Saw one today for $95. Anything south of $100 seems like a good deal these days. The ears had been milled off, but no contouring of the rear bridge, just flat. The military stock had been poorly sporterized, but I wouldn't keep it anyway. Other than that it was straight military minus the iron sights. Bolt was a little stiff sliding fore and aft. I don't need another 30-06, can't think off-hand what I'd do with it right now, but might it be worth acquiring? Anything I should be careful to look for?

Cracks in the front receiver ring. Also it's been stated that rebarreling can crack the front receiver. Some of them are very brittle. Not cracks and you're fine. Many have been into some really nice guns often magnums because of the robust action.

does the same cracked front ring apply to winchester 1917's?

I believe the Eddystones are the bigger offenders. They claim the Remington is softer but heard of these cracking too. It's mainly upon barrel removal which should be done very carefully not getting over zealous.

Haven't heard anything on the Winchesters.

They also claim that 03's that were made at Eddystone had better quality steel in them then the 1917. I don't know if that is true or not.

I wouldn't worry about it and remove the barrel carefully and check for cracks. If none you're good to go. They make for a fine rifle so I wouldn't have negative feeling about them. In other words don't let that stop you. Look at the problems the early 03's had, but went on to become a very famous rifle and a good one.

O3s were never made at Eddystone, which was owned and run by Remington. Any of the P17s can crack as the receiver rings are very thin and hard; but it happens when you remove the original barrel; the shank has a huge bearing area. I always part them off in the lathe and then they unscrew by hand. They are all hard but it is Eddystone that is supposed to be hardest, but I have never had a cracked one because I don't try to horse off the old barrels. Oh, that is a give away price; they are excellent actions to play with.

If you can, pull the bbl'd action out of the stock and examine the bottom of the action. A crack in the receiver ring will occur on the bottom more often than not.
Also with the action out of the wood,,eyeball the action for staightness, trying to see if it isn't twisted a tiny bit (you said the bolt rode a little stiff back and forth).
Someone may have tried unsuccesfully to remove the bbl with less than proper means and twisted the action a small amount.
A couple of parallel files laid across the bottom flat of the action will tell pretty quick.

The ejector spring (flat spring) gives it up quite often in these but is easily replaced.
See if it has an 'R' marked bolt and assembly. It carries some weight for resale or on a custom project when it's finished up.

Check headspace if you can and have thoughts of keeping the thing as a 30-06.
If you're going to change bbl's,,an original (take-off) 1917 bbl is worth as much or more than you are paying for the rifle,,but you have the chance of damaging the action in the removal. Parting the joint is the safest way.

If the action checks out w/o cracks or twists,,it's a good buy at the price for a sporter project. Remington marked actions are generally the nicest made IMO.
A Winchester gets the bigger money in an original condition 1917 rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
O3s were never made at Eddystone, which was owned and run by Remington. Any of the P17s can crack as the receiver rings are very thin and hard; but it happens when you remove the original barrel; the shank has a huge bearing area. I always part them off in the lathe and then they unscrew by hand. They are all hard but it is Eddystone that is supposed to be hardest, but I have never had a cracked one because I don't try to horse off the old barrels. Oh, that is a give away price; they are excellent actions to play with.

Dpcd thanks for pointing that out. I had meant to say the 03 were suppose to be a better grade of steel then used in the Eddystone 1917 actions.

Actually, the reverse is true; all P17s are made from nickel steel while only the 03s above 1.275 million are. Below that 03s are just low carbon steel. (After 800,000 they used a double heat treatment which prevented them from being brittle); never shoot one below that number, although all the bad ones have been weeded out by now; I do not shoot them. And Rock Islands over 285000. Just don't try to remove the original barrel unless you cut it off and you won't have a problem. True, original barrels are worth a lot.

Good advice, thanks!

Where would I look for the "R" on the bolt, and what does it mean?

Besides action twisting any big things that might cause the bolt to slide hard? (anything not fixable with a good cleaning and lapping...)

Underneath the handle root; it means it was made at Remington; E means Eddystone and W means Winchester. Functionally, doesn't mean anything. Some people like them to be marked from a known gun maker. I use them all without regard to maker. Bolts should not slide hard on a p17; they are usually very smooth running; look for dried grease, and the extractor rubbing; that is the most common thing.

Well, I got it. Headspace checked out, although it almost closed on the no-go. No cracks or twisting that I could see. It had an Eddystone bolt which could explain a little of the stiffness. The bore looked OK, but it was a little hard to tell. I offered $80, we settled on $90.

Here's a photo:


Now, what do I make with it?! I will probably leave as is for now, but I think a big bore of some sort is warranted. 404J maybe?

Another question, has this had the "duck pond" filled in, or do the Remingtons come without? There is also a hole in the rear receiver bridge, was this for the rear sight? I think it has grease in it, so I can't tell if it's tapped. Might it be employed as one of the rear scope base holes?

Thanks again for the helpful advice so far.

Remingtons didn't have the pond making it a little more desirable for converting. They make nice big bores, working on a .505 gibbs now.
Don

You got a great deal. 17 bolts closing on a no go gauge means nothing; Enfields have angled camming locking surfaces so it is easy to close the bolt on anything. Other bolt actions do not have that feature; they have 90 degree locking surfaces. Definitely make a big bore; the action is way too big for an '06 and easy to convert to the big stuff. 375 is minimum; start there with your thinking.

If you can find a P-14 bolt, you are all set for a magnum.

If I get a P-14 bolt body only will all the other parts transfer over?

Besides needing to modify the extractor of course...

Yes all parts are interchangeable and if you get a p14 extractor; they work better for mags as is. But you can alter your 06 bolt too. You will have to alter your feed ramp and rails in any case. And get rid of the clip guides.