2 Old Soldiers USA/USSR and Bayos
The M17 is a late production Eddystone factory example from January 1919 when production ceased as it became certain that The Great War was actually over as far as the fighting was concerned. The story of the Enfield P13/14 and M1917 has been told here many times but it’s worth remembering that the M17 was the primary rifle of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France by Nov 1918 equipping over 60% of the AEF. It had also been considered to replace the Springfield M1903 post war as the standard US rifle due to the large available stocks of the M17 but the lack of windage adjustments for the rear sight stopped this as there was still a bias for very long range deliberate rifle fire in US military circles. Large numbers were kept in store and pulled out for WW2 use as supplied to Britain mostly for ‘Home Guard’ use and to other allies such as Nationalist China and France who used them in combat-the US used them mostly for training in the USA but some did see combat use in N/W Europe as late as 1945. Post WW2 use included supply to Denmark and even South Vietnam (must have been a very heavy burden for the small statured Vietnamese troops).
The Mosin Nagant started life as a dragoon model made by Izhevsk in 1924, surviving the various campaigns before and during ‘The Great Patriotic War’ to be rebuilt post WW2 at Izhevsk to m91/30 standard with new rear and fore sights.
