So, I picked this guy up for two bills, and am wondering what I ultimately should do with it.



It shoots accurately enough for my liking - 50' groups fit into the bottom of a soda can. Trigger is incredible. There is no active surface rust, but a fair bit of finish wear, a few dings, and some scrapes. Barrel-cylinder gap is .010", .005" of which is fore-aft shake. Barrel is pretty worn inside, but still shoots better than I do. Grips don't fit great, and loosen up after 25-30 rounds.

I'm figuring it will probably be a woods-and-hiking gun more than anything else. So...leave it alone and use it? Rebarrel and refinish? Put some weather-resistant finish on (Robar NP3Plus, for example)? Some other option(s)?

Assuming I leave it alone, if you were going to replace the grips with a new set of service stocks, what grip material would you choose?

History is classier that modifications, especially when it works well.

Pete

I put an Evans Wondersight and Pachmayr Presentation grips on mine.
Later, I had it Parkerized.

I have used it for a house gun occasionally. Also as a back up revolver at pin shoots. It went rabbit hunting a few times too. Fun gun to have around.

Long as it's safe, and mechanically sound, I'd use it 'as is' till it no longer shot acceptable groups, or became unsafe.
Then, have it rebuilt to do whatever tickles yer fancy.
Me? I think I'd like to have a sho'nuff revolversmith rebuild the gun, put on a 4in bll, a set of good fixed sights sights, round butt, stag grips and a Tyler tgrip. Have it reblued, and shoot till I had to have it rebuilt again.

dan

I have several 17s and HEs, all 45s and I take to the woods and shoot them with 185 & 230 lead handlods. Also keep several full moons ready for defensive use.

Tommy

I'm a purist so I prefer the original configuration. I would leave it as it is and mine is an example why. I picked up this highly modified 1937 for $300. I wanted a 45 shooter and this one was cheap enough. It balances well but I have not spent the time to develop a good load for it. It is very picky but I think it has potential. The original pistol frame has some pitting and the original barrel may have been bad but this is the classic exaple of someone taking a $300 gun, adding $500 of improvements, and ending up with a $300 gun. My vote would be to keep it as-is.

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I would leave it "as is".

It looks just fine as it is.

OK, sounds like the consensus is to leave it be. That's easy enough, though it will require some restraint on my part - my usual inclination is to fix/restore things immediately, rather than when they wear out. When it loosens up some more, or when the barrel finally gets sloppy, it can be rebuilt.

Might throw some new grips on, though, since these wobble about. Maybe some barkless antler, the poor man's ivory? Decisions, decisions...


w10085 - what the previous owner did to that gun is just wrong on so many levels! Hopefully you can get its performance to make up for its aesthetics.

Oh, when I clicked on this thread, I thought it was about something entirely different.

um... have you thought about selling it to me for a nice hefty $50 profit?

Nice catch.

I agree with others, use it, enjoy it, don't cut it up.

Another vote to leave it alone, or do only a minimal tune-up. Sounds like it shoots pretty good already, and that's 90% of having a good gun.

I picked up a second contract Brazilian earlier this year (shipped 1946, assembled from leftover 1920s parts) that looked pretty good outside but which I knew would need a little work. Turned out it needed a fair amount of work, most of which was solved with a replacement yoke. The ejector rod and center pin were bent as well, and there was some serious rotational play on a couple of chambers. I bent everything back into position, gave it a new slide rebound spring, fixed an overwide pocket on the cylinder (just peened the edges with a punch) and now it's almost ready. Turns out I still need a new ejector rod (realigning the old one didn't fix the enlarged pin hole at the front end), and I've been delaying that step for no good reason. I'll get to it before the end of the year.

I'm not about to over-improve this thing. I bought it as a shooter because my true 1917 (shipped very early 1918) is too nice to take out and bang around with.



I have to aim a little high and left to make it hit where I want. The grips are just something I had lying around and hadn't tried out yet. I'll probably equip it with magnas and a T-grip for its basic configuration. It came with some late magnas that are back on the gun for now.

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David Wilson

You know, it is a real testament to this forum that it took 10 posts to get someone to run with that idea. Anywhere else, it would have been raised around about post #2.

I was beginning to wonder if anybody got it.

I have a suggestion. Get an Ipod, load it with Sambas, put your hearing protectors on and shoot the thing! It will improve your groups.
Hey! It works for me, but I like Sambas.

I have heard stories like that so many times it has scared me away from "improving" any of my guns. Sounds like you can buy two or three nice enough guns for what a single "improved" gun would cost.

A few months ago, every time we had a Brazilian M1917 thread, we got pop-ups about Brazilian dating sites for about a week. Glad the moderators finally got that fixed.

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You're shy a few manners.

Looks like a good old shooter with tons of character. I'd also leave it as is, and keep an eye out for a replacement barrel if possible.

I missed out on 1917s when they were $29.95 in the 60s and have been kicking myself for decades now. I thought gas was going to stay at 25 cents a gallon in those days, too.

Where DID all those 1917s go anyway???

I´d leave it as it is. It seems to be a nice shooter in decent shape.

I would not replace the barrel unless accuracy is affected.