The new design incorporated most all of the features from a Mauer 98 action, with a long-claw extractor and two locking lugs at the front of the bolt. The ordnance factory in Enfield Lock, Great Britain, was tasked with developing the new rifle. Thus, similarly to the development of the Model 1903 rifle in the U.S., the British began to develop their own Mauser-based rifle design to replace the Lee designs. Of all the lessons that the British took away from the experience of the Boer War, one of them was the impression that the Mauser action was far superior to the Lee action. reacted to the experience of coming up against the Mauser during the Spanish-American War, the British were shocked at the efficiency of the Mauser action in the hands of the Boers. This was a time when the Mauser action design was coming into its own, and very quickly, the rest of the world began to pay attention.
During the Boer Wars in South Africa in the late 19th century, the British forces, armed with the relatively new and modern Lee-Metford rifles, squared off against Boer settlers armed with, among other things, Model 1893 and latter style Mauser bolt-action rifles.Ī closer look at the Model 1917 action with the bolt open and the rear sight ladder raised. service rifle, its design origins came from Britain. Yet despite the lack of appropriate fanfare, the Model 1917 played a critical role during World War I and was one of the best bolt-action rifles of its era.Įven though the Model 1917 was a U.S. Its place in the minds of many is largely overshadowed by other classic rifles of the era, most notably the Model 1903 and John C. service rifles used during the 20th century, the bolt-action Model 1917 rifle is one of the most unsung. RTI provided one of these Model 1917 rifles for evaluation. There were also M1 Garands, along with U.S. Yet, there were more American arms in this leftover stockpile than just M1 carbines. Despite the wear and tear on the exterior surfaces expected from an old surplus rifle that had sat for decades unattended in the desert air, the internals proved to be in great functional shape.Īs a bonus, the carbines obtained by RTI contained a mix of sought-after manufacturers, with some having gone through a post-World War II rebuild, while others retained their original World War II era parts. When American Rifleman Executive Editor Evan Brune took a closer look at one of the RTI M1 carbines to evaluate its overall condition, parts makeup and function, things were better than expected. Model 1917 rifle as received from Royal Tiger Imports. Model 1917 rifle as received from Royal Tiger Imports.Ī left-side view of the 1918 Remington produced U.S. What was especially exciting of this find was not only the fact that it added some final bright rays to the twilight period of military surplus imports, but many of these arms were largely unmolested, with some having sat in the storage warehouses for the better portion of a century.Ī right-side view of the 1918 Remington produced U.S. Included in this lost trove of hardware were many well-known and celebrated models of rifles, from Mausers to Lee-Enfields and even M1 carbines, much to the excitement of the U.S.
Since the end of his reign, these arms sat, largely forgotten, in their warehouses, collecting dust and providing a playground for goats, until RTI struck a deal with the Ethiopian government to import these arms into the States.
These arms came from a wide range of nations and time frames, all being acquired by the African nation during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie as a means of national defense. In forgotten storage facilities, literal stacks of 20th century service rifles were left abandoned and covered in dust. Royal Tiger Imports (RTI) turned the heads of the American military surplus rifle market in 2020 when the company announced what it had found and acquired in the Ethiopian desert. NEWS, BOLT-ACTION RIFLES, HISTORICAL RIFLES HAYDEN FOSTER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, AMERICAN RIFLEMAN.Review: A Remington Model 1917 From Royal Tiger Imports
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