Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles what is this mauser action?

hello
My father in law sent me a photo of his rifle that he purchased in Ontario Canada in around 1975. He shot two moose with it in the late 70's then hasn't used it since. He dragged it out of storage to take the photo and show me.
Its marked Whitworth rifle company made in Manchester England and is chambered in 30.06.
Any ideas? looked on the internet for the company which seems to have been owned by Interarms which had a production of rifles based on different mauser actions that were stocked and re barreled then exported to different countries under various names.
I just don't know the manufacturer of the action i'm looking at?
thanks and regards
keith
Nova Scotia

That looks a lot like a M1917 Enfield that has been sporterized. While its design was influenced by the Mauser, I don't think it is thought of as a Mauser.

thanks included a photo of the whole rifle if that helps?
looked up the m1917 Enfield and think you're correct that this is the action of the Whitworth shown above.
The cut out used for the bolt handle seems the same in the stocks that carry the Enfield and the safety looks the same.
from what i read previous they spoke of using Yugoslavian mausers and saw a few Whitworths with those actions.
this auction link shown below is from what i can tell for the exact same rifle.
whitworth

US M1917.

Also maybe a P14 or Remington Model 30 that's been restocked, but 1917 is the most likely. Should have some markings that help, somewhere.

Very strong, heavy, and once popular for custom elephant guns like .416s.

EDIT: Now that I've read the whole post, I'd bet on P14, though likely more of them were made here than in Britain.

A guy I used to see on a public range had an experimental P14 chambered in 7.92x57, allegedly for research during the war. One day he was shooting it a couple of benches over and apparently mixed a .308 in his 8mm ammo pile. I heard a funny report, then was hit by a small chunk of the extractor. He suffered some minor powder burns and brass bits in his nose and the floorplate was bent pretty good, somewhat worse than what happened when my son fired a .30/06 in a pre-64 that had been rechambered to some .300 mag, but not marked as such.

Nice rifle, OP.

thanks for the knowledge
have been grazing the internet and found this ad as well which states it as a sporterized p17 action and the rifle looks the same as to stock engraving details butt pad whiteline spacers the whole show.
whitworth

^^^^^

This, no doubts.

And is there a difference between and m1917 Enfield and a US m1917?

No.
Paul B.

1917

And not to be called a P17

The P-14 is the same basic action , but it's chambered for the rimmed .303 British cartridge. The rifle in the picture has had the ears for the rear sight milled off and it has been restocked in sporter style. The US M-1917 was manufactured in the United States by Remington, Winchester, and Eddystone for export to England during WW I, and US troops were issued a limited number of them late in the war instead of 03 Springfields. Lots of of unfired Eddystone rifles were carried by trainees as drill rifles during WW II, including my father who was in the Air Force Cadet pilot training program. The Civilian Marksmanship Program sold thousands of them, new and unfired, to rifle clubs, ROTC units, and other purchasers in the 1950's.
Jerry

Cool! thanks for all the info much appreciated!
I'm in Nova Scotia and the rifle is in Ontario but someday I'll get him to have a closer look at the action for a manufacturer's mark if present.
Nice history lesson came out of this rifle thanks again.
I just thought it was a British rifle built using British built parts but the war effort saw a British designed action manufactured by the United States using three different US manufactures then some of the actions shipped back across the ocean to Britain sitting for awhile in the thousands as surplus, reassembled into a sporter by/under Interarms labeled Whitworth and end up back across the ocean once again to take two moose in Northern Ontario then sitting pretty on my father-in-laws couch in Waterloo Ontario Canada
thanks again for everyone's input
regards keith

Sorry; I can't spell Enfield.



Pretty sure that more U.S. troops were issued Enfields than Springfields, including quite possibly Sgt. Alvin York.

A fair number of 1917s went to Britain for Home Guard use during WWII. Those were marked with red paint to avoid ammunition confusion. Alas, many of those may have gone into the ocean after the war along with the sporting rifles donated by the American people, to prevent their falling into the hands of Free Englishmen, a scary thought for the well-connected Brits, who of course had all the guns they wanted.

So, it seems possible that our subject may be one of the loaner rifles sold at surplus to "Whitworth". Gotta be some markings somewhere on that puppy.

My brother has one NIB (original shipping box), complete with all the paper work, doesn't looked like it's ever been fired

At the end of the US military contract, Remington had a huge stock of unfinished rifles on which they did a few modifications to scrub some of the butt-ugly off, and sold them as the Model 30. It was Remington's first turnbolt centerfire rifle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Model_30

Jerry

Not all Model1917s are the same. My receiver was by Remington, but it was a 1917 and not a Mod30. It did not have the "duckpond" or ears on the rear of the receiver. The receiver was never made into a rifle when I received it. Mine is a 416 Rigby and several photos used to be on the forum, but my 2 photo services sold to google and I can't email or post them. They have disappeared from the forum also. They are a great receiver to make a real dangerous game rifle in a very large caliber, say 600 Overkill.

With enough money, they can be made into mastepieces, especially with large, big boomer rounds.

Here's a Tom Burgess Enfield. IIRC, this one may be a .404J. Butch's .416 Rigby is about as nice, IIRC.

DF

Yes, about 75% of the rifles issued to the AEF were M17s. Over 800,000 of them were issued for service on the Western Front, and another 320,000 odd were held in reserve in Europe. Over 2.2 million of them were produced. Julian Hatcher rated it "the best military rifle used in WWI"

I've had several one-on-one conversations with Alvin's son, Andy, during the 12 years I was a competitor at the annual Alvin York Memorial Muzzleloader Shoot in Pall Mall Tennessee. He says his father swapped his 1917 for an 03 Springfield because he liked the 03's sights better.
Jerry