I bought a partially sporterized Remington 1917 recently, and I have been mulling over what to with it. I am leaning towards going with a 300WM using the original barrel. The rifling looks pretty sharp, I like the profile, and this option seems more cost efficient than rebarreling.

Will the 25" length of the barrel allow me to wring decent performance from this cartridge? Does anyone know what the twist rates of these military barrels are?

Any other thoughts or concerns with going this way?

Never checked the twist, assume it's 10. But I have 2 rechambered to 300 h+h and 1 to 300wm. All outshoot me.
Don

here it says 1 in 10, http://www.odcmp.org/503/rifle.pdf

I would shoot as it is now with maybe a recrown to see if the barrel is good

Mark

I had a five groove 1917 that was spookily accurate with anything I fed it.

I have to ask: what is wrong with leaving it in the original chambering?

Go Big or go home 450 Rigby or 460Wby

Adam

I have a 300 H&H Winchester barrel I will sell you for $65 shipped; it needs a headspace/shoulder washer as I parted it off the receiver. Easy to make one. Marked W 10-18. Good sharp bore and throat is very sharp.
Twists are one in 10 and either 5 groove or some later replacements are 2 groove.

Sorry I havent been back to my own thread for a while...

I would definitely shoot it before changing anything but the iron sights are gone and it is not drilled and ttapped for scope mounts. I may just do this first. Nothing wrong with leaving it as a 30.06, I just happen to have 4 of them already. I was thinking that something with a little more reach that takes advantage of the big Enfield action. I thought about a big bore, but I think 300wm would be the most practicle. Thanks for the offer of the h&h barrel, but I don't like the idea of having to make a washer and I'm really hoping to reuse what I have.

So, back to the original question: will a 10:1 twist in 25" barrel yield decent performance from this cartridge, or would I be short changing the potential?

Yes, one in ten twist is standard for the 300 mags.