some more info. If that doesnt work try a gunstore in ur area. Be carefull some places will try to lowball you and tell you the gun isnt worth more than $100 then try to buy it off you, when the gun you have there could be a collectors piece. If all else fails goto to your local library and look thru books(shudder! books so old fashion) LOL good luck man. Hope you get some straight answers

[fire1811]

thanks

i really have no interest in selling it just would like to know how much money im hauling around.

i found this page

http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl19-e.htm

reading it now

google is a beutiful thing

[fire1811]

wow this might be a sweet gun. from what i am reading the 30 on the breech must be the caliber. so from the artical i just read .30cal is .30-06 correct

man i cant wait to shoot this beast

[Jeffy-CanCon]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it is an Enfield P-17, in 30-06. Manufactured by Winchester, obviously. The P-17 was the main US service rifle during WW1, as Springfield was not up to the task of producing sufficient quantities of M1903's.

The 'circle with a wing' is a stylized grenade, with the "wing" representing a flaming fuse. The grenade is the symbol of the US Army Ordnance Corps. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the star-in-a-circle was the mark placed on superior quality barrels.

The serial number is EXTREMELY low. Over a million of these rifles were made.

(EDIT - Just read Fire1811's link! Apparently there were two million of these produced)

[Yudanja]

wow looks like very nice!

I just bought a Yugoslauvian (sp) m48 mauser. Condition is about the same as yours it seems. Mine is shooting a 8 X 57mm round. I will take some pics and send them up

[fire1811]

cool thanks guys

found a collectable firearms site and subscribed to it, posted there also.

i might have to use this for paintballing this weekend instead of my angel

[Yudanja]

Fire,

which gunsite was it? I found a great message board and i cant seem to locate it again.

Think my next rifle purchase will either be a m14 or a springfield m1903

[fire1811]

http://www.surplusrifle.com/index.asp

under forums

they even have things for disasembly/cleaning

cool site

[Konigballer]

man, you got yourself a nice Springfield 1903 rifle there.

Yours has a production date of 1917 but weapons usually carry the date of their original introduction, like 1903, in their acutal tital. Like how the Colt 1911 45., accpted for military service in 1911, is still refered to as a "the ol' 1911" even if you buy one made last year.

The Sprinfield '03 was our standard issue service rifle durring WW1 and in the begining of WW2 till the M1 Garand became standard issue. It was still used as a sniper rifle throughout WW2 and I believe in Korea too. Its designated as a "Springfield" even if it was manufactured by another company, because in both wars they often differ production of the same weapon to multiple companys to keep up production and meet demand.

If you've seen Saving Private Ryan, Jackson the sniper is using a scope mounted Sprinfield and if you like history, look up Alvin York and read about his actions in WW1. He used a Springfield and a Colt 1911 to great effect on one occasion against the germans and earned the Medal of Honor for it. Thats a great find you got

[fire1811]

ok im confused now lol

if you look at the first link i found and read it

isnt the springfield 1903 and model 1917 different?

they show differnt pics in that link?

[fire1811]

yeah i think there two differnt guns

http://www.surplusrifle.com/m1917/index.asp