I picked up a rather sadly abused 1917 today, but the price was so low I couldn't pass it up. It does have some rather "interesting" issues that perhaps one of the more knowledgeable members can explain.

1) acceptance stams of burning bomb and Eagle Head over S20 on frame, eagle head on barrel and cylinder, but no "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" stamp on underside of barrel

2) frame and yoke have one s/n (770xx) while another number is stamped on both barrel and cylinder (308xxx, matching both)

Is this, as I suspect, a commercial mixmaster put together from leftover parts after the War, or is there some other explanation?

Thanks in advance

John Boardman

Further information:

I etched the underside of the barrel with a nitric-hydrofluoric acid etch to see if there had been anything there. This is a similar technique to that used to bring up serial numbers that have been defaced. It appears that something (probably the "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" stamping) was ground off. The grinding marks came up, and what looked like some letters (the remaining hardened areas from the work-hardening resulting from stamping, perhaps) appeared as lighter areas in the darkened etching. This still leaves the question about the differing numbers on the Frame/crane and Barrel/cylinder.

John

for the most part the differing numbers are assembly numbers

Sounds like a standard 1917 that someone ground off the gov't markings, either because they liberated it from the military or they were just worried that they might be in possession of stolen gov't property.

If the bore is decent, it will probably be a good shooter.

Does it still have the US Army markings on the butt?

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

And there's always the possibility of government armorers doing refurbs and rebuilds...a fine way to end up with mixed-up numbers.
Don

You don't tell what is on the butt.
The numbers you see when you open the cyl are just assembly numbers. They mean nothing useful to us. The serial number is on the barrel and cyl, and should be on the butt. If they removed the 'US Prop" from the barrel, they might have also been worried about the butt saying 'US Army Model 1917', and removed it, taking the serial number also.
You say the barrel and cyl have 308XXX- did you mean 308 with TWO X's?? 308,000 is WAY too high.

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Lee:

I misread the number under the barrel and on the cylinder; they are 108XXX, not 308,xxx, and they match the number on the butt. All of the markings other than the "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" marking under the barrel are present. The butt is marked properly for a Model of 1917 with the US Army, serial number, and the lanyard swivel hole (the swivel itself has been removed). The flaming bomb is stamped on the upper left side of the frame behind the cylinder cutout, and the eagle head with S20 underneath is stamped on the barrel, cylinder, yoke, frame on left side @ trigger guard and on the grip frame. I now know that it is a run-of-the mill 1917 revolver; I just don't know when it was built.

The barrel has one bad spot of rust inside. It looks like it had moisture collected inside and it corroded it, but after cleaning and JB Bore Paste polishing it, it still shoots pretty well, which was a surprise (I am a structural engineer, and I measured the remaining barrel wall to assure the structural integrity wasn't compromised before I shot it). This revolver will now assume a place in my small but growing collection of US martial firearms.

John Boardman