[airservice]

hello
some pics of my colt 1917A1 , french demil (barrel and bolt )
olivier

 

[MG34_Dan]

Thank you for posting pictures of your Colt '17A1. It is a very rare piece indeed.

 

[gulf state gaurd]

Can you take a pic of the underside of the bottom plate and it numbers there? Also a picture of the rear sight leaf showing the markings there? They might give clues as to when it was converted from 1917 to 17a1. It appears to be a pre 42 (probably 1939-41 time frame).

It is very cool it still has it's yellow Gun number painted on it. It is a very nice detail.

The original US ISSUE military Colt 1917s are extremely rare. As collectors we are always a little mystified trying to find Colt marked parts for these and have come to the conclusion (for now) that Colt may not have marked many of their parts. We have suspicions that some unmarked parts we have come across are actually Colt manufacture from the lack of markings or from differences in production and machine marks. Could you look over the gun for markings? Westinghouse guns used a W in circle, Remington a R in a triangle, and Colt was Suppossed to used a C in a square. We have not seen the Colt mark like that on parts made prior to WW2 production.
Your backplate was changed from the original backplate that was on that gun. Not unusual for a gun that saw as much service as that one.
Any chance you could get a pic of the top of the trunnion and Rear face of the water jacket? Curious what stamps might be present in front of the topcover.
Also can the bolt be removed to examine it for markings and to see if original to gun?
We will have more questions for you. Your gun is the proverbial Rainbow Unicorn and may help us answer some questions about the Colt produced guns.

Thank you for sharing such a cool example. I will want to drool over the Westinghouse next. Personal Weakspot sorry

 

[airservice]

yes take pics of all marking for study
thanks
olivier

 

[airservice]

some parts
l have another rear grip (need original plastic grip ) no marking





cover need cleaning , grease , number in front of cover




see no marking on top latch




need to clean sight and other parts
pics asap

olivier

 

[smallbuilder]

some parts
l have another rear grip (need original plastic grip ) no marking





cover need cleaning , grease , number in front of cover




see no marking on top latch




need to clean sight and other parts
pics asap

olivier

Iv got an extra set of dark red/brown plastic grips for $30 shipped if your in the lower 48. They appear to be nos. I'll sent you pictures if you want.

 

[MG34_Dan]

Iv got an extra set of dark red/brown plastic grips for $30 shipped if your in the lower 48. They appear to be nos. I'll sent you pictures if you want.

I believe Olivier is across the pond in France.

 

[airservice]

hello
take others pics
found no marking on parts , only unusual markings on bottom plate and 1741 on front water jacket
olivier

 

[gulf state gaurd]

Very cool bottom plate. Being marked this way really narrows when it was likely produced. The rolled out mark is for the bottom plate drawing dated 3-10-39, D35392 Revision 2, dated 3-19-40, D35392-2. The domed rear rivet on the top plate and flush front top plate rivet are consistent with a gun converted around 1940.

So this plate was made as the earlier style, then modified to the newer drawing spec before installation. I need to look back at your sideplate to see who converted the gun to 17a1 but it probably would have been within a couple of months following 3-19-40. There were a number of arsenals converting 1917s to A1 but RIA produced all the bottom plates used in the conversions

Can you make out the inspectors stamp? Also can you look on the sideplate around the engraving for any ordnance stamps and any RIA, AAB, AAC or any other capital 2 or three letter stamps? That will tell us who converted this gun to 17a1

 

[kkkriverrats]

Very cool bottom plate. Being marked this way really narrows when it was likely produced. The rolled out mark is for the bottom plate drawing dated 3-10-39, D35392 Revision 2, dated 3-19-40, D35392-2. The domed rear rivet on the top plate and flush front top plate rivet are consistent with a gun converted around 1940.

So this plate was made as the earlier style, then modified to the newer drawing spec before installation. I need to look back at your sideplate to see who converted the gun to 17a1 but it probably would have been within a couple of months following 3-19-40. There were a number of arsenals converting 1917s to A1 but RIA produced all the bottom plates used in the conversions

Can you make out the inspectors stamp? Also can you look on the sideplate around the engraving for any ordnance stamps and any RIA, AAB, AAC or any other capital 2 or three letter stamps? That will tell us who converted this gun to 17a1

My guess is this bottom plate started out as a 3rd model conversion plate to convert M1917's to A1's or to M1919A4's. These bottom plates had shallow side plate grooves to compensate for the milled off portion of the earlier guns that had peened edges and was excess to requirements and had the side plate grooves deepened to -2 requirements for new made side plates.

For a view of bottom plate history try http://m1919tech.com/22955.html