From the Vault: Winchester-Built M1917 Enfield Rifle скачать в хорошем качестве

From the Vault: Winchester-Built M1917 Enfield Rifle

Brownells Gun Tech™ Caleb Savant dug into his own vault and found this Model of 1917 Enfield rifle built by Winchester. The M1917 is a British Pattern 1914 Enfield (P14) chambered in .30-06 Springfield instead of .303 British. During World War I, Winchester and other American gun makers built a lot of P14 Enfields for the British army. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, production of M1903 Springfields couldn't be ramped up quickly enough, so the most expedient way to manufacture enough rifles for the newly recruited Doughboys was to crank up production of Americanized Enfields. The M1917 is more than robust enough to handle the .30-06 cartridge and go toe-to-toe with the German Mauser 98. The sturdy front sight is machined from one piece of steel, and typical for the period, the full-length wood stock completely envelopes the barrel. The steel wings that protect the aperture rear sight are actually machined as part of the receiver itself. A flip-up ladder extension is adjustable for targets out to 1,600 meters. Given its length, the M1917 Enfield is not a good CQB rifle, but it is an excellent weapon for lobbing volley fire over the trenches to keep the enemy pinned down. The M1917's safety functions only when the firing pin is cocked, and it actually disconnects the trigger from the sear - far more reliable than the typical trigger-blocking safety.