The Request for the American Enfield -- And a Tangential Personal Connection to History (Model 1917)

April 19th, 1917. Less than two weeks after the US declaration of war on Germany, General Crozier -- the US Army's Chief of Ordnance -- clarified his request for authority to secure additional small arms for the war effort. Weapons produced outside of the national armories were desperately needed to make up for the dramatic shortage of m1903 rifles and m1911 pistols. The goal was to put serviceable, and somewhat standardized, weapons in the hands of the AEF Soldiers and Marines that would soon be sent overseas to join the fight.

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Specifically he noted that the Ordnance Department wished to procure the "Enfield rifle, modified to take the service caliber .30 ammunition", as well as S&W and Colt revolvers designed for the "flangeless" .45 caliber service cartridge (I guess they hadn't settled on rimless as the appropriate terminology).

​These weapons were originally designed simply to be gap-fillers, with production only lasting "until [they] can be replaced without pause by production of adopted types [the m1903 and m1911]". General Crozier knew this would take quite a lot of production though, as the contemplated initial order was for one million [soon to be called] Model 1917 rifles, and 200,000 revolvers (100,00 for each manufacturer). The document indicates that this proposal was personally taken up with the Secretary of War, who must have agreed to this course of action since re-tooling started shortly thereafter.

All told a total of over two million m1917 rifles were produced, along with somewhere around 300,000 revolvers (once again split 50/50 between Colt and S&W). The rifles were made by Winchester, Remington, and Eddystone. In a somewhat ironic twist, more m1917 rifles saw combat service in the Great War than did m1903s, even though the American classic '03 was the "standard" service arm.

This Model of 1917 Rifle was produced by the Eddystone rifle plant, which was a subsidiary of the Baldwin Locomotive Works that was subcontracted by Remington to make rifles. Sandwiched between Chester and Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Eddystone lies right on the Delaware river and adjacent to what was then Pennsylvania Military College, and is now my alma mater Widener University.

In fact you can pretty easily see the remnants of the factory outline to this day via google maps. While only one original building remains (the Wood Working Department), I unwittingly spent a HUGE amount of time on the former grounds of the rifle factory shopping at Walmart during my four years at Widener, as well as running past it countless times during PT!

Post WW1 many m1917s received an arsenal overhaul that included a matte gray parkerization of the metal that this one seems to have escaped. This rifle did see service elsewhere though, as the it actually bears the import stamp of Century Arms International. This indicates that this was transferred out of US service and sent abroad, only to be commercially re-imported at a later date. These went all over the world in the form of lend lease, military sales, and military aid so normally it would be impossible to track down exactly where it went. However, the great surplus sleuths on the internet indicate that in the 1990s CAI imported a number of m1917s from Denmark, who had received them from Canada after WW2. These are distinguishable by some combination of the following factors: a stamped serial number on the bolt, a ground follower to remove the bolt hold open, and a unique front sight post instead of a blade -- all characteristics that this rifle has.

This is certainly a worldly rifle, having been designed in Britain, produced in Pennsylvania during WW1, serving with our neighbors "up North" during WW2, and serving the Danish people -- most likely in their home guard -- during the Cold War. It is now back home in PA, at least until we head to our next duty station!

Thanks to Archival Research Group for the great documents, be sure to check them out!