U.S. M1917 rifling question, or lack of it?

[THREEDFLYER]

The M1917 that I own was shipped in March of 1918.
The bore is bright as is the cylinder.
My question is regarding the rifling....or nearly lack of it.

Of all the revolvers I own, this one has the least amount of rifling hands down.

Question.....is this typical given these guns were designed to shoot jacketed ammo?

Tom

 

[bettis1]

Tom,

The rifling in the M1917 is quite shallow so yours sounds normal. The relatively slow ammo worked fine in it. It is good that your bore is shiny. They are frequently badly corroded from that early ammo and poor maintenance.

Bob

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Bore

Thanks Bob,

I shot the revolver today using both jacketed 45 ACP ammo as well as with some 45 Auto Rim cartridges loaded with lead semi-wadcutter bullets.

Both seemed to shoot about the same as far as accuracy, which was not great at 25 yards I might add. The sights put the shots quite left and low for me. Of course these are NOT bullseye guns!

Curious what others have to say regarding the bore/rifling??

Tom

 

[Oyeboteb]

I have wondered about this also.

Why was the Rifeling so shallow or weak looking in the m1917s?

What happend to deep-enough, clear, well defined, robust Rifeling which is there TO engauge the Bullet properly?

I have seen a number of m1917s and Brazillian Models, where one would have supposed them to be 'Smooth Bores'..! ( being, what not much there had been to begin with for Rifeling, had been worn away or shot out from use ).

 

[merl67]

Mine is the same way won't group in a coffee can at 25 yards still love it though. I have been told it has more to do with the chamber throats than the barrel.

 

[bettis1]

I have wondered about this also.

Why was the Rifeling so shallow or weak looking in the m1917s?

I understand that one of the Kaiser's men infiltrated the Factory and set the boring machine that way.

Bob

 

[kenjen]

mine also has shallow rifeling but i can get 3''-4'' groups from the bench at 25yds. using hand loaded 230gr. fmj.

 

[GyMac]

I believe rifling was cut that way to better work with the jacketed bullets of the .45 ACP.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

I was also told that the reason was because of the ammo having jacketed bullets. I suppose if you look down a 1911 barrel, you will also notice that the rifling is not very deep.....but the 1917 seems to have even less!
I also get a group larger than a coffee can at 25 yards, but as we know these were not designed for that range.
Tom