I am wondering if anyone knows for sure if the barrels used on a 1917 Enfield had a .308 or .311 bore. I am asuming the P-14s were .311 in the 303 British caliber and wondered if those on Eddystone, Remington and Winchester were the same or if they were changed to .308 when the 1917 was put into production in the 30-06 caliber.

Many thanks

The bore in the M-1917 is .308". The P-14 is .311".

Hatcher was in charge of the change over for the Army.He was said the M1917 only used 308 bores.Enfield rifling though,which he liked.

Strange, MY copy of Hatcher says the 1917 has a .300" bore and .005" grooves, which corresponds to a groove diameter of .310", although you cannot easily measure it because it is five-groove Enfield plan rifling. He points out that this is a tighter barrel than a Springfield because the Enfield plan rifling has lands as wide as the grooves, while the Springfield lands are only 1/4 as wide.

This is not the same as P14 which had a .303" bore and .0058" grooves, .314+" groove diameter.

Hatcher's Notebook, pg 15 in my edition.